Extremely Dense Western Red Cedar

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constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1672
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

Extremely Dense Western Red Cedar

I ordered some Western Red Cedar soundboard sets that looked nice. They turned out to be extremely dense--0.43 g/cm3 air dried vs reports of 0.31 to 0.37 oven dried vs 0.36 for the Engelmann spruce I have. They also ring like a bell. Amazing stuff. Old growth. And brittle.

I was expecting the WRC to be less dense than the spruce I usually use and to make the soundboards a little thicker. Now I am not sure what to do. Has anyone experienced WRC like this?

_____________________________

Ethan Deutsch
www.edluthier.com
www.facebook.com/ethandeutschguitars
www.youtube.com/marioamayaflamenco
I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 3 2022 17:34:42

Stu

Posts: 2521
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England

RE: Extremely Dense Western Red Cedar (in reply to constructordeguitarras)

Amazing stuff? In a good way? Is denser better?

Sorry, rookie question.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 3 2022 19:29:08

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1672
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: Extremely Dense Western Red Cedar (in reply to Stu)

That's what I wonder. I'll find out after I build a guitar with it.

_____________________________

Ethan Deutsch
www.edluthier.com
www.facebook.com/ethandeutschguitars
www.youtube.com/marioamayaflamenco
I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 3 2022 20:23:02

ernandez R

Posts: 737
Joined: Mar. 25 2019
From: Alaska USA

RE: Extremely Dense Western Red Cedar (in reply to constructordeguitarras)

Ethan,

I have only one cedar top under my belt:

Shipped out my first cedar top guitar couple weeks ago but only had it in my shop about a week before the owner picked it up. I only had an hour playing it myself but wish I had it a month. Just as well, it dents just looking at it wrong ;)

I picked up the cedar from a guy in BC, Gary Chicolo of Master Tonewood, he just sells billets.
I sent a few sets around the world and one guy from the Delcamp thought it was exceptional, he put up a thread 'Alaska Cedar'
https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=145738&sid=138006924e3993ca494b8535c8466b9d

where he measured the density and it was low but I don't recall the numbers, ah here 324kg/m3.

Care to do a postal swap, I know you've gotta have some nice spruce squirreled away in your shop ;) PM if your interested. Just sent three sets to Italy two weeks ago hand carried by some visitors.

Almost forgot, Gary had hurt his back and said he could no longer harvest and was out of the business. I got some billets of Alaskan Yellow Cedar from him, sawed up about 30 back and rib sets and the shop smells amazing.

Any one else interested in a postal trade give me a pm, I'm not interested in selling outright.

Seems dense WRC would be more suited for a steel string guitar? Completely out of my depth here but I recall in my reading something about that.

I boxed up my second WRC top just a touch thinner then the first and I've got this nagging feeling it's not thin enough, this one built as a classical with hickory top linings so it's completely off the chart for me.

The third WRC top will be all Flamenco and so thin you can...

HR

_____________________________

I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy,
doesn't have to be fast,
should have some meat on the bones,
can be raw or well done,
as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.

www.instagram.com/threeriversguitars

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 3 2022 21:12:11

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1672
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: Extremely Dense Western Red Cedar (in reply to ernandez R)

HR--I appreciate your offer and will keep it in mind. First I'll see what happens with the current WRC. I agree, this dense stuff makes one think more of steel string guitars. But who knows? It's an experiment.

_____________________________

Ethan Deutsch
www.edluthier.com
www.facebook.com/ethandeutschguitars
www.youtube.com/marioamayaflamenco
I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 4 2022 0:02:11