WHere might one find a solid chuck of Maple wood?
- Thread starter Bow
- Start date
I don't think that you will find a piece of maple that wide. Most guitar bodies are made from two matchbooked slabs that are glued together. Some neck-thru guitars are made of three seperate. Being in Texas, you should be able to find a hardwood suplier localy. Check the yellow pages under lumber and woodcrafting. Also check the yellow pages for sign maker who specialize in sandblasted wooden signs, they should be able to tell you were they get there timber from. Also keep in mind that maples are very hard and sometimes hard to work with.
John Sayers
Solar Power!!
Hey Bow - I live in the rainforest area of Australia - you wouldn't consider rosewood?
cheers
John
cheers
John
Daddy-O is correct on all counts. I have had experience working with maple. It is very hard. The main problem I had, after gluing multiple peices together to make a larger board (has nothing to do with the problem I encountered), I ran it through a planer to level everything out and it had a tendency to chip. It was not just on the edges. My best sugestion would be to go to a lumber yard and have them do the matching and gluing and making the peice ready for you to cut out. Also, you will need to take extra caution when carving out the cavities due to the hardness of the wood. You may want to consider other woods. And last. but not least, Plan, Plan, Plan. If you are going to spend money on a good peice ow wood, you do not want to mess it up. You may even try a practice run on a cheap peice of pine.
Good luck man.
Good luck man.
Not sure if you are interested, but companies like warmoth (www.warmoth.com) have guitar bodies - blanks and shaped - they obviously are more expensive than going to a wood supplier but you can have them routed any way you want, ahead of time. I know warmoth has "soloist" bodies, which are pretty much the shape of the George Lynch Models.
Stan Williams
New member
Maple
Ive been building solid body guitars and semi-hollow body guitars since 1984, I don't think you are going to find any maple boards that wide. You can find maple about 7 or 8 in. wide. Maple is hard on tools and bits, but you have to thickness sand it to the final thickness with a good drum sander if it has a lot of figure. I'm not sure what tone you are going for but with a solid maple guitar it will be very bright with alot of sustain.
Ive been building solid body guitars and semi-hollow body guitars since 1984, I don't think you are going to find any maple boards that wide. You can find maple about 7 or 8 in. wide. Maple is hard on tools and bits, but you have to thickness sand it to the final thickness with a good drum sander if it has a lot of figure. I'm not sure what tone you are going for but with a solid maple guitar it will be very bright with alot of sustain.
Roktuk
God Bless The Apocalypse
Bow
3 Days Drunk
Hey! Thanks guys!
I am aware that maple is harder than hell, I am originally from upstate NY....[yes, I have boiled maple sap into maple syrup...5 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup]. I told my wife, doesn't it figure, I live in Houston and can't find a chunk of maple, up in NY we used to clear it yearly.
Stan- the tone I am shooting for is just that, bright with tons of sustain...like George Lynch's guitars, His ESP sig. models are 1 piece maple bodies like 1.75" thick! They jump out of the mix with a hell of an edge to the tone!
Jeff- Thanks, I would LOVE to be back up north...the wood in Houston SUCKS!...of course...if I wanted to make a guitar out of Mesquite....
John- Rosewood....for the whole guitar? whoa...like Jimmy Page's Tele?
Adam- Thanks, I checked there, but they don't carry Maple bodies...
JC- The practice pine idea is a good one, thanks for the idea...hell, I might end up with 2 bodies....a pine body...can't sound any worse than plywood!
Roktuk- thanks for the link...I looked in my older catalog, but no Maple....
Thanks all! If you have more tips, suggestions, or ideas, please post them. This will be my first guitar build, I have refinished 2 before, but this is the first build
What are these strings for?
Bow
I am aware that maple is harder than hell, I am originally from upstate NY....[yes, I have boiled maple sap into maple syrup...5 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup]. I told my wife, doesn't it figure, I live in Houston and can't find a chunk of maple, up in NY we used to clear it yearly.
Stan- the tone I am shooting for is just that, bright with tons of sustain...like George Lynch's guitars, His ESP sig. models are 1 piece maple bodies like 1.75" thick! They jump out of the mix with a hell of an edge to the tone!
Jeff- Thanks, I would LOVE to be back up north...the wood in Houston SUCKS!...of course...if I wanted to make a guitar out of Mesquite....
John- Rosewood....for the whole guitar? whoa...like Jimmy Page's Tele?
Adam- Thanks, I checked there, but they don't carry Maple bodies...
JC- The practice pine idea is a good one, thanks for the idea...hell, I might end up with 2 bodies....a pine body...can't sound any worse than plywood!
Roktuk- thanks for the link...I looked in my older catalog, but no Maple....
Thanks all! If you have more tips, suggestions, or ideas, please post them. This will be my first guitar build, I have refinished 2 before, but this is the first build
What are these strings for?
Bow
Bow -- Good Luck! Building my first guitar was fun and I learned alot about what goes into making a guitar sound the way it does.
BTW, I went to the warmoth site and at http://www.warmoth.com/frames14.htm it is says they offer maple bodies and descibes the 2 different types. Maybe they don't carry it any more or maybe it is just for tops, but this is what is says on the site.
In their "Thrift Store" there are many solid maple bodies - both 1 piece and 2 piece, a few soloist shapes in maple as well, though they are painted.
BTW, I went to the warmoth site and at http://www.warmoth.com/frames14.htm it is says they offer maple bodies and descibes the 2 different types. Maybe they don't carry it any more or maybe it is just for tops, but this is what is says on the site.
In their "Thrift Store" there are many solid maple bodies - both 1 piece and 2 piece, a few soloist shapes in maple as well, though they are painted.
effedupstrat
New member
Bow, dude, I'm from Western Massachusetts and I think you meant 5 gallons of sap makes one PINT of syrup (16 oz). My Pappy always told me that them thar Nyorkers weren't very sweet, maybe that's why. Now I gotta go hitch up Happy and Slappy (my oxen) and haul some slabs out to the sugarhouse...Yeehaw!
peace.
peace.
happy hour
New member
heh heh...
Why don't you just find an old maple desk and butcher it? If you left the veneer on that would make an intersetingly cool guitar!!
Why don't you just find an old maple desk and butcher it? If you left the veneer on that would make an intersetingly cool guitar!!
Bow
You can visit Constantines at http://www.constantines.com Another alternative would be to use a solid piece of mohogany (readily available in the size you require) and using a bird's eye maple or flame maple veneer on top. Mahogany will give you a nice warm tone and good sustain as well. I made one this way and it tastes great and is less filling.
You can visit Constantines at http://www.constantines.com Another alternative would be to use a solid piece of mohogany (readily available in the size you require) and using a bird's eye maple or flame maple veneer on top. Mahogany will give you a nice warm tone and good sustain as well. I made one this way and it tastes great and is less filling.
Bow
3 Days Drunk
Thanks donmuro!
I found that site the other day when you mentioned it.
I thought about mahogany, but I am not looking for a warm tone, I want a face removing shred tone....you know...straigh out of the 80's...
I have a mahogany LP copy that I refinished, an '93 American Standard Strat, and a Alder wood Ibanez with a single Dimarzio Tone Zone and a Floyd Rose that I stripped and refinished...
so I am cover a bunch of different tones...
But I was watching a George Lynch instructional video the other day, and his guitars have an awesome bright tone with a bunch of sustain...I am looking for that...but not the $1600 ESP George Lynch Sig. Series price tag!...
I found that site the other day when you mentioned it.
I thought about mahogany, but I am not looking for a warm tone, I want a face removing shred tone....you know...straigh out of the 80's...
I have a mahogany LP copy that I refinished, an '93 American Standard Strat, and a Alder wood Ibanez with a single Dimarzio Tone Zone and a Floyd Rose that I stripped and refinished...
so I am cover a bunch of different tones...
But I was watching a George Lynch instructional video the other day, and his guitars have an awesome bright tone with a bunch of sustain...I am looking for that...but not the $1600 ESP George Lynch Sig. Series price tag!...
I might be able to help you out. I'll go look in the stacks, but meanwhile check out my site:
http://www.rockisland.com/~tonewoods/
It's not all that hard to find figured maple in that width cut on the slab, but is a little more difficult on the quarter, especially with figure all the way across the piece.
I'd go with slab...
http://www.rockisland.com/~tonewoods/
It's not all that hard to find figured maple in that width cut on the slab, but is a little more difficult on the quarter, especially with figure all the way across the piece.
I'd go with slab...