Aust Red Cedar ( Toona Ciliata) Soundboard

[Tod Gilding]

Hi All, I'm have my first Acoustic guitar build coming along very well,but I'm already starting to plan #2 and I'm thinking about an all Australian Timber built OM, Aust Red Cedar ( Toona Ciliata) Soundboard matched with Blackwood B & S , has anyone here used red cedar as a soundboard ? any thoughts, advice would be welcomed.

Cheers Tod

[Daniel_M]

Hi Tod,

Allen has built a beautiful instrument with ARC

here is the link - I am sure that Allen will be more than willing to detail his experience.

viewtopic.php?t=547

Daniel

[Allen]

I've used it on a few instruments, but not in a long time now, so memory is a little foggy. Using Surian on a tenor uke right now which while not the same as Toonis Australis, has some similar properties, like absolutely gigantic pores to fill and a really beautiful red color.

From memory, it does't give a lot of overtones. Much more fundamental than other tonewoods I've used.

[Tod Gilding]

Thanks Allen & Daniel, I followed the link Daniel provided and had a look at Allens OM, It looks very nice. thanks again allen for the feedback.

[stopper]

I cut some red cedar sets a year ago and found they weren't that popular. I suspect the large poors and softer timber might not be as good as other timbers acoustically. Red Cedar that has closer grain and greater density might perform better. Pictured are a quartersawn set and a back sawn set. Really only experimental quality.
cheers
steve

[Daniel_M]

after a little searching on the web, I found that ARC has been used for classical necks. Now that is something that I am interested in!

[Tod Gilding]

Hi Daniel, After Allens comments ( & a PM ,Thanks Allen )I have decided against useing ARC for a soundboard. but yes I too have been google searching and also found that it makes outstounding necks, I have also found a nice supply at Boutique Timbers, Rollands Plains. OOPS, I hope that I can say that, I am not recommending them, as I have never dealt with them before.

[Alastair]

At the risk of upsetting the mods, I would like to add:

I HAVE bought timber, (AR Cedar, N Silky, Blackwood, Q Maple) from Boutique over a number of years.
They do not pretend to be tonewood suppliers, but specialise in "recovered " timber, ranging from huge figured slabs down to inch boards. Timber is generally flat-sawn, so getting q/s is dependent on selection. That said, I bought a swag of SO for a kitchen refit, and found enough figured QS to do all the panels, and also this uke. viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3149

Their timber is all air dried, and I have always found it stable, well seasoned, and very good value. They also generally have offerings of the less common timbers. Mal and Greg Ward are good blokes and always helpful.

One drawback, depending on the timber, is getting wide q/s boards. I have just collected another board of Silky from Greg, and resawn for a classic I'm starting. To accommodate the best figure, (and my small bandsaw), I have elected a 3-piece back.

Hi Daniel, After Allens comments ( & a PM ,Thanks Allen )I have decided against useing ARC for a soundboard. but yes I too have been google searching and also found that it makes outstounding necks, I have also found a nice supply at Boutique Timbers, Rollands Plains. OOPS, I hope that I can say that, I am not recommending them, as I have never dealt with them before.

[Daniel_M]

good to know. I am in the planning stage of a classical build - all australian woods and was stuck for the neck wood - obviously Qld Maple had floated to the top so to speak - but now will do some more work on the potential of ARC. Although I have some Spanish cedar floating around I didn't really want to use that and now that it is getting harder to get (due to CITIES) I was looking for an alterantively.