Official Luthiers Forum!

I've got this really cool top of Cedar of Lebanon from RussellR (thanks, Russell), which is just begging for a Biblical theme-- you know, woods from the Holy Land, or at least mentioned in the Bible. I'm thinking Olivewood for the backs and sides. Does anyone have a lead on that? I don't care if Olive isn't the most resonant species on the planet, it's just something to try.

Thanks for any help,
Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Wasn't the ark of the covenant built out of acacia?

Not sure if that is the same species as what we use... but it might be worth a little looking into.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Yes, and parts of the Tabernacle were as well.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Steve

Steve at Colonial has some acacia sets on his site.

Hey Steve,
How about some gopher wood? I'd say a couple of cubits ought to do it

You could also use cypress or fig.   Also, depending on the translation, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree.

What about shittim wood. I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible. If you always spelled it and never pronounced it things would be just fine. I always thought shittim was very resonant.

BTW Steve, some of that stuff was also covered in gold. PRICEY! That guitar better be annointed and dedicated!

This is from Easton's Dictionary"
Shittim -    acacias, also called "Abel-shittim" (Num. 33:49), a plain or valley in the land of Moab where the Israelites were encamped after their two victories over Sihon and Og, at the close of their desert wanderings, and from which Joshua sent forth two spies (q.v.) "secretly" to "view" the land and Jericho (Josh. 2:1).

Mentioned 32 times in the Bible (OT).

From Webster's 1828 Dictionary -
poop'TAH,   n. In Scripture , a sort of precious wood of which the tables, altars and
poop'TAM,    boards of the tabernacle were made among the Jews. The wood is said to be hard, tough and smooth, and very beautiful.

Gopher wood -
a tree from the wood of which Noah was directed to build the ark (Gen. 6:14). It is mentioned only there. The LXX. render this word by "squared beams," and the Vulgate by "planed wood." Other versions have rendered it "pine" and "cedar;" but the weight of authority is in favour of understanding by it the cypress tree, which grows abundantly in Chaldea and Armenia.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Shittim has my vote.....If Lance see this thread he might delete it. Steve has some very nice.....um......Acacia

Neat idea, Steve. I made my brother in law a desk set out of biblical woods (he's a preacher). The base was cedar of Lebanon, pens were turned from olive wood and a clock enclosure was made from Mediteranian acacia (Ark of the Covenant). They look really good together. I haven't seen olive large enough for a b/s set. You could use acacia for b/s and olive for bridge, peghead, pickguard, binding, etc.

I sure want to see your final product.

Ronold man38624.9336689815

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

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

Try Hibdon Hardwoods at http://www.hibdonhardwood.com/guitarsets.asp
for olive wood sets. My buddy, Lance McCollum used some an it turned out spectacular.
Then you won't have to worry about pronunciation!

Hey Hank, think you could round up pix? Purty please?

Thanks guys,
I had a feeling you would be able to point in the right direction.
I'm leaning away from Acacia, simply because I've used it a bunch, and the Olivewood seems like such a worthwhile companion to the C. of Lebanon. Maybe Acacia for the neck and bindings, sort of the opposite of what Ron suggested.
Of course, if I was a purist, I'd go to the Holy land and pick out the wood myself.

But I'm no purist.

Hank--thanks for the tip...I'll go look those guys up.
They've supplied some good woods in the past. Don't know why I didn't think of them.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve you've got to bind it in Apple (or should that be pomegranate) and have one of those serpent rosettes you know with its tail in it's mouth.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Hey Guys,
not a newbie but i think its my first post here.
i live in ISRAEL , and have just supplied wood to a local sculpturer who wanted to use three specific species that he knew were used for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
the woods were olive-wood(from eatern jerusalem), cedar of lebanon and cypress.
if you are intereted in "holy land" olive wood i might be able to help.
Luigi(ggdelazzer) who is a forum member also has some fantastic italian olive sets.
Shittim(plural) or in its singular form - Shita, is indeed an Acacia but it is pretty difficult to get it large enough around here for well quartered backs/sides.
i have some old "shita" logs but doubt if they'll be worth the time of slicing them up.
any way, i m not a wood dealer nor m i interested in being one, but if theres something you need from around here "i know people who know people" ;)

enjoy the weekend all!
Udi.

[QUOTE=Terry Stowell] Hey Hank, think you could round up pix? Purty please?[/QUOTE]

I'll talk to Lance today and see if he has a photo he can post. Don't see it on his new web site.

And....will the rosette be a Crown of Thorns? Or is this an Old Testament theme?

Here you go guys,by the way olive and cedar sounds great, I got mine at Hibdon years ago, wish I had more?http://mccollumguitars.com/photos/dawns_back_low.jpg
Lance

[QUOTE=HankMauel] [QUOTE=Terry Stowell] Hey Hank, think you could round up pix? Purty please?[/QUOTE]

I'll talk to Lance today and see if he has a photo he can post. Don't see it on his new web site.

And....will the rosette be a Crown of Thorns? Or is this an Old Testament theme? [/QUOTE]

I too think this could take all kinds of cool twists and turns.

If you were doing it as a symbol of the REGION and not a particular religion.. you could weave in Judism, Islam and Christianity... all three of the world's major religions consider the same spot of earth as holy. And... historically speaking all are basically brother and sister religions.

That could be kind of cool.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

[QUOTE=vachterm] Hey Guys,
not a newbie but i think its my first post here.
i live in ISRAEL , and have just supplied wood to a local sculpturer who wanted to use three specific species that he knew were used for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
the woods were olive-wood(from eatern jerusalem), cedar of lebanon and cypress.
if you are intereted in "holy land" olive wood i might be able to help.
Luigi(ggdelazzer) who is a forum member also has some fantastic italian olive sets.
Shittim(plural) or in its singular form - Shita, is indeed an Acacia but it is pretty difficult to get it large enough around here for well quartered backs/sides.
i have some old "shita" logs but doubt if they'll be worth the time of slicing them up.
any way, i m not a wood dealer nor m i interested in being one, but if theres something you need from around here "i know people who know people" ;)

enjoy the weekend all!
Udi.[/QUOTE]

First off, welcome, Vachterm!
Second, thanks for the post.
Third, this is all very interesting. And, I AM interested in some "holy land" olive wood. If it is usable, or large enough. Otherwise, the Italian Olive sounds intriguing. And as much as I love Colin's idea of the apple, is your "shita" of usable enough size to get some bindings? (They don't chew up a lot of wood....)

Fourthly--you say you live in Israel, but your info lists you as located in Italy? Dual citizenship? Summer home in the Italian Alps? Whatever, it's nice you chimed in.

Thanks guys,
Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=HankMauel]
And....will the rosette be a Crown of Thorns? Or is this an Old Testament theme? [/QUOTE]

I dunno, Hank. Haven't gotten that far in the planning process. But these are all great ideas, and the wheels are starting to turn a bit in the old noggin.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve,
This is really a cool Idea.....I can't wait to see the finished product!! Will you document the process?

You betcha, Brian. And now that our power is back on!!! it won't be so hard.

How about a rosette with a pomegranate and a bell, a pomegranate and a bell... like on the hem of the high priest's robe? That repeating theme might work.
(Well, it worked for him.)

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

This pic is from Hanks link. It is one of the olive sets this guy has.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

This is the other set he has for sale.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Glad to hear your power is back on Steve.