Blackwood guitar

[Jim]

Just curious- has anyone made an all blackwood body guitar? Played a very old all koa Martin and it got me thinking.....
Particularly curious to hear people's thoughts on a blackwood soundboard.

[kiwigeo]

Just curious- has anyone made an all blackwood body guitar? Played a very old all koa Martin and it got me thinking.....
Particularly curious to hear people's thoughts on a blackwood soundboard.

Ive seen a few all blackwood Weissenborns......I think Bob's made one or two.

[rocket]

Yup

[Bob Connor]

I've built several, both Hawaiian lap slides and conventional guitars and currently have an 12 fret 0-16 style under construction which is all Blackwood.

I think it sounds great. It has fewer upper order harmonics than Spruce and thus has more of the fundamental note in the tone.

Thin it a little more than usual, take a bit more off the braces than you usually would and you should end up with a really nice instrument.

Mind you there is Blackwood and there is Blackwood!! I've had some which is a dead as a doornail and quite heavy which probably won't work that well. However if it is reasonably light in weight and resonant you should be fine.

Regards

[kiwigeo]

I've built several, both Hawaiian lap slides and conventional guitars and currently have an 12 fret 0-16 style under construction which is all Blackwood.

I think it sounds great. It has fewer upper order harmonics than Spruce and thus has more of the fundamental note in the tone.

Thin it a little more than usual, take a bit more off the braces than you usually would and you should end up with a really nice instrument.

Mind you there is Blackwood and there is Blackwood!! I've had some which is a dead as a doornail and quite heavy which probably won't work that well. However if it is reasonably light in weight and resonant you should be fine.

Regards

Ive just finished sorting through around 60 blackwood back and side sets in my shop today. I did a bit of tapping and there were quite a few sets that had a very "glassy" tone.

[Jim]

Thanks for the advice fellas. I'm still a novice on (every!) the choosing wood front so I'll try to find something 1/4 sawn and light if I can.
Cheers
Jim

[curly]

G'day Jim ,
I agree with the comments earlier about Blackwood being variable . It has a huge distribution range and also grows across quite diverse habitats . The stand genetic variability is very high and distribution genetics as well .
I've supplied a heap of Blackwood from wetter districts wholesale for soundboards along with a bit of retail . I've found that wet ground Blackwood is more even in growth with less dense , narrower late wood bands . Otways stock is the best I've gotten , next is swamp stuff from north west tassie . Material from drier districts I've tested out to 800+ kg a cube whilst the lightest Otway stuff can be as low as the high 400's .
Tall , straight grain , young to middle age trees are the ticket .
Pete
Curly timbers

[Jim]

Thanks Pete, you're a wealth of information. Appreciate you and every else contributing expertise!

[ozziebluesman]

Hi Jim,
I built a 018 all Blackwood sometime back and I thought it was very good tonally.
My Son uses it and likes the guitar with a k&k Mini Western system.
Here are a few pics.
Cheers
Alan

[Jim]

Beautiful Alan, I'm inspired. Very sweet looking little number. Yeah, I think I'll give it a go.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Jim.
The top was especially chosen for this build.
It was stiff, light in weight and responsive.
Not sure if you have material but if not, give Tim Spittle a call and he can select suitable top, back and a sides set for you.
Cheers
Alan

[Jim]

Thanks Alan,

Yeah the top's the key isn't it.....

[Mark McLean]

Sounds like Martin has a few of those in his stash - and he has been selling a lot of stuff lately. Just sayin'.........

[kiwigeo]

Sounds like Martin has a few of those in his stash - and he has been selling a lot of stuff lately. Just sayin'.........

Ive just finished sorting through the back and side stash and I do have more Blackwood sets than I really need. There's a few solo backs but theyre very dense and I don't think they'd make the best tops. The better stuff is The Ottways wood as Curly mentioned above....I have a few sets I got off Bob a while back.

[ozziebluesman]

Yes my top was chosen by Bob and is Ottway Blackwood.
Unless you know the right person that has the experience to choose a top it will be difficult to build a good sounding guitar.
Cheers
Alan

[curly]

That topic had me thinking about the weight of Blackwood , so i fished a stick out that I remembered as being at the lighter end of stuff I've handled . It cubed out to 438 kg a cube which is probably a bit high considering the factory humidistat is reading 80%+ this week . Ive also cubed drier district stock at over 800 , damn near enough to double .
One of the problems of being a sawmiller is that aside from selecting stock by district its hard to tell what the finished product will weigh . That ultra light rainforest stock can actually weigh more in log form than the heavy stuff by being full of water . The main giveaway is close attention to the end grain . Light timber tends to have broad early wood and narrow late wood bands , heavy wood is the opposite .
The interplay between weight and stiffness ( to say nothing of internal damping ) is a whole other thing though . Keeps it interesting though , puzzling over it all whilst feeding the machines
Pete
Curly Timbers