estebanana -> RE: Douglas Fir (Feb. 15 2013 23:06:48)
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A VG and just think it would be novel to have a guitar out of it but it sounds like a very tricky proposition, in other words, mucho mas $$$ for the trouble of working with it. I think it would make a good looking guitar and be as Ethan said more like Port Orford in character. Maybe slightly 'pingier'. I would cut it from the kiln dried wood and then let it set longer. I have old planks of KDVGDF..ha. It would also French polish beautifully and grow ever more golden a luscious as it ages. One more thing col about about the Firs, the reason they are so tough when they are aged is because they harden as they age. This is called 'Case Hardening' in the carpenter- lumber trades. It happens as part of the natural oxidation drying process that fir goes through. If you nail together framing with 2x4's that are not totally dry in the center the wood will dry more n the outside an less n the inside setting up tension between the outer and inner areas. That is the first case hardening that occurs when you cut Fir and dry it fast. If you nail it together in that state than then come back 50 tears later when the board is dry, it dried in the position and grabbed the nails in tension. But Fir also seems to just simply gets harder as it ages in addition to the case hardening after the mill. You know how it is when you use your fingernails on fresh Doug Fir and old dried Doug Fir in a house. The fresh nail marks and the old stuff will be harder and tougher. That goes beyond the first round of regular case hardening. As a fir body instrument would get older the wood may continue to case harden and become lighter and more dense or harder. I have a theory, which is only my own speculation and is not proved, but that the Spruces and other conifers used in guitars and violin making also to certain extent continue harden, but they do so to a lesser extent than Doug Fir, which can really get tough after 50 to 75 years. I've thought what if one of the reasons old violins sound great or different than younger wooded violins, is because the spruce hardens and lightens tiny bit as it gets older? If only those old Italian boys from the 17th and 18th centuries had written down the density and weights of the tops right before they glued them on we might know. Suffice it to say I'm not the only one who would want that information. And you can be sure a Doug Fir guitar will be much harder to pull the nails out of in 60 years. [;)]
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