Guitar wood

bozmillar

bozmillar

New member
so I'm building an electric violin. It's the first one I've ever built, so I'm bound to screw up a lot of things. Because of that I'm just going to use cheap wood from home depot.

Other than tone, is there any reason that using construction wood (pine) is a bad idea? All I care about is that it holds the strings in place. I don't want it to turn into a horseshoe or anything. Is the wood just too green and soft and end up warping like crazy? Or should it hold just fine?

Any one have any experience or have any insight to why it should or should not work? Again, I don't care about tone, I just want to be able to practice at night when the kids are sleeping.
 
I'll let the more experienced luthiers answer your questions but i don't see the point of building something with crap materials.Suppose you suprise yourself and and do a pretty decent job?You'll be banging your head against the wall for going the cheap way.

Even so,if it doesn't turn out well,you'll still learn how to work with the better materials and get to know the characteristics of the wood.I feel you should do the best possible job you can,that way the next one you build will be even better.
 
I see what you're saying, but there are plenty of reasons to use cheap wood. Most obvious reason is that it cost less. a 2x4 cost less than $2, plus it's a 2 minute drive to go pick up more wood if I need it. maybe I haven't researched enough, but I can't find any tonewood for less than $40 for a block. maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Secondly, it's an electric violin, which kind of by definition sounds crappy anyways. No need to spend money on good wood if it's going to sound crappy no matter what.

Thirdly, I'm cheap. Honestly, I'll probably get more self satisfaction out if it knowing I built an electric violin for under $30 than I would knowing that I built one that sounds great.

It's really as much an experiment as it is anything else. if this goes well, I will probably try a cello next. For that one i will probably use better wood, at least for the neck since it will have much higher tension.
 
my feeling on using pine is that it is a good starter wood because it works easily, is easy on tools, and is cheap if you have to start over. In fact, pine has been used on some well known instruments, and is often used in amp cabs. I assume this will be a solid body project.

That said, pine is a soft wood and not too dense, which makes its use in musical instruments uncommon because of its lack of resonance and durability. I also dont care for the way pine takes finish or paint.

I believe that HD carries poplar, which would be a better choice for that project...Ive made a lapsteel or two out of poplar with good results...maple would be the best choice and can be had for $5 a board foot
 
in a little row said:
my feeling on using pine is that it is a good starter wood because it works easily, is easy on tools, and is cheap if you have to start over. In fact, pine has been used on some well known instruments, and is often used in amp cabs. I assume this will be a solid body project.

That said, pine is a soft wood and not too dense, which makes its use in musical instruments uncommon because of its lack of resonance and durability. I also dont care for the way pine takes finish or paint.

I believe that HD carries poplar, which would be a better choice for that project...Ive made a lapsteel or two out of poplar with good results...maple would be the best choice and can be had for $5 a board foot
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Awesome, thanks for the info. I'll look into getting some poplar for this probably. Would that be hard enough for a fingerboard? Obviously not ideal, but I don't want dents showing up in the fingerboard from playing.
 
np...for the fingerboard, youre going to want something hard and dense to resist the wear from strings...while ebony/rosewood are the traditional favorites, red oak would work and is available at the same HD...hard to work with however, make sure your tools are sharp and gettiing the right radius on the fingerboard might be tough.
 
Might I suggest going onto your local Craigslist and buying a cheap violin and then buying a violin pickup?
 
in a little row said:
np...for the fingerboard, youre going to want something hard and dense to resist the wear from strings...while ebony/rosewood are the traditional favorites, red oak would work and is available at the same HD...hard to work with however, make sure your tools are sharp and gettiing the right radius on the fingerboard might be tough.
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sweet, thanks again. Yeah, I think the fingerboard is going to be the last step. Going to be the hardest part to get right. Not only getting the radius right, but getting it as flat as possible.
 
WalterDeAguero said:
Might I suggest going onto your local Craigslist and buying a cheap violin and then buying a violin pickup?
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eh, I alreay have a cheap violin. I'm needing a solid body now. And I can't stand the sound of piezo pickups. I'm going to wind my own picups.

The only thing I'm going to buy pre-made is the output jack and the tuners (guitar tuners). I'm just going to snag one of the tone pots from my guitar, since I never use it.
 
in a little row said:
That said, pine is a soft wood and not too dense, which makes its use in musical instruments uncommon because of its lack of resonance and durability. I also dont care for the way pine takes finish or paint.
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This is wrong. Various pines and spruces have been used successfully for hundreds of years. What is resonance or lack of?
 
The most important consideration when selecting a timber for a musical instrument is that it will hold up structurally to the job in hand. Assuming you are not doing anything to fancy in terms of outline or blind cuts pine would work fine.

The trick is to make sure it is dry and as close to quarter cut as you can get. If it has any knots or shakes best not to use it but with care you can get around them if you know what your doing.

I tend to agree with others though. If you are serious and going to devote time and effort into a project like that go the extra mile and get something a little more suitable. You can get some of the fruitwoods cheaply and easily and also some of the faux mahoganies. If you're looking at a solid colour finish basswood or poplar are fine. All of these will work just as easily as pine if not easier. There is no harm in experimenting with pine or spruce however. Have fun with it.
 
in a little row said:
np...for the fingerboard, youre going to want something hard and dense to resist the wear from strings...while ebony/rosewood are the traditional favorites, red oak would work and is available at the same HD...hard to work with however, make sure your tools are sharp and gettiing the right radius on the fingerboard might be tough.
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A violin fingerboard is actually quite cheap. I'd look at buying one. If you don't want to work with ebony or rosewood. Maple or beech would be a better substitute than Oak which has a very open grain.
 
The pine from your local home improvement center will be too green IMO. Do you know anyone who might have some old cutoffs that have been stored for a while? Check with a flooring company for fingerboard material. They may have some cutoffs that you could use for fingerboards, pegs, tailpiece, chinrest, nut, etc. Brazillian walnut (Ipe) is a popular flooring that would look very good and serve well, as would many other flooring materials.

Violin strings are not always designed with magnetic pickups in mind and the radius of the strings will make the pickup design a challenge.

Good luck to you.
 
muttley600 said:
A violin fingerboard is actually quite cheap. I'd look at buying one. If you don't want to work with ebony or rosewood. Maple or beech would be a better substitute than Oak which has a very open grain.
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Hey, you're right. Looks like ebay can find me an ebony fingerboard for under $15. Probably worth it, since that was the one part I was concerned about getting perfect.
 
mcmetal said:
I'll let the more experienced luthiers answer your questions but i don't see the point of building something with crap materials.Suppose you suprise yourself and and do a pretty decent job?You'll be banging your head against the wall for going the cheap way.

Even so,if it doesn't turn out well,you'll still learn how to work with the better materials and get to know the characteristics of the wood.I feel you should do the best possible job you can,that way the next one you build will be even better.
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He is right. Why not buy a kit?
 
You might want to check this out:
http://www.mother-of-tone.com/mother.htm

It's real important to tap the wood and go through maybe 20 pieces and pick the best sounding one. I go for ones with the lowest fundamentals, which end up being the lighter density, lighter weight ones usually.

Charles Altmann is an out of the box thinker, and most people ridicule him and think he's nuts. That's easy to do. I don't because I've proven to myself he isn't. Here's the JBL cab I made, inspired from his site. There's a complete lack of harshness. I use it at gigs and no way I'm going back to the Plastic Era.
JBLPACAB.jpg
 
Slowrider said:
Most people think if it's made in a factory, it must be good.

I like your cabinet, BTW.:cool:
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Thanks.
Go up to any of the JBL cabinets with the metal speaker grilles, hit the grille and tell me it doesn't sound near identical to a garbage can.
 
dintymoore said:
You might want to check this out:
http://www.mother-of-tone.com/mother.htm

It's real important to tap the wood and go through maybe 20 pieces and pick the best sounding one. I go for ones with the lowest fundamentals, which end up being the lighter density, lighter weight ones usually.

Charles Altmann is an out of the box thinker, and most people ridicule him and think he's nuts. That's easy to do. I don't because I've proven to myself he isn't. Here's the JBL cab I made, inspired from his site. There's a complete lack of harshness. I use it at gigs and no way I'm going back to the Plastic Era.
JBLPACAB.jpg
Click to expand...

Dude I know it's Christmas but PURLEEZ....most of the content of that link is LOL. Thanks for the belly laughs.;)
 
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