Pine as a tonewood?!

[Luke Duke]

I was in one of the local shops on Sat. and a guy came in with two tele's he had had built. One was a clone of Vince Gill's 58 tele. It had a neck that would put most Gibson necks to SHAME!!!! UGH it was huge!

The second had a B-bender system with a clear guard so you could see it (cool) Supposedly it was made my the guy who makes Paisley's guitars it was painted pretty crazy and light as a feather. The guy (very proudly) announced it was so light due to the pine construction. I cringed inwardly. Here in Arkansas that's the running joke. Good Arkansas tonewood for the Walmart guitars...PINE!

Has anyone else heard of this?

Luke

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

Pine? That's whack. I know guitars can use poplar.. but pine just seems weird. I guess if they can make acoustics out of it, an electric wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

Who cares??
If the sound is working....it could be made out of Korean Gluewood

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

lol korean gluewood? I see your point though Rid

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

The first thing that strikes me about pine is that it's such a soft wood that the tone would be mushy, with less sustain. However, you could balance that out by putting a maple veneer or cap on it. I noticed that some of the best guitars nowadays are basswood or poplar with a flamed maple cap and a hardrock maple neck. I haven't seen many guitar makers gravitating toward pine, however.

 

[nuntius]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

The first thing that strikes me about pine is that it's such a soft wood that the tone would be mushy, with less sustain. However, you could balance that out by putting a maple veneer or cap on it.

I've played a les paul built like that

Only got to play it clean, it had a surprisingly bright voicing and wasn't that bad. The real test would have been gain though for me

 

[Bob Zombie]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

I noticed that some of the best guitars nowadays are basswood or poplar with a flamed maple cap and a hardrock maple neck.

you just described my guitar lol...Basswood with the flamed maple and the maple neck. Its my favorite guitar out of the guitars that I have owned in the past. I would die for it! lol :laugh2:

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

I wouldn't worry about the tone so much as the durability. Pine isn't dense enough to withstand much abuse. I mean, you drop that thing wrong and its gonna splinter,, right? Would you have to store it in water like a Christmas tree so it doesn't dry out,, LMAO.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

the first broadcasters were pine bodied. i almost had a tele made of pine, but chose the lightest ash instead. it really does work for guitars, but it wouldn't take much abuse at all

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

I thought basswood was just another form of pine.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

FWIW lots of acoustic guitars use spruce tops because spruce is supposed to be the fastest, most efficient wood for transmitting vibrations (i.e. sound). However, spruce and pine are not the same thing. (My father was a tree farmer, and I've cut down plenty of trees. Used our own spruce planking for a roof one time too.)

Along the lines of Rid's comments, my daughter's Squier Strat made out of agathis sounds pretty darn good considering that agathis is about as dense and strong as balsa wood. The only thing holding the body in one piece is the 1/2" thick plastic finish - might be contributing to the tone too Seriously, it's not a bad sounding guitar.

Chip

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

I have a friend who had an Ibanez made from agathis... it sounded horrible. Almost piano like. But then again, the pickups weren't very nice.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

http://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com/greenwichcustoms.htm

this guy makes a tele out of really old white pine. according to him the guitar is very resposive. could the kinds of pine make a difference.

I have also seen a fender custom shop tele made of five pieces of some sort of pine, but it seemed very heavy (for pine) if the weight posted was correct.

 

[Youngpup]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

I know that aged pine, pine that is 30 to 40 years old, makes realy great speaker cabs. I have some rough cut 2 by 12's and 2 by 10's that are about 50 years old that I am going to plane down for some cabs. You should see how tight the grain is on them compared to the pine from tree farms. I dont know how they would sound as a guitar but it would be cool to try, and cheap.

Younpup

 

[London_Clash]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

However, if it was made with Yellow Pine, you could take down a brick building with that monster.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Pine as a tonewood?!

i think it depends on the kind of pine weather it would be good or not. the link i posted earlier in this thread has a tele made of white pine. also spruce, it is a form of pine. i am not sure what basswood is really, i just know what it souds like.