Tonewoods and sustainability

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

I had a 90s MIM Poplar Strat with a Maple neck. After some fret work and new electronics & pickups it was a killer Strat. I think it is underused as well but I would never want it for an oil/thin finish build.

EDIT: from the poplar I've seen its not the wood I would want to show off the grain like Ash or Mahogany

 

[jtougas]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Well... not *always*...

It's a poplar body, has a few scuffs on it, but nothing serious. I know poplar isn't supposed to age well, but the grain on it is really quite nice... It is already sealed.

If I do finish it, I'm thinking of something from the Duplicolor catalog... like a dark metallic blue, or maybe a pewter or charcoal grey...

The rest of the plan is a maple/ebony neck, chrome hardware, and Lace Alumitone pickups...

That's going to end up being either a baritone, or with the ebony fingerboard mentioned...

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Well... not *always*...



That's going to end up being either a baritone, or with the ebony fingerboard mentioned...

Haha! I stand very much corrected...I would definitely have that poplar body with a clear/oil finish.

 

[Sirion]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

So glad you are keeping that guitar clear jtougas! You have something not many other people do there!

Incidentally, I came across this earlier today:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-Kramer...252767?hash=item281f442a1f:g:QasAAOSwOdpXxKHD

Not sure if pretty is the right word, but I find it has a sort of vintage lo-fi charm to it – how often do you hear people say THAT about Kramers? I see that Musikraft sells clear-grade poplar bodies exclusively, albeit two-parters.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Ebony is disappearing quickly, mostly because the only ebony anyone wants is the super dark stuff, so anything that is cut but isn't dark is tossed. Spruce is apparently quite easily sustainable and as acoustics use less wood per guitar we should all buy and play more acoustic!

If the wood is used in a $300 guitar, it's probably in pretty good supply. If it's limited to special runs it's probably quite limited.

Although I only own 1, Im a Taylor fan.. I appreciate the fact they work really hard on conservation and replanting. They are even using the less than perfect colored woods for fingerboards these days because its the right thing to do. The amount of waste before hand was pretty sickening.. As people only wanted the dark stuff and the rest was just tossed