estebanana -> RE: Rough tuning a guitar (Nov. 3 2014 23:09:58)
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The ebony, that wood is too heavy, lots of steel string makers have changed to other woods because as Tom says traditions get challenged. Once steel string makers used only ebony and now there is a diverse amount of woods they will talk about. Walnut and other rosewoods, I think can be just as good as the best Brazilian rosewood if chosen carefully. But honestly, I long for Brazilian rosewood bridges, but I stopped using them so I would not run into shipping trouble with USFG or US Customs or EU customs. So sad, the last guitar I finished has pegs, and I love to put abalone or this yellow/grey highly grained fossil ivory buttons in the end of the pegs, but I stopped that for the same reason. I put Japanese abalone on a bridge tie block last year a shipped it, but I felt I was taking a big chance. Anyway, other bridge woods I have used are Black Acacia, it's the cousin of Koa. And Wenge. I've tested some rosewoods form Thailand, Tulip wood and Kingwood, and several others. The Black Acacia was very good and makes a fine bridge. I thought the Wenge was also good, but difficult to work with on account of being easy to shred. But once it is it glued down a had finish on it is stable. You have to remember about bridge wood, it's not always about which species, but which particular tree...not all wood of the same species is identical. And the I still have hopes for Claro Walnut, which is light and strong. Indian rose wood is the one I use the most, but I keep bridge blanks and half carved bridges from Indian rosewood and other woods in my bridge blank box to compare and weigh when selecting bridges. I think the bridge is often the most elusive part of building, its shape thickness of the wings and saddle mound, flexibility, mass of the tie block, overall weight, I think all these factors are important, but difficult to learn how to manage in relation to the qualities in a top. If you follow a good schematic and make a racy, pared down bridge you come out ok, but optimizing it past that point I think is really tricky.
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