Old Growth Redwood

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Old Growth Redwood

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VietFlamenco

Posts: 140
Joined: Aug. 1 2010

Old Growth Redwood

I got my hands on some 80 years old old growth redwood from the Santa Cruz mountains. They are boards of 4/4 quarter with 1 inch thickness.

Have anyone tried using redwood as top or backside and how does it sound? I may need to create the back or top by gluing 3 pieces together instead of two. Any problems with this?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 1 2011 1:34:16

Gimar Yestra

Posts: 298
Joined: Jan. 19 2011
From: The Netherlands

RE: Old Growth Redwood (in reply to VietFlamenco)

when quartersaw you could use redwood as a top, many luthiers use it for steelstring guitars, and I believe it has been used on some classical guitars aswell.
I can't recall seeing it used for backs and sides.

I dont know about exact sound properties since ive never build with it, but from what ive read it learns more towards a warmer sound.

if you do some searching on internet you should be able to find some better explenation about tone properties for redwood.

A three piece back shouldn't be a problem when properly jointed. There are plenty of builders who have build with 3 and even 4 piece back.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 1 2011 13:38:30

estebanana

Posts: 9367
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: Old Growth Redwood (in reply to VietFlamenco)

Ditch the redwood. Call Todd Taggart at Allied and tell him what your budget for a spruce top is and ask him if he has any specials going. Try a top of stiff light 2nd grade Englemann in the $45.00 range. it's good enough hunk of wood to give you a chance at making a nice guitar but not so expensive you'll feel nervous about working on it.
That will be good, but cosmetically not first grade. Redwood is really soft. Or talk to Uncle Brian about picking out tops, he seems to have helped a lot of folks with understanding top woods.

http://www.alliedlutherie.com/

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https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 1 2011 22:43:48

VietFlamenco

Posts: 140
Joined: Aug. 1 2010

RE: Old Growth Redwood (in reply to estebanana)

Thanks, I found some 2nd grade Englemann spruce for 32 bucks! I was just curious about the Redwood because i had access to heartwood for $6. Just thought it couldn't hurt to try. This is going to be my first guitar project so I'm a bit nervous about spending big bucks on wood i may mess up. $32 is no problem though.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 1 2011 23:37:52

estebanana

Posts: 9367
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: Old Growth Redwood (in reply to VietFlamenco)

Well until you get some experience looking at how wood is cut, you might get better results with buying form a dealer like Todd who has properly cut wood. One less thing to worry about. I mentioned Todd because I get a lot of stuff from him and he's in our area so you'll get your top really fast via UPS.

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https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 2 2011 0:42:54