Official Luthiers Forum!

I was just wondering if anyone knew of a source for quartersawn Black Locust? I have looked locally and not found much.

The reason I ask is, I had a small piece of it and it had a great tap tone. Which I understand doesn't necessarily mean it will make a good guitar but I would like to experiment some more with it! I did some research and it looks to be quite stable and is grown in America. It is also quite plentiful so I would certainly be interested in making a prototype with it!

Thank you!

Bow River Woods, an OLF sponsor carries it.
http://www.bowriverwoods.com/tonewoods/acoustic-guitar-tonewoods/acoustic-guitar-backs-and-sides/
Scroll down until you see "Robinia", which is the botanical name for black locust. They have the genus and species switched up. Black locust is Robinia pseudoacacia.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Thank you very much!

Tom Thiel at Northwind Tonewoods also carries it.

I've used it, and it makes a nice guitar. The stuff I had was a bit less dense than Indian rosewood, but had much the same stiffness and damping. I used it on a Classical, and it sounded very nice.

A year ago I was looking for Osage Orange and found plenty of suppliers with Black Locust but very little OO. I didn't keep a list, but it should be easy to find - start with the suppliers at the top of this page.


OO and Locust have similar properties and really like the OO - let us know what it sounds like.

Ed

Oregon Wildwoods have a couple of sets.

http://tonewood.com/guitar-wood/acoustic-guitar-tonewood-sets/other-acoustic-back-and-side-sets.html

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Cheers
Pete

It is a common tree in my area, but finding one that is large enough to yield quartered two-piece backs is a challenge.

Two of the best guitars I have ever made were black locust. BTW, it also makes great bridgeplates and UTB braces.

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John

I wish I had had some log processing capability a few years back, when someone who had been cutting up locust logs to build a post and beam building frame offered me the surplus logs(whole tree trunks) at $100 a piece, with the understanding that I had to do all the work. They were big enough.

I saw a row of them lining an old stone wall along a street in Vermont last year that were way bigger than big enough. I think they had to have been the biggest I had ever seen. We had a bunch in our front yard in Maryland when I was young, but they were scrawny.

They are rampant in southern Spain, possibly the most common street tree in Granada. I think they do better there than here.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I have a local source of black and honey locust and osage orange. It is all cut for lumber so you have to try to find the quartered board cut from the log and you have to get lucky and be there when they have logs big enough. My problem is not finding it, I don't have a saw that can handle resawing the harder woods in guitar sizes. It makes me sad every time I go there.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.