We talked a bit recently about the cuts of wood guitars are made from and I mentioned timber I’ve felled and been seasoning. One or two people were interested to see something of that.

A few years ago I inherited a modest plot in the country with a couple of hundred or so trees on it, a lot of which were planted by my grandparents around 40 years ago, as well as some older ones. Occasionally they are damaged in storms and some which overhang a road need maintenance. Early 2007 we felled a very large pear tree and a couple of months later an ash, both of which produced worthwhile lengths of straight trunk. Conveniently, there is a saw mill a mile up the road so I had them slab saw both of those for me.

Here’s some ash, ends coated in paraffin wax, stacked where it has been seasoning for the last 20 months:



Here are five planks from the pear:



As you can see, they have warped and cracked to varying degrees. The least bad is this one:



The worst is this. There is potentially some salvageable material in there, but really this plank is fairly wrecked:



On the other hand, the ash has done much better. This plank is actually the least good, and I believe it is pretty usable, the rest are even better:



All that timber has been sitting in a cool semi-cellar since May 2007. I’ve weighed it periodically until the weight stabilised, meaning it is not losing further moisture. In 20 months the pear has lost up to 20 percent of it’s green weight, the ash a touch more.

Now I am bringing some of each into a warmer, drier attic where it can sit for a few more months till it has stabilised at indoor humidity. Then we’ll see about putting it to use!

Cheers – C

That's some nice slabs Ceri! Which ones are for me,Doc and Niki? I'm sure Alain could use a pear neck! Appreciate all your doing for us and some of your close fellow posters! Your a good man Charlie Brown! I wonder what a pear body and neck would sound like tone wise! Ceri, the woodmeister!

More to come, Hop. The fella that runs my local saw mill is very nice and cut that wood up for me readily enough. But his real business is supplying the building trade with pine and fiddly little jobs for locals are not truly what he wants to be messing with. So I have a notion I oughtn't to pester him with more of these silly little interuptions.

However, we recently brought down some more ash, and the real purpose of this thread is going to be how to go about cutting and seasoning it - by hand! Stay tuned...

Cheers - C

Ceri,

You certainly have my attention. Please keep us posted on how things progress.

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You dig?

How many trees you said man do you have an idea of how many guitar bodies can come of that I cant stop thinking about it

pear neck and fretboard on a 2 or 3 piece sunburst ash body does sound terribly appealing. Is pearwood strong enough?

This is about the last thing i need at the moment. I've spent the last 2 weeks buying presents for everyone else and now i'm suffering from wide range gas. Its not like i want any one thing in particular, i've even been looking at modeling amps and es175's.

Ceri,
Theres a nice cottage industry in custom guitars waiting for you. I've said it before and i'll say it again. Owning a guitar that you can say grew over there, on that 3ft square patch of land. Must surely be the ultimate in ownership. Imagine having a guitar your grandparents grew. It seems a far more attractive proposition than either customshop or vintage, to my mind.

Totaly jealous. Theres not much greenery in washwood heath, birmingham in which to grow a daisy, nevermind a ash.

Good on ya mate, we know your going to do your wood proud.

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No no and no

Mmm, unfortunately a lot of it is quick growing conifer which is not even any use for acoustic soundboards. And other stuff like oak, beech and horse chestnut that aren't used for guitars.

However, also some poplar and quite a bit of ash - and some stuff that might be interesting in the future such as large hollies, hawthorn and blackthorn.

Here's the problem I'm dealing with right now. This stump was a copiced ash above the road which was threatening to come down in a storm and needed recopicing. From the look of the stool it has grown and been cut several times over the centuries:



According to the rings this last growth was 49 years old, just big enough to produce a couple of pieces worth working with:



I don't think we'll quite get a one piece body out of those, but several two and three piece bodies should come without trouble. And looking at how successfully that ash from two years ago [above] has dried I feel it is worth taking the trouble. But how to cut those logs up accurately by hand?

Cheers - C

What do sawmills use to cut timber? is it a benched bandsaw? If so Ceri I know where theres one going cheap.

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No no and no

Ah, now that's interesting. The pear is devastatingly hard and close-grained and so I'm presuming very good for necks. Only supposing I can get stable blanks out of those somewhat warped planks.

So happens, back at the dawn of the printing industry pear wood was ideal for wood engraving and was used by the likes of Durer because it was so hard you could print from it thousands of times without the picture wearing away. I've a Japanese friend who does wood engraving (well, woodcut, to be pedantic) and she's nearly biting my hand off for some of that pear.

Before it was sawn I had no idea what the grain would be like (or how heavy it would be) so regrettably I got the guy to mill it to a touch over two inch thickness, with the vague idea that I might make bodies from it. Turns out, the grain is very tight but quite boring looking, and it's so heavy you'd sooner have a concrete body - but I've an idea necks might be good. Wish I'd had it cut differently, but there we are...



Seriously on that, your local Council will have non-stop work on its trees contracted out to tree surgeons in the area. Look up tree surgeons in the Yellow Pages and give them a ring: in towns even more than the country they always have a problem getting rid of felled lumber. Tell 'em the size you want - I bet you could come to an arrangement...

Cheers - C

Uh-ho - I feel my bank balance groaning! Go on, tell me...

- C

nono ask the local fella what is needed. If it is a bandsaw im pretty certain i can sort one out dirt cheap.

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No no and no

Well, my guy has a huge glorified band saw with kinda arms that come out and grab the tree trunk and move it backwards and forwards as it gets cut up. Sort of motorised conveyor belt roller bed to it as well, and lots of chains and hoists and stuff.

Don't think I'm quite in the market for one of those - it would slightly fill the front room!

Also, some tree surgeons have mobile milling machines which do a similar job in a smaller space - but those cost thousands upon thousands. If my bank account could run to that; why I'd just be a full-time customer of Fender's Custom Shop instead!

Spill the beans, Niki. What's this machine you have in mind?

Cheers - C

That Pearh would make a nice custom Amp enclosure with some Vox electrics and a Red Coat Governor Speaker.

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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

For that project, it's yours!

- C

I would love it. I have been thinking hard about building an amp enclosure around some old amp inner working or something. I am going tomorrow to look at a bunch of used amps to see if there are any worth the asking price for such a project. My Son wants me to buy a Champion 600 and give it a Mercury Kit treatment which I have though about so I am open at this point as to what I want to do. I guess its called Amp Gas.

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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