Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone have any information on Sinker Redwood? I saw a couple of sets, the wood looks very nice and exotic for a top but I don't know what kind of tonewood it is or how it would sound....looks great for a SJ!

Any input would be extremely apreciated!

Thanks in advance

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Peter,
I bought five sets of the stuff from Allied Lutherie - I absolutely love how
it looks. The sinker redwood is very stiff - I would say it is on par with a
fairly strong spruce. The tap tone is incredible - by far and away the
coolest tap tone I have ever heard - and I almost always try to build with
mastergrade tops.

I have never built with it yet. I am saving it for something special.

I'm curious to hear whether anyone else has had experience with it.

I thought I read that 'sinker' wood was banned or restricted. If so, why?

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

Can anyone tell me what is sinker redwood?

Al

I honestly don't know for sure, but it was my understanding that when they floated the logs down river to the mills these were the ones that sank to the bottom. Somewhere along the lines they were reclaimed.

Again, that could be complete hogwash, but that is what I heard.

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

Yes 'sinker wood' is from logs that sank to the bottom, sometimes 100 years ago, when floating logs downstream. Some have become 'petrefied' and infused with the brine and elements in the water, sometimes creating beautiful colors and unique tone. There is some historical discussion about Stradivarius building his instruments from this type of wood.

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

No, it's true Brock. There are a few outfits in Northern California that salvaged some old-growth from the rivers up there. They did used to float them down the rivers and some sank. The state stopped the salvage efforts due to siltation of the streams. Salmom don't dig silt - and a good healthy salmon run is an awesome sight.

Dang salmon!!! How unthoughtful of them . Thanks for the info. Its a shame that sometimes what we want is not compatible with what is best for wildlife,and the environment. I think the salmon should win this one.

Al

SINKER REDWOOD

Logs that sank during transportation down river to the mills. Recently reclaimed, this wood has a beauty all its' own. The mineral deposits that have leached into the wood for the last 100 years or so from the river bottom environment have caused the wood to develop a rainbow of hues. Some of the colors that may be found in sinker wood are; pink, blue, green, purple, black and yellow. These colors sometimes run in streaks, pink and purple being the most common. Due to the salt content in the water that these logs spent the last 75 to 100 years in, a sort of petrifaction has occurred. This enables unbelievably beautiful wood to be cut out of this material. Sinker Redwood is 10 times harder than buckskins and harder than fir.

I like Salmon too!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

What, no piccys guys ?

You really can't generalize about "Sinker Redwood"...

I've ripped apart many-a-shakebolt of the stuff, and the wood is always
unique to that log....

Redwood varies from tree-to-tree more than any other conifer that I've
worked with, so this shouldn't be all that surprising...

So-ooo, approach it piece-by-piece...

You can go to Micheletti guitars and see a guitar there with a Sinker Redwood top.


http://www.michelettiguitars.com/gal7.html

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Thanks Peter for this great link, that sinker redwood top was awesome, so is the craftmanship of this luthier!

Stradivarius probably did not build with "sinker" wood as the area he took wood from (the Fiemme forest) does not have large enough rivers nearby to float logs to a sawmill. What he did build with is some Spruce that had discoloration from blue mold which can affect Spruce that has died while standing. It gives a greyish color to the wood but does not significantly weaken the wood like spalting would.

The Fiemme forest in Italy is a very small area and the spruce is really nice...GG is right, it is really nice wood.

I just aquired a set of jumbo size Sinker Redwood and as soon as I get it I'll be sure to post some pics!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Cool Peter, lookin' fw to seeing it too!

Serge

"What he did build with is some Spruce that had discoloration from blue
mold which can affect Spruce that has died while standing. It gives a greyish
color to the wood..."

Hi Shawn...

Do you have a source for this info?

Thanks!

Is it hard on the edged tools? My girlfriend( not a satisfying term for how I feel about her and sig...oth... is painfully politically correct)and I own a house on an island IN the Mississippi river here. We have some degree of flood every year(well the Lord shined on us last year-her dad and step-mom who are living there now didn't have to commute by boat) anyway, when we salvage hardwood downed trees for firewood we stay away from trees that have been in the water for long perions of time because they intantly kill the chain from the sand that has entered the outer 2" or more.