Australian timbers similar to Spanish Cypress

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prnvalium

Posts: 12
Joined: Dec. 13 2008

Australian timbers similar to Spanis...

Hi,

Somebody suggested tulip satinwood or lightweight blackwood for the back and sides to produce brilliant tone. Anybody got any opinions?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 15 2009 23:48:47

Armando

Posts: 302
Joined: May 27 2005
From: Zürich, Switzerland

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

Hi prnvalium

Yes, i have purchased some Monterrey Cypress sets from an australian guy on ebay. I don't know how the wood sounds as i never built with it. The wood was fast grown with annual ring spacing of 1cm+.

So what is concerning cypress, i wouldn't buy it anymore from australia. Maybe there is better stuff availlable and the guy sold me the worst quality, i don't know.

Tasmanian blackwood seems to be an interesting wood though. I'd like to give it a try once in the future.

regards

Armando

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 16 2009 14:41:10

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

I know its not Australian, but Canadian Cypress/Alaska yellow Cedar is a very nice tonewood. It sound great, is cheap and the quality of the wood is VERY high. Very narrow grains and very stable

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 16 2009 23:29:56

Estevan

Posts: 1936
Joined: Dec. 20 2006
From: Torontolucía

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

It could be good, although it might not sound like cypress.
Maybe some clues here:

<<Blackwood for Guitar making.
Blackwood has similar density and modulus of elasticity to Maple but is open grained with good light reflection from medullary rays (like Mahogany) and in figured pieces displays excellent colour and figure variations.

These properties make Blackwood an excellent guitar wood, combining the characteristics of the three traditional acoustic guitar woods (Mahogany, Maple and Rosewood) both in appearance and acoustic properties.>>

http://www.noyceguitars.com/Technotes/Articles/T1.html

Another opinion:
http://guitarbench.com/index.php/2008/09/02/australian-blackwood-tonewood-database/

Those guys are probably talking about steel-strings.

Tasmanian Blackwood is closely related to and very similar to koa, and look who's using koa:

http://www.condehermanos.com/af25rkoaclavijasi.htm

http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/files/n-2008RayaPardoFL.htm

There are others.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 17 2009 8:33:27

ngiorgio

Posts: 168
Joined: Nov. 1 2005
From: Florida, USA

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

I have a flamenca negra which is constructed from Black Acacia also known as Australian blackwood.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=+Backs+and+Sides&NameProdHeader=Black+Acacia

It has a German spruce top and was built by Australian luthier, John Price. It has a sound more typical of a rosewood guitar to my ears. It is also very nice looking with some flame to it which they call "fiddle back".

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 17 2009 9:14:49

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

quote:

ORIGINAL: prnvalium

Hi,

Somebody suggested tulip satinwood or lightweight blackwood for the back and sides to produce brilliant tone. Anybody got any opinions?

See if you can find some Damar Minyak (I think it goes by another name in Australia). I found some in a lumber yard years ago and experimented with it as a substitute for cypress. It's a lovely wood, very resonant, similar in color and composition to cypress, mills and bends easily and is very stable. I wouldn't hesitate to use it right now if I could get some more.

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John Shelton - www.sheltonfarrettaguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 19 2009 11:53:13

prnvalium

Posts: 12
Joined: Dec. 13 2008

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

There you go. Thanks a lot guys.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 27 2009 2:41:23

prnvalium

Posts: 12
Joined: Dec. 13 2008

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to Estevan)

Cole Clark http://www.coleclarkguitars.com/ who are a couple of luthiers from Maton make steel strings using Tasmanian Blackwood and a Queensland timber called Bunya for the top. One of the most interesting things about their guitars is the pickup system--they use an aluminium rod as a brace but it's also a secondary pickup so you can fade across the pickup system.

They have no classical guitars or flamenco guitars as yet though. I'm still just trying to find something that is going to be a decent intermediate instrument and not cost me the Earth. I know a good luthier.

Buying instruments is a bit fraught here at the moment because our dollar is so low that imports are too expensive :(

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 27 2009 2:52:41

prnvalium

Posts: 12
Joined: Dec. 13 2008

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to jshelton5040)

Kauri pine? It looks good.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 27 2009 3:03:41

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

quote:

ORIGINAL: prnvalium

Kauri pine? It looks good.

That's it. Australian name for Damar Minyak. It's an excellent substitute for cypress.

When I found it in the hardwood vendor's warehouse there was a big pile of it. All nicely milled to 2" thickness and random widths. It was really cheap so I bought a couple of nicely quartered boards. Unfortunately by the time I got around to sawing it and found out how nice it was the hardwood vendor had sold it all. Turns out it was used for seats on high school bleachers. What a waste! I always looked for it after that but never found any more.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 27 2009 6:04:13

prnvalium

Posts: 12
Joined: Dec. 13 2008

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to jshelton5040)

I don't know how useful this is since I note you're in the Pacific Northwest but this site: http://www.shivermetimbers.com.au/species_A0.html# sells discount and recycled Australian timbers. I'm looking around for some Kauri Pine--I'm not a luthier--and if I come across some cheap, I'll let you know where I find it.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 27 2009 7:05:46

at_leo_87

Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

what about birch? i dont think it's native to australia but in general, you can get it for pretty cheap, right? they make drums and speakers cabinets out of them.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 28 2009 3:08:12

Andrew

Posts: 34
Joined: Dec. 25 2008

RE: Australian timbers similar to Sp... (in reply to prnvalium)

It's hard to find anybody in Australia who has wood which is grown and cut suitably for musical instruments. I found this website for monterey cypress which shows some fine grain quartered cypress. I rang them but you really have to go out there and pick the pieces you want.

http://goldencypress.com.au/index.php?pr=appearances

When I get some money I'll go out and have a look. If the wood looks any good I can get some for you, lets us know if your interested.

Figured blackwood looks very pretty and sounds good too. Very popular on steel string guitars. I've heard one guitar that was made as a classical with blackwood but got converted to flamenco (in a crude way) and sounded very good (similar sound to what other people have said). Again the trick is to get the good stuff, the best stuff comes from Tassy. Factories like Maton seem to get the best stuff.

Andrew

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 6 2009 18:39:18