So I decided I want to make some sort of natural wood guitar and have been looking for ideas. My father-in-law is a French polisher and some of the samples he had of Burr Walnut and SPalted maple are just stunning so I have been keeping an eye out for something like that to make some sort of Strat style guitar.

THen I came across this on flea-bay for £20!!!!!


Burr Elm......polished up it will look amazing and am now thinking of some sort of carve top nobbly edged thing...........will be a few weeks till I get it started but will keep you posted......

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

Twenty squids for that? Someone wos robbed!

Hey Wookee: I just adore burr wood. One of my favorite guitars ever built is this "Standard" by Roger Giffin. This is burr maple - oh man oh man!



Care to tell us some dimensions on that lump of timber, so's we can start our fantasies running overtime? Bit of a waste to try and get a single solid body out of it, I'd say: personally, I'd be looking to saw it into "pages" and open 'em up for a couple of gobsmacking bookmatched burr tops. ...Well, we're all allowed to dream.

Know anyone with a bandsaw big enough? I do (know someone, I mean).

Anyway. Have at it, hairy fella! Knock our socks off.

Cheers - C

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That IS pretty!

Showing my ignorance here...How hard is Elm as a wood and how hard to work with?

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Id be inclined to stick legs on it and have one sweetly ornate bedside table.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

I second that ^

Will standard popcorn do for this thread? Or will I have to source for a special burly kind? At any rate: We'll need lots of it, if that first pic holds its promise.










Yeah. That'll do.

Cheers!

Nutter

Edit: Re-arranged my popcorn.

hi , very nice lump of wid you got there mate , looking forward to your build , cheers
Alan

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Am actually thinking of doing a one piece ESP type V thing......can't remember what they're called. The body would be big enough for one pup...possibly 2 in and I have a friend who makes tuner bridges........maybe make it headless....AAAARRGGHH the posiibilities............

The dimensions are roughly this.......18 inch by 11.5 inch by 2.75 inches....hence my looking at doing a carve top.....it's a bit thick for a nrmal body but will give me some experience i planing.........

As far as how difficult it is to work with............not a clue! Will comment on that when I get going.......

I had thought about opening it up but the idea of some freaky metal axe made out of a piece of properly french-polished 80 year old wood kind of makes me smile....and the guy said I can give him a call any time to get more funky shaped off-cuts!! He is literally 30 miles from my house and I may do it quick as he sells the as wood turning blanks that are 'wrong-uns'.......if he gets a whiff of guitar-like possibilities I'm sure his BIN prices will go up!!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

I see you mentioned planing.....Caution.....Caution.......

As any figured hardwoods like Bird's Eye, or Flame Maple...
If you are planing you must have your blades as sharp and burr free as possible.
Also planing will require very thin cuts, shaving actually.

Figured woods do not have grain that runs lengthwise , they are actually going in all directions, up,down ...Over Under Sideways Out.. This uneven pattern reflects light in such a way that we see it as figuring.
So think of planing the face of a piece of wood and then the ends. very different, smooth on the face but rough and catching on the ends. This will definitely challenge you, I would find a book on Burl wood and it's requirements to sculpt....

Keep Us Posted....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Cool idea Evan, looking forward to watching your steps to the guitar's completion!

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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.