Oak as a Tonewood (Help Light!)

[ibanezrocks]

Why is it that Oak has never caught on as a tonewood? John Petrucci's guitar is made of oak and Brian May's red special is part oak.

 

[Light]

Well, I've never used it myself. I know I've heard of people using it with good results, though I can't remember who.

Mostly, I would guess, it is because people are not used to it. Guitar builders and (espesecially) guitar buyers are very conservative in their wood choices.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Dani Pace]

I was in furnature/antique restoration for 12 years before I got into repairing guitars (I worked on a lot of oak pieces.) Probably one of the main reasons oak is not used is that it is a VERY open grain wood. This makes it difficult to get a super smooth high gloss finish. Oak is also very moisture sensitive (this is why oak flooring buckles unless it is sealed properly) and takes many years to cure under a tightly controlled (temp and humidity) situation, otherwise it will crack. Oak has wide bands of soft and hard grains which may have an affect on tone and sustain. Oak is also a rather heavy wood. There is no real reason why oak couldn't be used for a guitar but there are a lot of little reasons why it is not commonly used. Personally I would like to see more cherry and walnut used for guitars.

 

[andyhix]

I was in furnature/antique restoration for 12 years before I got into repairing guitars (I worked on a lot of oak pieces.) Probably one of the main reasons oak is not used is that it is a VERY open grain wood. This makes it difficult to get a super smooth high gloss finish. Oak is also very moisture sensitive (this is why oak flooring buckles unless it is sealed properly) and takes many years to cure under a tightly controlled (temp and humidity) situation, otherwise it will crack.

True for red oak but not white.

 

[ocnor]

Back in the 80's a friend of mine built a strat style guitar from white oak. That thing was so freakin' heavy that you would need to have a pretty strong back to hold it up for an entire show.

 

[andyhix]

I think my les paul might be made of white oak and lead. I've been playing it regularly for several years, and as much as I love it, I still get excited to take a break and give my shoulder a rest.

 

[guitar junkie]

Martin once made some Oak guitars....

they never sold well though

i understand they sounded great but never took off!

Taylor made some awesome guitars as a gag Bob Taylor built a guitar on the CNC with nothing but the wood from dock skids...

and maybe some pine board for the top or something....

the things we well made just like any other Taylor and sounded great as well....

i think that we need to use more native woods that are less rare and cheaper....

in studio i have this rocking guitar made of cherry from the Godin family of guitars...

the best sounding martin (one of any way) was made of Ash wood...

it was swamp ash made from some place where the town was going to build a strip mall....

great guitar, cheap too!

man i wish i had gotten it

 

[gvarko]

Mmmm, yes

Personally I would like to see more cherry and walnut used for guitars.

Walnut is schweeet!!