Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

[TimmyPage]

Hey everyone. As it may have come up in another thread or two my dad is a really handy guy, worked as an electrician his whole life, and has spent much of his other time building very complex and finely crafted things out of wood, so more than anything else I want something to hold onto and play forever that my dad and I built together.

This is all kind of preliminary, the guitar won't really be started till I start my break at the end of this month but I have to decide all the specs and order the parts before then, rather obviously.

So lets talk wood.. the guitar I fully intend to be a telecaster shape. Single in the bridge, humbucker (or possible single sized humbucker) in the neck.

I'm ordering the neck separately, likely from warmoth: 25.5 scale, satin finished maple neck with an ebony fretboard, and a larger neck with a 16" fretboard radius (its what my hand feels most used to and loves about my Godin.. also, I will be getting a front inlay-less fretboard because I love the look).

So the big question.. what wood should I look into?

Should I go with what's most aesthetically pleasing, or one that's quite resonant? I really dig the look of a walnut tele I found online but I don't have a clue what walnut sounds like. I'm used to my big maple jazz boxes and am sort of out of touch on solid body woods.

On a last note, I play almost exclusively jazz. If you can tell by the neck dimensions specs that I'm not going for a vintage correct instrument, I'm going for one that would work for more modern jazz (Lofsky, Roy Patterson, Rosenwinkel) or minimalist (Frisell, Ambercrombie) sound.

Please, I know its a long post but I look forward to your replies, and I'm sorry if I left anything out.

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

Well first of all, awesome idea for a teamwork build.

Walnut with a maple/ebony neck would be seriously bright. Those are all very hard/dense woods. Plus it would be super heavy.

I think this is the place for you to start, plenty of reading to do here:

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies...odOptions.aspx

The basics...

Alder and ash: fairly balanced, fairly lightweight
Mahogany and limba (korina): warm with pronounced mids, heavier weight
Maple and walnut: bright and dense, heaviest weight

[hamerfan]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

Check this site for woods:

http://www.jemsite.com/jem/wood.htm

[uOpt]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

For a first build I would use poplar. It is easily available in U.S. wood shops, it sounds good, it has a smooth surface that doesn't need filling before painting and it is softer, so you might have an easier time.

The disadvantages are that it is greenish, so clear images, unless intended to look green, don't quite work, and that the softness makes it pick up dings easily.

[Rich_S]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

You definitely need to join the TDPRI and check out their "Tele Home Depot" room. A lot of pro and semi-pro Tele builders hang out there.

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

I really dig the look of Walnut too, but for a guitar it is probably best used as a relatively thin cap over one of the more traditional body woods like Alder, Mahagony, or Ash.

[MojoMonster]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.
My advice given your jazz leanings and how it sounds like you're not really wanting that "tele" sound...something like a TeleGib.
A mahogany body and mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard(but ebony will work), your favorite dual humbuckers and something like this bridge.

Kinda like this minus the f-hole/hollowbody:


For the neck, I'd add stainless steel frets, a bone nut and an angled headstock with your favorite tuners.
If you and your dad feel up to it, I'd also recommend these instead of neck screws.
If that feels too complicated regular neck screws are perfectly fine, but depending on how you feel about the Tele heel, you might want to consider something like the Warmoth contoured heel solution or the Fender rounded option.

Oh, and +1 on joining TDPRI... those guys are awesome.

MM

[Bludave]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

I would go with a swamp ash body. A mini hum(think Firebird) in the neck & a Jerry Donahue in the bridge.

If you are leaning towards a Tele shape I would consider a 9.5" Radius vrs the 16 you say. It is very hard to "shuffle" on a flat board. The 9.5" is a good compromise. Then you can go with larger frets if you choose. The idea would be to play a wide variety of necks to get a feel for whats out there and then decide.

Great idea building a guitar with your Dad! Good luck!

[Jeff_H]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

I think walnut is a fantastic wood. As a solid body it is bright, but not quite as bright as eastern hard maple. I like it best as a laminate top and you may too. Doing a flat top Tele it will be easier to use a laminate wood vs a carved top body, but that all depends on how comfortable you and your dad are using a laminate.

Don't do something ordinary or "standard." If both you and your dad are committed to this project go all out and do something special. Whatever specs you want and are comfortable with are fine. It would be fantastic if whatever you build turns out to be your favorite playing and sounding guitar, but it seems of foremost importance that this be something that you and your dad are proud of.

Have fun and let us know what you finally decide on.

[jeremy]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

walnut is beautiful but might not be the best for a solid body. typically bright and heavy but very punchy. if it were me, i might look into a basswood body with walnut top or something along those lines.

mahogany would be great too, alder would sound fine as well.

[J_48_Johnson]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

If you want to use walnut, I say go for it as a top wood, but use mahogany as your tone wood.

You can chamber the mahogany out then cap it with the walnut to take away the heft of the body and it will also be a very nice way to run your wiring inside so it willl be a cleaner looking body when completed.

Channels ran in mahogany sound wood...


Walnut top glued on...


Finished body...



The walnut give this with single coils a lot of attack from the pick but ends nice and warm from the mahogany. I made a 5 piece maple/walnut neck and an ebony fretboard. The walnut and maple/ebony make the notes jump from the strings and ring like a bell, but the mahogany warms it up as they sustain.

One of the earlier posts said to use poplar. I wouldn't do that. Poplar is a softer wood. Even though some places sell it as "hardwood", it isn't. It dents easily, has poor grain figuring and takes stain/colors poorly. I've read where people have use it to make guitars and they said it sounds ok, I would worry about the durability of the wood as well as sound.

Just my two cents.

[J_48_Johnson]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

Here's one I made with mahogany tonewood and a maple cap.

Chambered mahogany body...


This makes the body much lighter and the discussions go on and on how much or if at all it changes the sound of the guitar. I have mixed feelings on it, but I will say that EVERYTHING has an effect on the tone/sound of the guitar.

[AlexR]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

If you want to use walnut, I say go for it as a top wood, but use mahogany as your tone wood.

You can chamber the mahogany out then cap it with the walnut to take away the heft of the body and it will also be a very nice way to run your wiring inside so it willl be a cleaner looking body when completed.


One of the earlier posts said to use poplar. I wouldn't do that. Poplar is a softer wood. Even though some places sell it as "hardwood", it isn't. It dents easily, has poor grain figuring and takes stain/colors poorly. I've read where people have use it to make guitars and they said it sounds ok, I would worry about the durability of the wood as well as sound.

Just my two cents.

Whoah

Is it just me or is that neck seriously skewed

[KeeperOS]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

I think it's the angle, or perhaps the neck wasn't cut completely parallel to the strips?

[PoorMan]

Re: Building a guitar with my dad, need wood help.

Ash is probably considered the more traditional wood choice for Teles, but I prefer Alder for Teles.

I've never even played a walnut guitar, but it seems to be much more common for basses. Makes me wonder if the frequency response doesn't lend itself well to guitars.

Walnut is a gorgeous wood though.