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[QUOTE=ATaylor] Sound diffusers - cool. Natural egg crates.

So, a newbie question: How does curly wood get curly anyway? If I were wandering in the Redwoods (close by), what would one look for? [/QUOTE]

Compiano has a great write up in his web articles on what causes curl. It can be both genetic and environmental. In short it is the collapse of newer cells followed by normal growth. that is a very simplified explination from a very simple guy MichaelP38723.711087963

"Do you guys harvest these Giant Redwoods or do you use wind fallen
trees?"

I've only cut one tree down in 25 years, and that was a maple that
had to be taken out...

I could never cut an old growth conifer....
With windfalls and sawmills, there's really no need.
You can dig into a sawmill/windfall tree and see if it's exactly what you're
after, which is really important.

Nothing would be worse that cutting down an old growth spruce and
finding out it's riddled with pitch pockets, or starts to twist 10' up the
tree--things that are hard to detect in a core-sample.

And I can't even imagine cutting down a redwood...
It's just wrong.
Only 4% of the original stands of Redwood remain today, and if you've
ever
seen second growth redwood, you'll realize how valuable that 4% is...

Most of the wood I get comes out of bogs or rivers and is salvaged.
Redwood doesn't tend to rot or stain like spruce when exposed to the
elements, so your salvaging options are greatly expanded....

"I can imagine that one tree must provide a lot of timber or is it not all
useable ?"

Well, you can cut a lot of guitar tops out of a nice redwood windfall,
mainly because you can get 4-5 courses of tight-grained wood out of a
tree, whereas 3 is the most I ever cut out of a Sitka and that was 12 foot
in diameter...

And even then the courses towards the center of the Sitka were pretty
wide in their grain spacing...

I was at the southern-most Sequoia grove last week. It is a beautiful experience to walk among these giants. It helps a lot with perspective. If you haven't done it, put it on your list.
I can't help but wonder what a sequoia top/ rosewood back SJ would sound like. If one fell, it would be nice to make one or two.

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I have decided to go with cedar instead of figure redwoodSteveS38723.9595949074

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Man i gotta go hug a tree!

Just realized how much i love trees and since my french name means pear tree, it kinda touches a sensible chord!

Especially when i know how many beautiful things we can create out of trees, it reminds us to be careful on how to harvest...

SergeSerge Poirier38723.9984143519

I've gotten a few tops from Bruce Harvie (here known as Spruce) a few years back. I've built a few guitars with them, octave mandolins, too. In fact all of the redwood that I have ever built with comes from this batch I got from him. So anything redwood on my website is wood I got from Bruce...
And I happen to be finishing a redwood/walnut L-00 right now, here's a shot for you. I used amber shellac on the top before the lacquer, I love the warm color. One of the checks that Bruce mentioned popped up on this top, but I used it anyway! I made sure that it'll be under the pickguard, if you look closely you might be able to see it. Oh, the Fatboy Guitar that I use for my avatar is also that same redwood.
Bruce, I hope to see you at the GAL meet next summer!
Mark Swanson38724.4610532407

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

I really like the green neck on this one, a little thin but a nice contrast.

Ron

_________________
OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

"I can't help but wonder what a sequoia top/ rosewood back SJ would
sound like. If one fell, it would be nice to make one or two."

Sequoia is a different animal than it's coastal cousin...
The wood is very brittle, and in fact the trees shatter when they hit
the
ground.
It is said that that fact is what saved them from being logged into oblivion
back in the day...

I've only seen one piece of the wood, and it was indeed very soft to the
fingernail and seemed to be pretty wimpy....

"Bruce, I hope to see you at the GAL meet next summer! "

I'll be there...!

Bruce, are you coming down to Marylhurst in April? I need some more of that redwood for a 335ish order.

GD

Mark that guitar looks beautiful as does al your work.

Bruce Harvie? Well I'll be darn No wonder I enjoy his posts. Full of good info. Thanks Bruce!!

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hey GD...

What are the dates this year for Marylhurst?
Can't seem to dig up anything on a Google search.

Love to come on down for that....

I'll be at the Alaska Folk Festival in
Juneau from April 3-9, so I hope there's no conflict....

I continue to be mystified as to why anyone would want to maximize grain
runout on a guitar top, even more so with a wood that is rather fragile even
without runout.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

"I continue to be mystified as to why anyone would want to maximize
grain runout on a guitar top..."

On a flat top with all the fixed-bridge implications, I would tend to
agree with you....

Glueing to endgrain and all that....

But on an archtop, I think curly redwood can work just fine.
And it can be so incredibly beautiful...
And it can sound good.

And aren't you theoretically introducing runout to any carved top
instrument?
The arch certainly doesn't follow the split of the wood...

"...even more so with a wood that is rather fragile even
without runout."

Once it's dry and stable, it's not all that delicate...

Hesh,
That thing looks great. It'll be a killer under finish.
However, I thought we already had a talk about using tape for your labels.

I love it when curly redwood "chevrons" like that...
Beautiful wood....

Is that an old Twin or a Re-ish?

Great lookin' top Hesh, i'd love to seeit too when finished!

Serge

Hesh,
That looks great. So, what thickness did you make the top? Let us know how it sounds.

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Hesh, beautiful guitar! Is is built from the JS plans available here on the OLF?

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I can understand the doubts that Howard talks about, and I do wonder about them. But the funny thing is, I have never had one of these tops fail, but I have had other tops fail on me.
I have thought about the runout. And I think that these tops remain strong because the runout is so very short through each curl, and not like one wave or curl that might spread out over 6-8" of top. Something about the way it is distributed across the top may help it stay strong...I don't know for sure but there must be a reason for it. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone having one of these tops fail for that reason, now that I think of it. Mark Swanson38726.4388888889

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Thanks for the info Hesh. I am ordering a set of OM plans as well, along with the Woolson neck jig plan. I have the SJ plans and thought your guitar looked like them, but looking at plans and looking at the finished product can sometimes be deceiving.

Great job, looking forward to seeing it with finish!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Marylhurst will be April 22 & 23 this year. They don't have the website up yet but you can contact Cyndie Burton for more info.

GD