what makes good guitar timber

[jmuller92]

hi guys, i need a little help putting together my project folio at the moment. i need to fudge an investigation i didn't really do, to justify my timber selection for my guitar. tim s has data of all sorts of timbers on his site, but i was wondering if anyone could interpret that for me. what make good tonewoods for different parts and why? and what make bad tonewoods just to throw a few in?

cheers

[Lillian]

http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Acoustic ... &id=759604

http://www.frets.com/FRETSpages/Musicia ... oods1.html

[Hesh1956]

Here is a chart that Martin dealers use to explain some of the more commonly used woods in guitar building:

[josh_cain]

Jake, I'll email you my timber research and Justification, its about 6 pages long.

[kiwigeo]

hi guys, i need a little help putting together my project folio at the moment. i need to fudge an investigation i didn't really do, to justify my timber selection for my guitar.

cheers

Just tell your teacher you did what the guys on the ANZLF forum told you to do and that if she/he has a problem with that he/she can take it up with us.

Oh yes....your guitar is made of tonewood....your house is made out of timber.

[jmuller92]

ha sorry for the mistake. oh trust me, the timber in my house i wouldn;t take anywhere near as care with... i spent an hour today making sure i didnt stuff the scarf joint on my neck..

thanks heaps josh for the notes.

ah its not as easy as just telling my teacher, theres all these specific guidelines i need in my folio, and tonewood selection and all this rubbish is a must if i want good marks. the whole lot is marked next year by external markers trained in marking projects. and i never get to meet them so i have to walk them thru it all with the folio.

hope that clears something up.

cheers

[josh_cain]

no worries jake

ah its not as easy as just telling my teacher, theres all these specific guidelines i need in my folio, and tonewood selection and all this rubbish is a must if i want good marks. the whole lot is marked next year by external markers trained in marking projects. and i never get to meet them so i have to walk them thru it all with the folio.

the man is right! you have to explain every little technique, material, tool, etc in great detaill.........such a pain when you'd rather be building the bloody guitar!

[John Maddison]

it aint 'rubbish' to be doing what you need to do, far from it ... just trust that your research WILL make you a fine and better builder in the long run. at 55 years of age and having started making 3 years ago i'm wishing i'd started where you are at right now. the internet is a RICH source of information ... 'steal to the max' when writing up your portfolio, but remember to reference everything otherwise you'll be up for plagiarism. above all else - just hang in there. ALL the very best.
John

[xray]

someone posted a patch of 'light reading' essay papers from some guys of the guild of american luthiers which is very technical and intersting. you can find it under the forum in the instrument builders section under something like 'bridges, how to'. to cut a long story short jake, get it, dowload it, read it, fudge it, and watch your grades go from mediocre to outstanding. it really is a technical question what makes a good wood so i think a great deal of 'explaing' needs to be given hope this helps. chow!

[Lillian]

My partner was a high school English/Communication teacher (grades 10-12) for several years. She would give her senior students projects to do similar to yours. And she has seen all the levels of plagiarism there are, from flat out copy everything to using bits an pieces. Do yourself a favor and cite all your work, quote what you need to and do not be tempted to just "borrow" passages. Everyone has their own style of writing. And it is glaringly apparent to someone who has graded papers for more than a week when you mix and match. You might not think so, or even your friends, but trust me it is. Even I started to pick up on shifts of style and I do numbers not words.

[jmuller92]

ill post my finished folio in for crticism when its all done

ill try and track down the paper that xray mentioned, thanks for that.

thanks for the advice lillian, i never straight plagiarise stuff. 95 percent of the time i read something, get an idea in my head of the concept and then retype it in my own words, unless the site is listing off points, then i will just do my best to quote them.

i think im gonna be more nervous showing u all my folio than the teacher hehe, but at least ill get some feedback beforehand so all the technical details are right.

cheers

[Bob Connor]

Good tonewoods go

Boooooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

Not so good tonewoods go

Thunk

Or so we are lead to believe due to the tradition of building guitars from resonant rosewoods.

However Tiger Myrtle goes Thunk but you can still build a nice guitar from it. It just doesn't impart as much influence on the sound of the instrument as, say, Brazilian or Honduran Rosewood.

Tops need to be light and stiff and do the Booooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiing thing and it's probably more important that you get a top that has these qualities and also sustains when you tap it. The top will be the predominant tone influence on the instrument

This of course is a gross oversimplfication as the instrument has to be built as a system and a whole lot of small details will also determine with the instrument will be grouse or shouse.

Here's an article by Dana Bourgeois with his thoughts on a variety of tonewoods.
http://www.pantheonguitars.com/tonewoods.htm

[xray]

sorry jake i have given you the wrong article on guitar timbers. The proper page was posted by kim and is titled luthier showcase. Run a search and there are about 6 or so links. download them all and print them all at school and use it for your own personal resource as well as for your school work. every time i pick up the thesis length papers, i learn something, even after 5 or so reads. I'll be happy to help out with your folio as well, i am a teacher and more importantly know people in high places, (friend of an industrial arts teacher who is very, very switched on). It is good to see another younger member of the forum hooking in and interested, i hope you stick with it.