Paulownia wood for guitars

[NegativeEase]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

I'm building a Tele out of Paulownia. MisterE is right. It dings and scratches if you look at it too hard and it is insanely lightweight.

Supposedly it is a great sounding wood, but I haven;t completed the build yet so I don;t have first hand experence.

Sounds like the best wood ever -I love guitars with dings, scratches and personality the most.

Dont ever trust anybody showing up at a gig with a mint guitar.... :lmao:

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Yeah it is very very soft watch teh screws stripping out.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

And yeah i have used it for wings on this.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

It's very soft, but I haven't stripped a screwhole yet. Sounds good. About as light as basswood in my experience.

...Well, it's over a year later and I just spent a couple hours playing my Paulownia Sensor Strat. I really do like this guitar; very balanced in tone, perhaps more rolled-off sounding and less attack than my basswood Strat with near identical hardware. I've stripped only one screw with multiple pickup/pickguard changes; it is pretty much mushwood, I managed to get a small ding in the back from a relatively minor bump but otherwise I take care of it pretty well and it treats me well.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

The softest wood I use in my guitars is mahogany. I use some very hard/dense hardwoods, but I chamber my guitars. I get beautiful rich tones with a bright/crisp high end (it certainly depends a great deal on the pups, of course). My heaviest guitar to date is a 12 string electric (the extra 6 tuners add a bit to the overall weight) which weighs in at only 6 lbs 12 oz. Most weigh 6 lbs, to 6 lbs 3 oz.

I've got the best of both worlds (tone and light weight), plus the esthetics of purple heart, canary wood, padauk, morado, wenge, etc.

I never strip any screw holes in the woods I use, but I have broken a few screws off

 

[RorySquier]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

And yeah i have used it for wings on this.

Holy cow...36 frets on that beast and you gotta have toothpick fingers to play the upper frets. I think Washburn made a guitar with 36 frets back in the 80's if I remember.



;>)/

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Holy cow...36 frets on that beast and you gotta have toothpick fingers to play the upper frets. I think Washburn made a guitar with 36 frets back in the 80's if I remember.



;>)/

ha yeah i know. The fun comes from playing up around 12 to 24 with no heel its just neck. I need to pull that fretboard off and fix a few things.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Yes. I have a Tokai strat made from this. Wonderful bright tone and sustain. No worries playing this on stage for hours on end! Woderful stuff. Sustainable too!

Google seems unaware of amy such Tokai guitars

You sure you don't mean sen (of "looks like ash, sounds like alder" fame?)

 

[themuckypaw]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

I was doing a bit of research on paulowinia and found this thread, and thought I'd add my slightly late tuppence worth if that's okay.

A year or two ago I built my first partscaster. I got a Paulownia body off eBay, and bought all the other parts from eBay and Amazon. For my first attempt at a build I was very proud of the result. As other people have said in this thread, it is a very light wood, the whole guitar weighs in at just over 6lb. It is quite a soft wood, as others have also said. It dings and scratches easily but I quite like the beaten up look. I did have a bit of a problem with the bridges screw holes widening under the strain of the strings and trem, but I strengthened them by gluing in some cocktail sticks and it's not moved since. I finished mine with about eight coats of Tru Oil. I imagine it might be tougher if finished with something else like a lacquer perhaps, but again, I'm happy with it as it is. I love the grain on it, that's why I chose a Tru Oil finish. Tonally it sounds great and it sustains and resonates beautifully. I've attached some pics to show it off and if you look close you can see some of the dings and scratches.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Looks good, and I don't even like natural finish on guitars.

Guitar Mill offers it as an option. I'm considering experimenting with it. I think the rapid way in which it ages would make great looking "natural relics" in a short time.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

I like the beat up look of that guitar, and wonder if you could make the center portion out of a harder wood (for the bridge and neck attachment) and have the 'wings' out of this soft wood if it would work...

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

My only concern has been about the bridge screws. If reinforcing them a bit would work well enough, super light and super cheap could be a winning combination.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

I like the beat up look of that guitar, and wonder if you could make the center portion out of a harder wood (for the bridge and neck attachment) and have the 'wings' out of this soft wood if it would work...

I believe it would.
Scott Splawn, in addition to making amps also makes a couple models of guitars.
He makes the center strip from mahogany and the wings from alder (I believe).

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Very nice looking wood...looks like a mix between mahogany and ash.

I wouldn't worry about the bridge screws. Just glue in some hardwood toothpicks and you should never have a problem with them stripping through the wood.

 

[Seraphial]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Adding some non-guitar-related info: Paulownia is also extensively used in snowboards and kiteboards. Same characteristics are needed in both. I have a friend who's a shaper and they describe it hard enough to withstand action sports pressure when laminated, damp enough to reduce vibration, cheap enough to buy in bulk.

FWIW.

 

[themuckypaw]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Very nice looking wood...looks like a mix between mahogany and ash.

I wouldn't worry about the bridge screws. Just glue in some hardwood toothpicks and you should never have a problem with them stripping through the wood.

That's exactly what I did, and it fixed the issue. I read that some people will cut a slot and put in another type of hardwood strip to attach the bridge too that, but the tooth pick thing did the job and was a lot less effort than cutting a slot etc.

 

[themuckypaw]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Looks good, and I don't even like natural finish on guitars.

Guitar Mill offers it as an option. I'm considering experimenting with it. I think the rapid way in which it ages would make great looking "natural relics" in a short time.

I love the Tru Oil finish. And yes it does age really nicely. Looks "vintage" quite quickly.

 

[themuckypaw]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

I like the beat up look of that guitar, and wonder if you could make the center portion out of a harder wood (for the bridge and neck attachment) and have the 'wings' out of this soft wood if it would work...

Not a bad idea. I'm sure it's possible.

 

[themuckypaw]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

My only concern has been about the bridge screws. If reinforcing them a bit would work well enough, super light and super cheap could be a winning combination.

Reinforcing the bridge screw holes with glued in cocktail sticks did the job for me. I love how lightweight it is, and cheap well ... would you believe that the body only cost me £20/$26?
The whole build was just under £200/$260.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: Paulownia wood for guitars

Adding some non-guitar-related info: Paulownia is also extensively used in snowboards and kiteboards. Same characteristics are needed in both. I have a friend who's a shaper and they describe it hard enough to withstand action sports pressure when laminated, damp enough to reduce vibration, cheap enough to buy in bulk.

FWIW.

Don't forget skateboards.

;>)/