People who like to talk about wood and its properties should look into all the articles about underwater logging. They are cutting timber that has been sumerge in manmade lake and waterways as well as raising logs that were cut long ago some as old as 150 years ago. These timbers are old growth which no longer is available for the most part unless its reclaimed. This is just a blurb from a company that is raising Cypress and Pine but all species are being raised.

Grown in a thick forest canopy while competing for limited nutrients and sunlight, these virgin trees matured very slowly, accumulating up to 15 to 50 rings per inch in cypress and 6 to 20 rings in longleaf pine. These environmental factors resulted in the development of finely grained woods of exceptional quality and beauty. By contrast, today’s second growth trees average only 3 to 5 rings per inch.

Throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, logging companies used America’s waterways to transport their lumber to the mills downstream. These logs were tied into rafts and floated to the lumber mills for processing, where most were used to build the great cities of the Industrial Revolution. A few of these logs broke loose from the raft or became waterlogged in the sawmill holding ponds. Eventually they settled to the bottom where they are preserved in the silted waters and forgotten for over 100 years. These sunken logs have remained at the bottom of lakes and rivers untouched and perfectly preserved. These old logs are known as “sinkers”.

With America’s old-growth forests nearly depleted, it wasn’t until recently that companies discovered these lost sinkers and devised methods for the recovery and drying of this irreplaceable 300 - 1200 year old virgin old-growth timber. Using specially trained log recovery experts, America’s waterways are again yielding the quality timber of yesteryear.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

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cv , bro , cool info i can't help but wonder if when those logs dry out you could use them for guitars and if fender could get some of them for that purpose.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Those logs sell for much more then a regular log. One can cost an easy 10.000.00 to 12,000.00 + and many places where they are getting them have to give a cut to the local goverments just as when treasure is found.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Cool info!!

Those logs sell for much more then a regular log. One can cost an easy 10.000.00 to 12,000.00 + and many places where they are getting them have to give a cut to the local goverments just as when treasure is found.[/quote]
that price tag sure does change the picture , did'nt think about the government part , still cool info thanks cv.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing this.

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The movement you need is on your shoulders.

2006 Fender Strat HSS MIM
2006 Yamaha RGX A2
2006 Epiphone Les Paul Custom
2008 Epiphone John Lennon EJ-160E AE
1980 Vantage 600VS
1991 Fender M-80 Chorus
DigiTech GNX3000

http://www.jimmyrhythm.com

You can only imagine what these instruments cost?
From timeless timber.

"It's like not putting any effort into playing it, it plays itself. It just rings for a long time, it just has a beautiful resonance to it."

Debra Powers' violin is made of spruce and maple -- not especially rare trees, but this wood is special. It came from logs that were retrieved from the bottom of Lake Superior, where they had sunk during logging operations in the 1800's.

"There's something about wood that's been submerged in water that enlarges the cells of the wood and it helps it capture the sound. It's exactly how Antonio Stradivarius made his violins and his violins are the best in the world. He never made a violin out of wood that had not been submerged for over 50 years."

The waterlogged wood used to make Debra's violin was found in Lake Superior by scuba diver Scott Mitchen. He now heads a company called Timeless Timber, which retrieves and sells the lumber. The wood is being used in furniture and paneling, but it's especially valuable in making musical instruments, including drums, guitars and harps.

"What happens when you soak the wood for a period of years is the starchy, gummy matters that is in the cell walls of the wood is leached out over a period of time and it's replaced by water. When dried, you have a zillion hollowed-out cell walls that act like speaker cabinets that resonate the wood."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 141228.htm

These studies mention nothing of wood being submerged but do tell of the number of rings per inch and high density of the wood being the most likely factors in the tone of his instruments.

Hi cvilleira: do you ever read Jol Dantzig's workshop blog at Hamer? A very interesting resource for the likes of you and me...

Back when he started it in October 2007 he had a batch of curly maple retrieved from a bog which they set about drying and then building into a very limited run of guitars. If you're interested, start on this page, near the bottom:

http://guitarguru.typepad.com/my_weblog ... index.html

But keep going from there. The story of that timber gets more interesting as the months pass...

Cheers - C

Quote:
“All of my research over the years was based on the assumption that the wood of the great masters underwent an aggressive chemical treatment and this had a direct role in creating the great sound of the Stradivarius and the Guarneri,” Nagyvary explains."

Waterlogged? More like Chemlogged.

Could it be a scheme to sell pricey wood? Although a new Strat made from 100 years old wood would automatically be vintage.

Hehe! [chortling with delight].

On that, it happens that my old dad is a big violin buff and has subscribed to a magazine called The Strad for years on end.

Permit me to save you the time and summarise for you what a very long shelf full of that celebrated journal has to tell us on the subject of the construction of Stradivari and Guarnerius violins.

"We don't know. We may never know. But we sure love talking about it!"

Cheers - C

Did you guys check wikipedia? Says Stradivarius has built some guitars as well.

Hi atolleter: is that meant as a correction of my use of the word "Stradivari"?

I did in fact check that out before writing my post - though not with Wikipedia...

Cheers - C

Nahh, you're right anyway. Apparently Stradivarius is the instrument Stradivari is the man.

Like Leo Fender is the man, but he called it the Strat, instead of the Fenderus.

Haha - good!

Well, awful at spelling as I am, I decided I needed advice and actually phoned my aged father prior to my post (above). He told me that in the case of Stradivari-us and Guarneri-us both usages occur interchangeably and without any consistency; that either way is as right or wrong as the other - but that current usage when talking about the instruments (as opposed to their makers) tends towards speaking of Stradivari violins, yet also Guarnerius violins.

Nutty, but there you have it.

Meet my dad. You wouldn't bother trying to argue with him!

- C