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Has anyone had experience using holly for back, tops, sides, or necks? I saw some Parsons guitars that really piqued my interest but don't recall ever seeing a guitar with holly other than for binding, etc. I guess I'm mostly referring to the species Ilex Opaca, or American Holly.

Seems like a cool, unique wood to use but have read that it's pretty dead sounding, and also is really susceptible to temperature and environmental changes. All on top of that I really don't know where to get any that would be of adequate size, which is also the nature of it being a small tree.

Holly prices have gone through the roof. I only use it for purfling trim...

I think this is holly.http://robinsoninlays.com/Lindisfarne/

Good luck finding a piece big enough that isn't full of knots. It's near impossible to get clear material that large. Plus from what I understand there's pretty much one guy in the US who has cornered the commercial market for holly lately so it has become quite pricey.

^agreed - I have tons of salvaged holly wood from slash piles and my tree service friends - they know I like having lots of hardwood on hand so they call me whenever they have something they think I might like - I am sure the stuff I have curing (stump diameters not much larger than 1') will come in handy for purling, inlay, rosettes, and head plates, things like that - but there are buttloads of pin knots and you have to be judicious in your milling.... cheers
charliewood

Ted Davis built a holly guitar. I never got a chance to play it, and I don't know where it is today.





He did give me a back and side set, presumably from the same wood that this dreadnought was made from.

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John

John that is so cool!! Do you recall if the material was 1/4 sawn? I can get some wide Holly but have no idea how it was boarded out.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

If cut right, Holly can look like leather, or even ivory. It can make beautiful bindings on a guitar.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I have a friend in Hattiesburg who has built great looking and sounding guitars from Holly. He built 3 identical Holly guitars based on a very old plan of a Ditson Grand Concert for 3 of his granddaughters. His nephew has a logging company in southern Mississippi, and frequently cut very big holly trees. He always saved the largest for instruments.

Bob

Is there anyway to get any : )

Any he has left he plans on using. I have a few smaller pieces for bindings and kerfed linings, as well as bindings and linings he made and sent to me.

Very nice. At least he didn't cover it up with two tons of shell...
I just bought a 2 X2 X18" chunk for purfling for 65 bucks. Not pleasant, but the price of everything is going through the roof. I bought 3 boxes of Mirka discs and paid over 100 bucks.

Not to skew the topic too much, but Hackberry might be used as a Holly substitue.
It usually has some spalling, but it is a light cream color and the grain is fairly tight.
It does not oxidize and change color. No idea if it would work as sound board, but it may be usefull for color accents.

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wah
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Wah

I guess I should link to the guitars that piqued my interest:

Acoustic: http://www.parsonsguitars.com/image-gal ... e-mare.php

Electric: http://www.parsonsguitars.com/image-gal ... s-2012.php

Thanks for the heads up on Hackberry. I think for the general term "Holly", there are like 400-600 species.

Holy smokes! Those are beautiful!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Not really sure how the neck/fingerboard worked out though. I contacted another luthier who used Holly (on an electric guitar top) and he said to treat it like it's a softwood.

softwood>? I could pound a cold chisel with some of the stuff I have - but mine was harvested in the PNW - so I dunno if climate and species flucuate wildly or what.... they must! Its the same thing with laburnum too I guess cause I have some laburnum that could break rock.... but others say they found it medium density.
cheers
charliewood

The holly that grows here in the SE US is pretty hard, too. I would judge its density and hardness between red maple and sugar maple.

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John