Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

darkshadow54321

darkshadow54321

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How can you tell if a piece of wood is good quality?

Is there any visible way? I know that any holes are bad news.

Is there a secret way, like tapping on it and seeing how it responds or whatever? :rolleyes:
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

it's something about the grain... i dont know how to determine it either
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

Depending on the wood, I would look for close, straight grain, light weight (which indicates a lower mineral content), and attractive figuring, if possible. I know very little as far as wood grading goes, but that's my $.02.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

I think that depends on the wood. Heavey maple, ebony, and rosewood are OK, being that they are naturally dense. If you find a heavy chunk of ash or mahogany, I would stay away. The reasoning for this is that ash and mahogany are very porous woods, therefore (following my sometimes mistaken logic), a heavy piece of ash or mahogany probably have a high mineral content. This might adversley affect tone and resonance and it definately has an impact on player comfort (play a 4 hour set with a heavy LP and you'll know what I mean).
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

It is heavier than say, swamp ash, but I think that by finding the right cut, you can build a relatively light instrument. This is what the Gibson Custom Shop does for their higher end Les Paul RI's.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

I don't think weight is a good indicator. I think builders tap on the wood, like picking out a good watermelon. I don't know what to listen for, though. I was at this website last night: http://www.zacharyguitars.com/
He has some neat ideas about wood, like using knotty pine, etc...I think a good builder can make anything sound good though.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

mahogony should be medium weight. most LPs these days weight in at over 10lbs (some as much as 15) which is waaaaayyy to much. The thing is that the original LPs were all about 8-10lbs and were made of south american mahogony. newer ones are made of african mahogony and are much heavier. to lighten them, Gibby cuts holes in them (under the maple cap). But that really isn't the same. I think that each kind of wood has an ideal, but a skilled luthier is much better at picking a good chunk than you or I.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

Peterku said:
What's the problem with weight then? (I must admit that these blocks have been drying for more than 40 years, though.)

What's more, my teacher's MIJ Squier Strat weighs extreeeemely much, it's heavy as hell, and he claims it's the best sounding Strat he's ever played. He has already had a lot of different Fender Strats and Teles.
Click to expand...

For me, I don't like heavy guitars. My Brian Moore is hollowed out mahogany and maple, and weighs just over 6 pounds. I have played a Klein guitar, out of hollowed out spruce, and it was one of the best sounding/playing/feeling guitars I have ever touched, and it was just at 6 pounds. Some people like heavy dense wood- I know my back doesn't. I guess you can't pin down a great tone to weight. Some 70s Strats weigh in at 9-10 pounds and sound just terrible.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

Determining how good a piece of wood is has a lot to do with what will be done with it. A solid body electric guitar for example is more about density. Figuring in the wood simply looks better after a finish has been applied to it. Gibson would take mahogony that was not very nicely figured and would use this for buliding guitars that would be painted in solid colors Such as a Goltop LP or a Black LP Custom. These woods are tonaly as good and in some cases better than the highly figured pieces of the same grade. They just didn't look as good.
Acoustic Guitars are a whole different ball game. When a Luthier selects wood for a acoustic guitar they are very concerned about its strength. Quarter sawn wood is the most desireable, espically for the sides. Think of a Log cut into quarters. The grain is extremley straight adding considerable strength to the wood. Acoustic guitar tops take much of the string tension, so the straighter the grain the more strength the wood will have. Certain species of Spruce will have a much tighter grain than others. This will either increase or decrease strength, and can also effect the way the top responds to vibration. Sitka Spruce vrs Adarondack Both of these woods are highly desirable the choice is really a matter of taste, and what will give the instrument the "voice" the Luthier has in mind. Quarter sawn wood is much more expensive than "slab" cut woods. Slab cut wood is considerably more difficult to bend when making sides. As you can see it depends on what you are planning on doing with the wood. Electric Guitars are cut into the shape and then sanded routed etc.. Where Acoustic instruments, the sides have to be bent to the correct shape. Arctop instruments are the most difficult. The sides are bent to shape, the top and back are carved into the "Arch" that bears there name. This is why Archtop guitars like a Gibson L5 cost so much money. It takes a huge amount of time and a large amount of skill and very high quality woods to build a guitar like this.
 
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Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

texasguitarslinger said:
Way to know if wood is good quality?


:::: wait for it......







You can hang your hat on it!:smack:
Click to expand...

:smack:

:offtopic: LOL!

Thanks for the replies guys!
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

A slow growth forest is good for tone woods. the short growing seasons make for a tighter grain, which gives more resonace throughout the wood, in my experience. thats also how some luthiers grade wood, by how many grain lines per inch.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

Mincer said:
I don't think weight is a good indicator. I think builders tap on the wood, like picking out a good watermelon. I don't know what to listen for, though. I was at this website last night: http://www.zacharyguitars.com/
He has some neat ideas about wood, like using knotty pine, etc...I think a good builder can make anything sound good though.
Click to expand...

Many high end luthiers do this. Terry McInturff and Don Grosh are two that do this. I don't have the slightest idea how this works, but I guess tapping helps pick more resonant wood which translates to better tone and projection.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

texasguitarslinger said:
Way to know if wood is good quality?


:::: wait for it......







You can hang your hat on it!:smack:
Click to expand...


:bsflag:

I'm sorry I just always wanted to use that! hahaha
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

tapping on wood to determine quality is something that goes back hundreds of years, Stradavarius and company would select the wood for their violins like that.

Some of them would take wood from trees that live in extreme weather conditions, up on mountains close to the tree line where they are subjected to high winds and cold temperatures. This supposedly toughened the wood.
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

darkshadow54321 said:
How can you tell if a piece of wood is good quality?

Is there any visible way? I know that any holes are bad news.

Is there a secret way, like tapping on it and seeing how it responds or whatever? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Actually, one hole is pretty normal as far as I know. About the tapping on it idea, usually it will begin to get harder and longer...

I think it's all about opinion though... :22: :13:
 
Re: Way To Know If Wood Is Good Quality?

I'm a firm believer in lighter weight equalling better tone, at least for solid electric guitars. It's pretty simple, really: the denser (heavier) the wood is, the more lower frequencies will not resonate through. Heavier woods usually mean a greater preponderance toward upper mids and highs. Of course, this can be a good thing if you like a bright tone, or need to cut through a dense mix, but overall I find heavy guitars a bit fatiguing to listen to over the course of a gig.

As far as figuring goes, what you have there is disruption in the grain of the wood. the straighter the grain, the more tones can resonate easily and fully. That's why fender went to great lengths to find unfigured maple for the original teles and strats.

For both of these principles, let's look at a real-life example: the 59 LP std.

Aficionados of the 58-50 LP std tend to agree that for tone, the lightest guitars with the least figured tops are the best sounding guitars.
 
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