Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi!
i´m not a native english speaker either, and i can not see your image, but from what i gather an aspen, sensu stricto, is Populus tremula (wikipedia gave me peuplier tremble as the french translation). i believe that, sensu lato, it could be applied to other poplars (at least i´ve heard Populus alba, the alamo, referred to as aspen at least once).

HTH,
Miguel.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Basswood...........grapefruit

The worst? Ivory...because it hints at death.
The best? Toasted Maple...because it smells like maple syrup.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Hey!
Wait a minute!
Bone=dentist!
Ha!

Walnut smells like cottonwood trees after it rains.

East Indian Rosewood Smells like my great-grandmother Luella. A strange perfume. Or an old people smell, or funeral dead body smells.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Ummm - your post leads me to ask, has anyone checked Luella's pulse recently? Sorry, the door was open, I just walked in.....

I love this post - so much subjectivity in these.

Black Walnut is a very interesting smell, for me. Other's have described it as "perfume" - which is pretty vague, I think... but I do get a bit of "musk" - mixed with a pleasant barnyard smell. Maybe a combo of warm, wet cows and grain, and wet soil. A very nice smell actually.

I haven't cut BRW yet, but the smell when I scratch the side of the samples I have is very much like Bazooka Bubble Gum. Also a great smell.

Cutting bone is very unpleasant. Visceral, and definitely brings notions of death.

Poplar's a bit sour, but not overwhelmingly so.

Maple's fresh, and sweet. Nothing unpleasant about it.

Honduran Mahogany has a great smell, warm, with a touch of spearmint. Definitely tickles the nose, though.

i remember my first electric i built in shop class when i was 14 or so. the body was made from 21 pieces of oak laminated together to form the body. it took me a year to recover from the smell and i was hacking up oak dust for about a month after the guitar was finished. yuk!!

mahogany and wenge are my favorites

Alaskan yellow cedar has the weirdest smell of any wood I've used. The closest that I could get would be pencils soaked in kerosene.

I was resawing and sanding some sets of ovangkol last night... the stuff smells like burning buttery popcorn!

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
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My teacher, Rob Girdis, would cut some spanish cedar before a customer came into the shop. Any edge to help close the deal!

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Pat

Purple Heart smells like old garbage.

Peruvian Walnut smells perfect.

Toasted Maple still smells like maple syrup...the best.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Lol....what POSSIBLE reason could there be to soak pencils in kerosene?

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

They burn more evenly.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Ya'll keep talking about the smell of cut wood.... I met a guy years ago at Symposium who would lick the wood to taste it.

Anyone else done that?
(I haven't - as least, not on purpose)

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Why has no one mentioned Bocote? As soon as you mention you're working with Bocote, everyone in the room races to be the first to say, "IT SMELLS LIKE PICKLES!" It does smell like pickles, though...

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David Morris

I haven't worked as diverse a selection of woods as many of you here, but so far maple and walnut are my favorites. Like others, I get the scent of syrup from maple, with a nice hint of caramel. To me walnut is kind of savory and aromatic, which I find very pleasant. Even so, I do try to keep my wood dust huffing to a minimum. :-)

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George :-)