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Hi guys.

This looks to be about 30 degrees off or less depending where you look. Is it worth making tops out of or not.

I think it's redwood but has real tight grain looks more like cedar as far as grain. Any guesses? Suppose to be about 100 years old. Taken from a barn here locally.

Any thoughts?







RCoates38472.9315277778

I could use it for ukes, but for a full size guitar I'd be wary.... but if it is
real stiff then that would be the most important part I think... but
normally off quarter is not stiff....

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Bracewood....

[QUOTE=Mario] Bracewood....[/QUOTE]

I was afraid of that. Oh well. I have four or five more of these some are worse, maybe some are better. I'll have to look.

They're not that far off quarter, but enough so. How's the runout? Do you know how to "read" it?

When in doubt, they become back braces, side braces, laminated end blocks, etc... Lots of uses for it!

Looks like redwood to me. The only way to know if it is stiff enough is to resaw a slice and flex it. Off-quarter isn't necessarily a kiss of death, but an extremely good indicator. I've had some off-quarter wood that was equally as stiff as quartered wood. You never know. More than likely, it's bracewood etc, but you'll have to take the slice to know.

_________________
"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."

As Don suggests, the degree of quarter is not a good predictor of stiffness; stability, yes.

Runout would be my concern too.

if anything i'm more critical of bracewood having run out and being off quarter then top wood.

given the alternating fluctuations in the grain widths shown in the photos it doesn't appear to be cosmetically what you would want on an instrument built for sale anyway.          ;           ;           ;           ;           ;     if you are wanting to use it for experimentation or prototypes or similar uses, why not.

if anything i'm more critical of bracewood having run out and being off quarter then top wood.

Of course, but these can split nicely, dead-on quarter, and they are thick enough to split both directions, as long as the runout isn't crazy.

granted, but i based my comment on the boards appearance of being only about 1" thick at most, and thus when split and squared would only give 1/2" or so, rather low braces. if my perception of the thickness is off then the resulting brace stock might be thicker, or thinner, as the case might be.

Michael you're right after spliting they would work for classical braces but steel string might be pushing it.

Mario I like the alternate use ideas...

And to Mario or anyone else;

No I don't know how to read runout. I've read a few articles, but it still won't sink in (as in I don't have a freakin clue). If anyone would like to run a little online class I'll take a seat up front.

I've seen Dana do it by taking a razor blade and sticking it in the end a
tiny bit and then cranking on it to see which way the piece pulled up.. if
at an angle then runout is bad if pretty straight then it is cool....

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com