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aarongreen -> RE: alternatives to cypress (Jun. 4 2010 8:02:17)
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quote:
Only other problem with Osage Orange is that it's orange, like really,really orange. And it's totally upsetting to me because when I look at it languishing on the shelf I can't decide whether it's a desirable kind if orange like an old Orange juice colored VW bug or conceptually odd orange, like Clockwork Orange, in a twisted but interesting kind of way with Malcolm McDowell waiting to pounce. Or if it's a horrific orange as if Dolly the Sheep and a Conde' blanca were hybridized together to make a tree with naturally florescent orange wood. That is my worst nightmare.
You feel my pain?
The Osage I have seen was more of a Canary yellow when fresh cut. It actually is a very good Brazilian rosewood substitute in terms of it's acoustic properties. I remember a set years ago that Alan Carruth had where the cross grain stiffness was actually the same as the longitudinal stiffness.
As distressing as the color is, it actually will oxidize down to a nice deep brown, with enough time. When I began building guitars I became familiar with an old woodworker/wood collector. I cleaned him out of what he had left in Brazilian rosewood, Mahogany, Spanish Cedar etc.... Really killer old, old wood. His place was a shack that was filthy and stacked with all sorts of wood. One day I found a plank that was about 8 feet long by 3 or 4 feet wide and from the color it looked like Brazilian. I almost fainted and told Stu I had to have it. He says sure and then looks more closely and announces that its Bodark (aka Osage Orange) He made me help him hoist the monster onto his Crescent resaw and peeled off an inch off the end. The true color was a vivid and obnoxious bright yellow with a sickly greenish cast to it. I could have cried. Still do thinking about it.
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