Beginner/Bunnings woods

[Kerplunk]

Hi all,
am getting together the makings for my first attempt at a build (collecting timbers etc).

Have next-to-no previous woodworking experience , and after speaking to a couple of experienced guys they recommended I get the cheapest wood I can & use that for the first effort as a learning experience in working with wood -> no point making a mess out of expensive quality stuff if the skills to be able to turn it into something worthwhile aren't there yet (and obviously I'm not intending to sell this first attempt!).

I noticed Peter Coombe used some Tassie Oak from Bunnings for his first guitar (back & sides) -> any ideas/suggestions on Bunning's-available wood I could use for the rest of the parts (i.e. face, neck, fretboard, saddle, braces and binding/purfling)?

Cheers!

[drsoda]

Personally I'm a big fan of Bunnings tassie oak, but I make solid body electrics as opposed to Peter's beautiful acoustics made from the same material. The wood seems pretty durable and can be applied to pretty much anything. Take a look here for some details of the wood viewtopic.php?f=9&t=92.

As far as wood offerings go though, Bunnings are extremely limited in the variety they offer (well, at least my store on the coast is, you may find different woods where you are, but i think it is all generally the same). It is all pretty much Tassie Oak, Lauan Pine (marine grade) ply sheets, MDF, and standard pine boards and planks, so I pretty much just get the oak from there and source wood I need (for fingerboards etc) elsewhere. I've got a guy here at Ashwood Timbers in Maroochydore who knows various local luthiers and is happy to supply offcuts and other to guys like me and you who are starting out and looking for the most cost effective way to get going. I can't understate establishing and maintaining a bit of a relationship with a local timber yard/shop, he's been good in letting me know about when something comes in I might be interested in.

[DarwinStrings]

G'day Mr Plunk (I searched your posts but can't find your name), I reckon your Bunnies may be different to mine as mine doesn't even stock Tassie oak any more or Australian oak as they were calling it before it went off the shelves. Tassie oak is a good one from a hardware as it is almost always well quarter sawn but still keep your eyes open when selecting bits. Also when bending it it is one of those woods that stain black when in contact with steel especially when water is involved.

I reckon if I were going to build a Bunnies guitar from your Bunnies assuming it still sells something other than pine and Durian I might go this way........ Back and sides, Tassie oak (dense bits) or Merbau if you can find a good bit. Neck, Tassie oak (light stuff) or Pacific Maple/Meranti (medium weight of that). Sound board, Meranti (light weight) or Durian (light) if they have it there. Fret board and bridge I would look for a nice heavy well sawn bit of Jarrah (if they still stock it where you are) or maybe Merbau or maybe even Selangan Batu as my last choice. Head and heel block, the right bit of Maranti/Durian. Hmmmm bracing, difficult I still want to use spruce but maybe well cleft Meranti/Durian or if they have some hoop pine They stock a bit where I am) you could even try that at a guess (see if they have it in the high stress grade like F17) and I would want it cleft out of a billet.

Either way you choose to go, good luck and have fun.

Jim

[Mike Thomas]

If you have a general timber supplier near you, the type that mainly supplies the construction industry, you may be able to get reasonable Oregon (Douglas Fir) and Western Red Cedar. If so, you have the makings of a top and braces.

[matthew]

If Bunnies is no good - try Mitre 10!

This big guitar is made entirely from Mitre 10 Tassie oak (back and sides) and WRCedar (top and bracing)



Ok so I'm playing it a bit funny and I haven't got the number of strings right, but I can say the oak bends really easily and the top rings like a bell.

As Peter Coombe said, you need to go through the stacks - about 5% of the stock is really good, the rest is OK to mediocre. Look for straight, quartersawn, no runout ... and, with oak, of course for figure, and lack of resin pockets. I take some chalk and make a small mark on the side of the boards I reject. That way when I come back a few weeks later I don't waste time if nothing has moved.

Oh and another thing, reject furniture on the sides of the road often has nice timber in the sides and backs of drawers - often oak, qld maple or silky oak. Good enough for sides!

[Allen]

I'd be keeping my open for any Western Red Cedar for the soundboard. It's about the only thing that you might be able to find in a hardware store that would make a good top.

Or just hunt around for an inexpensive one. Lot's of us have a huge stash of wood and someone might be willing to part with a lower grade one that is suitable for a first instrument for a really reasonable price.

[liam_fnq]

I get tons of stuff from the local hardwood/joinery suppliers. Up here they stock: Western Red Cedar, Surian Cedar, Aust. Red Cedar (sometimes), New Guinea Rosewood, Qld Maple, Silver Ash, Merbau, a bunch of Oaks, Tas Oak, probably others I've forgotten too.
I often drop in on the way home on payday and have a pick through the racks for some good stuff. Cheaper than bunnings too.

I'm in Cairns within sight of the edge of the Earth too. Surely you blokes down south have got access to more good stuff.

[jeffhigh]

If you have limited woodworking experience (and tools?) I would suggest that you probably are not going to be able to choose and process wood for top back and sides from the hardware.
Do you have access to a bandsaw and thickness sander?
You would probably do better buying a plain unfigured Qld Maple back and side set which is real easy to work, bend and finish and a low grade spruce top.
It takes a bit of experience to walk into bunnings, look at the timber rack and reject 90%.

[vandenboom]

I can't tell where you located. I did much the same for my first build, but just used stuff around the house - some old draw fronts for back (3 piece), some cedar skirting for the top ( 4 piece) that was close to quarter sawn, kitchen cupboard door (blackwood) for sides, bit of tassie oak for neck. While I made some small silly errors along the way, I did play a usable guitar. If I had my time again, I would go to my local furniture timber supplier eg. Matthews in Vermont or AFT in Port Melbourne, and buy some short lengths of something better eg. tassie blackwood or mahogany, and a piece of spruce or cedar for top. If you think of the time you spend working on the project, the cost of buggering a top or sides and having to replace it isn't really such a big deal, unless it is something special.
Frank

[Kerplunk]

This big guitar is made entirely from Mitre 10 Tassie oak (back and sides) and WRCedar (top and bracing)

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!! Noice! The Tassie Oak goes well with the WRC face.

Oh and another thing, reject furniture on the sides of the road often has nice timber in the sides and backs of drawers - often oak, qld maple or silky oak. Good enough for sides!

D'oh! Just had the hard rubbish collection recently - a quick stroll down the road would have had me nicely sorted for materials.

Ah well, c'est la vie.

Decided to go check out Bunnings this arvo, but figured I'd do a quick google check on the remote chance that there's a sawmill somewhere local.... lo 'n behold there's one tucked away down an alley just a block up the road from the Bunnings!

After I'd picked my jaw up off the floor I scarpered down there to have a quick sniff about before they shut up for the Easter Break.

Construction-oriented stuff, but enough species appropriate to my cause (e.g. Oregon, Cedar and Tassie Oak) to get me going, plus a few others that made me stop and think. Better yet, the guy that runs the place apparently loves his woods and knows 'em backwards; will definitely have to sit down and have a good long chat with him upon my return.

Incidentally, as I drove off towards Bunnings, I noticed in the rear-view mirror that there were flecks of white foam at the corners of my mouth....

Is this normal?

Dear lord, is the WAS setting in already?

Had a quick squiz about Bunnings; Tassie Oak up the wazoo. Looked decent with little runout (but hey what would I know, I'm just a noobie). Radiata pine everywhere. Knots, cracks and resin pockets in most of it, but there were some nice pieces of (non-radiata?) pine in there (I.e. that sweet 5%) amongst all the dreck. Merbau decking which looked decent.

Didn't spot any of the Meranti, Durian, Hoop Pine, Pac. Maple etc mentioned by Jim (of DarwinStrings), but on the other hand I hadn't the time to ask about for it. Sounds like an excuse for a return visit eh!!!...... 'blimmin WAS.

By the way (forgot to ask about this in the original post); what should I use for the linings; the same stuff as for the bracings?

As regards tools/lack of them; I will actually be able to process from scratch (am quite blessed in having access (for a fee) to a bandsaw and thickness sander, etc) rather than having to buy a ready-made set.

As for a moniker; well, (as Simon and Garfunkel made a mint by singing) "You can call me Al!...."

"..... call me Al".

As I wandered about these places, considering what I should put my hard-earned towards, a train of thoughts suddenly occurred to me....

... Over the past year or so, a number of largish trees of different species had come down at my Mum's place during the various storms over that period of time, and I'd helped her out by slicing 'n dicing 'em up into (what I now recognise as soundboard-sized) lengths, and then stacked them up neatly about the place so that they'd dry nicely.

But it wasn't until recently that I'd got interested in luthiery....

... Heaven's above, had I been subconsciously "stickering"? Does this thing run in the blood? Do a certain set of genes genetically preprogram a person to try and make a stick of wood they've found lying about sound like a Stradivarious, and what's more collect the necessary materials to do so long before they even know what it is that they are doing?

Who cares! I've got a small mountain of potential tonewood sitting waiting for me!... and it's mine! ALL MINE!!!!

Oh yes, the WAS has most certainly set in.

'Time for me to go check out what species they are.... fingers, eyes, everything etc crossed!!!

Will post the results of my investigations after the Easter break.

Thanks to everyone for their tips and advice thus far.

Happy Easter all & will catch you all on the other side of the holidays.

'Later!,
Al.

[Bruce McC]

Al

Good to see all the constructive advice being proffered. Why don't
you go online and check out the tonewood suppliers in this country
as they often have student grade material or lower grade material
at reasonable prices. Compare this to the cost of purchasing from
your local timber merchant plus the cost of the machining that
you will need to do to get the stock to the desired thickness for
joining the sound plate and back.

Beware WAS can quickly progress to GAS once you start.

[Mark McLean]

For spruce brace wood there is the idea of getting pallet material from whitegoods suppliers.
See this thread that was started by Geoff Branch a little while ago.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2581&p=31895#p31895

The delivery cases for Meile appliances have German spruce frames. Your local appliance store probably has a throw-out pile out the back and you can ask to look through it for some straight and quartered stuff.

[Jeremy D]

Late to the party but this might be worth a look? http://guitarwoods.com.au/catalog/produ ... cts_id=379

[kiwigeo]

I can probably spare you a set of highly saught after "Bear Sh*t in the Woods" Lutz if youre willing to put up with some discolouration. You can have the wood for free if you cover postage from Adelaide. Let me know if youre interested and Ill see if Ive got any of the stuff left on my shelves......I put most of it outside hoping the termites would eat it but they wouldn't touch the stuff.....I think I might have consigned most of it to the kindling box

[Lillian]

Al, I would suggest that you hold off on using Western Red Cedar until you have had some bench time. It is soft. You can easily dent it with your fingernail. Sometimes it only takes a stern look for it to dent. It's great to work with as far as planing and what not goes, but unless you are super anal about keeping your bench clean it might be more frustration than you'll need for your first build.

Take Martin up on the lutz. Lutz itself is great wood. The lineage of his tops is not as impressive as the seller wanted us to think, but despite the coloration, it will make a good, possibly even a great top.


Call me Al was Paul's first single off of his solo album.

Welcome to the madness.

[blazemite]

nice to see there is another luthier on the coast drsoda, is there any other good local places to obtain tonewood round the noneshine coast?

[drsoda]

since i'm making solid bodies, i'll be honest and say i've yet to really explore the surrounds in regards to wood resources and other luthiers - Nic down at Ashwood Timbers (Kayleigh Drive in Maroochydore) is the man though - he knows a bunch of guys around who often hit him up for woods, and is nice enough to refer you on to other guys nearby in his network of fellow wood suppliers if he knows there is something special.

Do you know of any other luthiers or timber suppliers on the coast?

I only know of a few, mostly 'retail' builders though:
Ashwood Timbers (Maroochydore): http://www.ashwoodtimber.com.au/
Gecko Guitars (in Coolum/Peregian): http://www.geckoguitars.com/
Larkin Guitars (in Burpengary - not the coast, but close enough): http://davesbassment.com/
Kirby Wood Suppliers (in Mooloolah, though I am not sure if he is still in business): http://www.kirbyfinetimbers.com
PR Hance Guitars (north, in Hervey Bay): http://www.prhanceguitars.com/
Oni Guitars (again, in Burpengary): http://www.oniguitars.com/

I've also seen guitar kits being sold on ebay from a supplier in Maleny, but I don't have any details on where or if they have a shop front, or if they supply woods separate to the kits (haven't looked into it further). As for the 'backyard makers' like me - I know no-one else - the few I have enquired about at the local music shops have either assembled one-off guitars from kits (acoustic and electric), or repaired/customised something existing - but no-one other than that. Apparently Gary down at Mooloolaba Music is a master Luthier from way back, I have yet to meet him, his staff have talked about him a lot to me and I hope one day to run into him and say Hi.

I'm still developing having only really gotten serious about this a year ago, I am sure participation in forums like this and though making more of my own style of guitars i'll make some luthier friends, local and global - thanks to the internet, everyone's close by these days