Paulownia Soundboard

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

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Nick
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by Nick » Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:11 am

christian wrote: I've kinda gone off shell inlays particularly Paua, so opted for a wood inlay
instead.
Christian.
Welcome to the dark side Christian :D
Looking good as always & that Kauri leaf soundhole looks good sitting in that upper bout, very 'organic'.
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Nice to hear in church but not in a Mexican prison.

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christian
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by christian » Sat Aug 08, 2015 7:14 am

Cheers Nick, happy to be on the dark side, what do they say... a change is as good as a holiday! I gotta say I'm a massive convert to upperbout soundholes finding so much more scope in aesthetic, bracing and tone.

Cheers,
Christian.
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by christian » Tue Sep 15, 2015 12:20 pm

I just can't seem to get this bloody guitar finished!!! to many distractions!!

Christian.
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by lauburu » Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:07 am

Designing a new NZ flag Christian?
Miguel

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Nick
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by Nick » Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:32 am

lauburu wrote:Designing a new NZ flag Christian?
Rimu Peak? :lol: :lol:
More indicative of NZ than the current offerings being thrust on us!
Excuse my ignorance Christian :oops: but what are they? Can't be surf boards unless you come up with a new patented design with a slot in it :shock:
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by christian » Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:24 am

Yip Nick,miguel it's rimu peak flag!! I thought well every other tom dick and harry is designing one so why not! haha , now I just have to come up with some BS symbolism to attach to it, get 50,000 people behind it and you never know!
@ nick,It's a surfboards smaller cousin a handplane, used in bodysurfing to help catch waves.

cheers,
Christian.
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by demonx » Sat Oct 17, 2015 4:21 pm


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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by kiwigeo » Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:19 pm

"Mr Carter poured $90,000 into the scheme, including his superannuation, hoping the return would help him put his daughter through university."

These investment schemes have been around for some time (think Timbercorp) but people still pile ALL of their nest egg into a single scheme without so much as a thought of carrying out any sort of risk assessment or reducing same by diversifying into more than one investment.

Looking at the bright side...looks like there'll be some cheap firewood going.
Martin

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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by demonx » Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:31 pm

kiwigeo wrote: Looking at the bright side...looks like there'll be some cheap firewood going.
If it's as soft as what I've read, it's no good for that either!

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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by kiwigeo » Sat Oct 17, 2015 8:07 pm

demonx wrote:
kiwigeo wrote: Looking at the bright side...looks like there'll be some cheap firewood going.
If it's as soft as what I've read, it's no good for that either!
Stoking the stuff at full speed into your fire would keep you warm... :mrgreen:
Martin

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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by curly » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:19 am

From memory one of the greatest virtues of paulownia is dimensional stability . I'd also add timber ethics . If paulownia can produce soundboards in under 20 years and spruce takes 400 , King Billy takes 1000 , sustainability has to come into play . I'd love to see one of the big manufacturers launch a range of specially plantation grown guitars .

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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by demonx » Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:48 am

curly wrote: I'd love to see one of the big manufacturers launch a range of specially plantation grown guitars .
In the electric industry I'd say that it is quite common.

I'm all for the use of plantation timbers, but I've always steered clear of the Paulownia as I'm yet to read anything good about it.

Maybe the furniture industry could find a purpose for it? Who knows. The Chinese have been using the stuff forever, it's just seems to be not finding a market in the western world.

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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by christian » Mon Oct 19, 2015 7:56 pm

I have done many comparisons with my very best WRC, Alaskan doug fir, Kauri and Kahikatea
and tonally it stacks up well, probably closer to kauri than anything else.
In my opinion the big thing that would hold it back from being a big commercial wood in terms of instruments, is how it looks. It kinda looks cheap and rather bland, and would be a tough sell on a decent instrument.

Still, I have high hopes for this one i'm making, which is nearing completion.

Cheers,
Christian.
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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by Kamusur » Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:31 pm

So far so good Christian.

Steve

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Re: Paulownia Soundboard

Post by old_picker » Fri Oct 23, 2015 3:48 pm

simso wrote:
kiwigeo wrote:Paulownia...what CANT you do with it???
Build a quality electric guitar,

Yep like a lot of others when the americans started going gang busters about teles built out of it i had 3 meters sent down from NSW to try it out. I couldnt bring myself to waste the time on a single blank. Too soft by far. It would not hold a screw on neck and i reckon the neck plate would sink right into the body and keep on going. :lol:

I guess like all timber there are boards and then there are good boards. I wouldn't mind taking a trip down to mordy and going through a pack to see if I could pull out some denser boards. Then you might be cooking with mallee roots

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