Tonewoods

Mid February 2007:
Yay, some nice plumwood is now cut! See the amazing pics below!
and, I've shown all the remaining dogwood sets.
and, there's now tops, too.

End of June 2007:
My gosh... ANOTHER huge dogwood tree! I've already got 30+ new dogwood guitar sets on the go... unless somebody asks for a stack of them before I cut, this one will be cut into lumber and turning pieces.

Late May 2007:
I've finally received the "more and better" dogwood log sections I've been waiting for. I'm now cutting the largest one - the base of the tree. It is more straight and clear, and has considerable "flame" in the figure. It promises to yield upwards of 20 excellent sets of edge grain guitar backs and sides! I've cut a few 1"x3"s for guitar necks as well. (...and lots of turning squares and other lumber.)

Feb 2007: I've cut up some Western yew into boards, but the grain runs every direction (one had 3 or 4 hearts!) and there are sap pockets, and I'm dubious there are pieces usable for anything bigger than maybe a mandolin. I've just cut some from a new log, but owing to flaws, the above still applies. I'll try to get the pictures up soon. (May: wasn't soon - well, maybe when I post the new dogwood pics!)

Feb18th 2007: I've just obtained some pieces of Sitka spruce, western red cedar and yellow cedar (AKA Golden Cypress) that was split into wedges for making guitar tops. These have been seasoning in an open garage for several years, so all I have to do is slice them up! (Cut tops samples below.)

Things do occasionally change here on this web page, so far mostly for the better... Please do check back!

craig@ ----- Or... please drop me an email if you'd like me to send you one when the page is updated.
saers.com

I have the new dogwood, at least 2 dozen fine sets are to be had, perhaps over 30. I'll show them here in due course.

An island guitar maker who's made a guitar with dogwood says (condensed):
"Good sound, machines nicely, bends nicely. It's pretty, hard, and underrated, and it's local! I'm a fan!"

Here are the first six of the new sets (July 2nd, 2007). Some typical sides are shown below. There will be about 30 sets, so don't hesitate to ask for what you'd like.
(NB: There were no sets between #8 and #15.)

Next Two Images Below...
Set 15 (L) is good for a parlor guitar - $85
Set 16 (R) should make a dreadnaught - $105

Next Three Images Below...
Set 19 (L) Dreadnaught Size. Spalted section (upper-outer areas). Or could use for small body and virtually avoid the spalted areas - ask for sides to match. - $100
Set 20 (R) is huge but spalted and with some end checks - dreadnaught, jumbo - $100. I seem to have turned them the wrong way around for the template photo - the end checks have to be out unless it's a short body or you want to do some glueing.

Next Image Below... Typical sides for the above backs. The two pairs on the right are spalted, matching some spalted backs. (Only the leftmost pair has been sanded.)

As to the remaining older sets shown below, Wood is wood and few of these are 'perfect'. On the backs, there are usually tiny knots that don't look like problems to me. Saw and planer marks will sand out unless otherwise noted. (On the backs, often a vertical line is visible about the middle of the board, which results from a slight misalignment between 4-1/2 inch deep cuts from each side - my saw blade is too small to cut 9 inches deep. This is not a check and will sand out.)

On many sets, various defects will make selection of particular orientations necessary, often including (a) which end is the large bout, (b) which edges go together, and (c) which surface faces outwards. I show what I judge is the best face and layout, with the large bout downwards.
Thickness of the back and side pieces is about 5mm (5/32" to 6/32") unless otherwise noted.

Well, I've finally cut up a nice Purple Leaf Plum log, and used the new bandsaw to make some guitar body parts. The wood is quite uniform in texture. The grain of the tree was twisted (typical for purple leaf plum - it grows in a "corkscrew" fashion) and there's some runout one way on one edge and the other way on the other. Getting pieces that were all heartwood wasn't possible.

I think you'll agree they are very colorful! I've never heard of a plumwood guitar, and I hope I'll hear back reports from the first purchasers!

I've been given some wedges split from western red cedar, sitka spruce, and yellow cedar (actually a cypress, AKA golden cypress) for making guitar tops from. (Yellow cedar has evidently been used for both tops and backs/sides! I also have Leland cypress, which is similar to yellow cedar except it's whitish, but probably no pieces big enough for edge grain tops.)

Sets made from any of these wedges will all be pretty square-on edge grain, around 10 to maybe 30 grains per inch. They have been air dried unheated for several years. So far, I've just sliced a few sample sets to show here. If you would like a set in spruce or either cedar, please let me know - usually, I'll be able to cut them within a day or two. 27 $Cdn per set for wides (16+"), $18 for widths under 7.75 (15.5) inches. I'm not sure enough of the exact parameters to designate the various grades some sellers use, so I'm not going to try. They look very nice to me! 'fraid you just get the pictures unless you are in Victoria to see them in person.

I'll soon have a thickness sander at my disposal and will be cleaning all these up. Meanwhile, I've cut them and I'm updating the web page now, so here are pictures of tops that need some serious sanding, for what they're worth!