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I've been asked to incorporate Lychee wood into my next build. Problem is that other than seeing a beautiful board, I know next to nothing about it. Goggle hasn't been overly helpful either.

I would like to use it as a fingerboard with matched finger rest and tailpiece and have the rest of the guitar be maple. Perhaps laminate it with maple for the neck. It feels like many dense tropical exotic lumber in my hands and to a small block plane, but I have little more than that to go on.

Does that make sense for this wood? Should I try to use it as back and side material instead?

Suggestions? Thoughts?


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Either I'm better at google or I got lucky and found this http://www.sanjuanventures.com/digital-samples/lychee/lychee-natural-finish/.
Hard as hickory and quite a bit heavier. Looks nice. I would stick with your plan for fingerboard and trim pieces. For neck laminations I'd use thin strips to keep the weight down. If you had planned on an acoustic bridge or back and sides I'd vote no.

Steve

Don't see why you couldn't use it almost anywhere, except as a neck wood, pretty dense.
As a FB, lots of harder wood is available.
Looks like it can be an very attractive wood. Any chance of a pic?
Is the plank fairly well quartered? s it resonant? Tap tone interesting?
Selling any?
Stop it Colin!!
W.A.S. is a terrible thing.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

If you go to the Wood Data Base http://www.wood-database.com you can compare it to the woods we commonly use. The Janka hardness and specific gravity are great benchmarks. Archtop or flat top? If you're carving an ache out of the back that would be a consideration. For a flat top I would not hesitate to use it for back and sides if it was pretty. Might be a little soft for an fb. Depends on the player I guess.

I couldn't find lychee on the wood database site. Does it have another name?

I'm planning to build a hollow body archtop, in the style of a L5. I will probably make the top out of the donated maple rather than spruce. It is for the school (Palomar college). Someone has donated Lychee and Maple (why those woods, I have no idea). Asked the school to show what can be done with the woods. Donation and good publicity to follow. It's a chance to do what I love and help the woodworking program that has given me so much.

I won't get to pick out boards for a while. The sample I saw were VERY beautiful.

As far as I know it will be a GLO hanging on a wall. But it could be regularly played. Just don't know.

I've seen Janka hardness as being ~1300 all the way to ~1800. At the top it's as hard as padauk, which I've used as fingerboard before without obvious problem. At the lower end, it seems unsuitable and my mind goes to back and sides.

I don't suppose there is anybody here who has actually used the stuff for anything?


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I resaw for a number of woodworkers here in Hawaii. Lychee is one of the few woods I will not resaw. Can be like cutting steel, is prone to checking, and is extremely heavy. The only use I know of it is for 1 piece chopping/cutting boards.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Ugh. Why couldn't this guy have donated some BRW!

That's what I needed to hear. I guess I'll shoot for fingerboard/finger rest/tailpiece and hope for the best.

Thanks!


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Greetings,

The pictures from the link that Steve put in his replay so wood that very much reminds me of Rambutan. Both Lychee and Rambutan are fruit trees that grow mainly in Southeast Asia. The fruit of the Rambutan (Loganberry) has a prickly outside while the Lychee has a smoother outside. Cut open the fruit looks pretty much the same which makes me think that they two are somehow related. Rambutan wood is heavy and hard. Has a very pronounced curl on a lot of boards. I think that either wood might require some filling since they both come from fruit trees which tend to be a little irregular in consistency due to pruning, etc. I believe that Rambutan would be a good substitute and make a beautiful guitar. I put up a post of some Rambutan pictures several years ago that may be still available. I cannot find the pictures on my computer right now, but the archives might still be available. FOUND ONE OF THE PICTURES!!!!!


Ken

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