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Posts: 124
Joined: Oct. 22 2012
From: Huntersville, North Carolina, USA
RE: Popular wood for flamenco (in reply to Joan Maher)
I've never seen any poplar from France, but the poplar here in the southeastern USA is sort of a medium hardwood and the color is white to a shade of green. I have used it for ukulele necks. Also, a friend of mine built a mandolin of poplar (B&S) and said it was the best sounding mandolin that he had built. The poplar at Madinter does look attractive and sometimes you just have to experiment.
Posts: 1108
Joined: Sep. 29 2009
From: Back in Boston
RE: Popular wood for flamenco (in reply to Joan Maher)
the wood list in the link is white poplar (populus alba). it may have some good characteristics--hard to say though without putting it through the paces. i have long been a fan of tulip tree poplar (liridendron tulipfera) wood as a substitute for cypress. it has similiar weight and density as cypress and is easily worked. it has a very spanish cypress look to it as well--no cypress aroma though (bummer). tulip tree is also called fiddle tree as the wood has been, as i understand it, a replacement for maple for making fiddles. interestingly, l. tulipfera is used for coffins as was cypress back in the day. tulip tree poplar grows in most areas east of the mississippi and i wonder if the mandolin mentioned by wayne may have been l. tulipfera.
The French Poplar they have in stock looks very nice, and it's actually lighter than Spanish Cypress (Poplar is 28 lbs/ft3 while Spanish Cypress is 33 lbs/ft3)
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RE: Popular wood for flamenco (in reply to Joan Maher)
Yes, it is true that violin family instruments (including some by famous makers) have been made with poplar backs and sides but bear in mind that the European poplar and the North American tulip poplar are very different woods. There are some violins made from poplar but it's more often seen on larger instruments like violas and celli.
A dozen or so years ago the American guitar manufacturer Taylor made a run of steel string guitars from tulip poplar that they called the "Liberty Tree" guitar that was released with the usual over-the-top hype and fanfare including some rather fanciful drivel regarding the history of the tree that the wood came from. It was marketed as a patriotic "collectible" and was decked out with rather gaudy laser-cut inlays of a flag, the Declaration on Independence, etc. and, of course, came with the prerequisite "Certificate of Authenticity". They initially had a ridiculously high price tag and, at least according to Taylor and their dealers, sold out quickly but others with no connection to Taylor or not trying to sell used examples have said that they were a total marketing flop. Dealer asking prices for used examples and actual prices realized at auctions, etc. aren't even close. So much for ready-made "collectibles". Anyone interested can do a web search for more details.
I'm surprised at the picture of the Taylor guitar - I've always thought of Tulip tree as a visually bland white wood with an unattractive tendency towards a green tint. Where did all the color come from? I should have saved some from the two that were taken out of our yard a couple of years ago :^(
Tulip Tree is an attractive lumber tree when it grows as secondary growth and has to reach the tree canopy. It does so very quickly, without the tendency towards weakness that sometimes accompanies fast growth, and it sheds limbs that aren't the ones most exposed to light very rapidly, leaving long sections of knot-free wood close to the ground. When full grown, they are the tallest USA trees east of the Mississippi.
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