Paulownia Acoustic Top

[mjc]

Hey all,

Paulownia as a top wood for an Acoustic Guitar.

I know this has been brought up before and some people say it can’t be used and others use it but I have been asked to build a ‘sustainable guitar’ from recycled or sustainable materials and I’m interested in using paulownia as a top wood.

I’m building an L-00 sized guitar with tradition X bracing. If anyone could help me with a start top thickness or any tips would be appreciated.

I’ll still just brace, bend, tap repeat but a starting point would help.

Thanks,

Matt

[seeaxe]

No idea sorry Matt. Assume you have googled other resources??.
I think the lack of response here indicates either no-one has done it or no one would want to.

Personally id thin the top wood, before joining it, to something like 5mm and tap it. If it sounds ok experiment going thinner. Once it goes all muddy id stop or even bin that and go a bit thicker.

Good luck

[mjc]

That’s what I was thinking.
Thanks for the reply.

[kiwigeo]

The main reason I don't use Paulownia......it's Modulus of Elasticity is very low compared to something like Spruce (4.38GPa versus 11.03GPa...average figures). That said its used a lot on Japanese and Chinese traditional instruments and Ive seen a few people make decent guitars using the stuff. Id be looking carefully at how thin you take the top and bracing design.

[jeffhigh]

Bear in mind that usage on traditional Japanese and Chinese instuments would be using a talipiece not a glued bridge and that does make a difference.

[kiwigeo]

Good point...

Bear in mind that usage on traditional Japanese and Chinese instuments would be using a talipiece not a glued bridge and that does make a difference.

[Allen]

Beau Hannam built a tenor uke with Paulownia about 7-8 months ago as part of a project using wood from President Carters plantation. He laminated the soundboard with spruce as it was just not suitable on it's own. Also ended up using a dark sunburst stain on the instrument as it's just plain dog ugly on its own.

At the end of the day, it still has to be an instrument. You are the builder and it's up to you to make it work as you see fit. Personally I'd be using a spurce soundboard that was salvaged timber like Brent Cole in Alaska supplies.

[sebastiaan56]

I built a fiddle using Paulownia for the top. It was certainly loud enough and very responsive. It will work well for flat top instruments but yes the work on thickness and bracing needs to be done.

There are a number of challenges with the material. The first is the appearance. I had to pore fill to get it looking good. I expect there will be a lot of painted tops. It is also hard to get good quartersawn stock. But I think it has great promise, particulalry as it grows so well in Australia.

For a great explanation of the history in Chinese instruments the Savart Journal has a paper named Three millennia of tonewood knowledge in Chinese guqin tradition: science, culture, value, and relevance for Western lutherie, well worth reading.

[Trevor Gore]

Paulownia has a similar range in long grain Young's modulus as King Billy, but typically is around 75% the density. As ever, it's critical to measure the piece of wood you are about to build with, but I can't see why Equ. 4.5-7 wouldn't work to tell you how thick to leave it.

[mjc]

Thanks for all input guys! I’ll see how I go.. seems hard to find good quarter sawn stock.
Leaning towards a different timber at the moment after reading all this.

[56nortondomy]

If you're going through all the work to build a guitar then give it it's best chance of being something great, use a good quality top that's known to work, spruce, WRC, huon, why take a chance on a largely unknown timber, just my opinion. I use paulowonia for my lattice bracing and find it good for that.
Wayne