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Post by earwighoney on Mar 29, 2014 16:48:05 GMT
Dave,
That's what I've heard about Cedar, irrespective of it's visual appearance - some of the best results come from the stiffest pieces of Cedar. Have you ever built with Redwood?
I've read a few things about Ziricote's reputation to crack. Malaysian Blackwood is supposed to be another tonewood prone to cracking. I think that might apply to some of the ebonies if used as back and sides. I really like Ziricote as a tonewood though, it seems to have a rosewood tone of sorts, but without as many overtones which to my ears a great combination. Heard great things about Malaysian Blackwood too, not tried a guitar made from it and would like to try one as I would a guitar with Macassar Ebony back and sides too.
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Post by colan on Mar 29, 2014 19:36:43 GMT
The keys to successful use of ziricote , I'm informed, are that the guitar builder takes great care in the drying, maintains a good humidity environment and that the end user continues to maintain that environment.
In this instance those requirements will me met so the ziricote horror stories don't bother me.
I must say though that I've never ever seen an off-the-shelf ziricote guitar in any shop. Perhaps its too unstable for the High Street floggers ?
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davewhite
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Post by davewhite on Mar 29, 2014 21:09:40 GMT
The keys to successful use of ziricote , I'm informed, are that the guitar builder takes great care in the drying, maintains a good humidity environment and that the end user continues to maintain that environment. Plus in some circumstances a generous coating of superglue before building with it. Mark Thomson had a ziricote b/s guitar made by Alan Arnold that is very stable indeed. As Ive said before wood is wood. |
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Post by earwighoney on Mar 30, 2014 8:40:13 GMT
The keys to successful use of ziricote , I'm informed, are that the guitar builder takes great care in the drying, maintains a good humidity environment and that the end user continues to maintain that environment. In this instance those requirements will me met so the ziricote horror stories don't bother me. I must say though that I've never ever seen an off-the-shelf ziricote guitar in any shop. Perhaps its too unstable for the High Street floggers ? I've played 3 Ziricote on the shelf guitars - a cedar/ziricote Lowden in Wunjo, which isn't the most humidity controlled shop I've been to and it was fine- no cracks. The other two I played were in TAMCO, which is a shop but not really a high street guitar shop! There is a possibility that a lot of the horror stories of Ziricote come from the other side of the Atlantic, where humidity conditions largely are a lot more extreme (the states where it snows more...) Dave - what's Mark's Alan Arnold guitar like? He's a guitar maker who's name I've come across now and again but I've not heard much about his guitars. |
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davewhite
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Post by davewhite on Mar 30, 2014 9:55:35 GMT
Dave - what's Mark's Alan Arnold guitar like? He's a guitar maker who's name I've come across now and again but I've not heard much about his guitars. Very nice - drop mark a pm and ask him - user name markthomson. |
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Post by colan on Mar 31, 2014 12:45:35 GMT
OK, I'm discussing the colour tone of my Western red cedar top with Avalon now. I fancy something a tad darker than 'usual' but that's clearly subjective. In terms of cedar tops would this illustration be considered light, medium or dark ? It's the ' finished ' illustration from the Wood Database site.  e |
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 31, 2014 13:10:18 GMT
A subjective, non-technical description from me for that piece of cedar would be "light coloured", as reproduced on the pic anyway. Most of my cedar topped guitars were darker than that from the outset. I love darker tops though, and I have one guitar in particular that had a much darket top than that from new - I had specifically asked for a darker set, but without the "stripey" appearance that some of the darker sets seem to have. Obviously, all that matters is that you and Avalon can come to some understanding of light/dark! A lovely dark cedar top would look great with your ziricote!  Keith |
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Post by colan on Mar 31, 2014 13:33:29 GMT
Cheers, Keith, I thought the same myself but it's good to have somebody else confirm it. Avalon will show me a selection, of course, and they know that I value audio qualities over appearance so between us we'll come to the right conclusion. I'll post my choice when I've made it.
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Post by colan on Mar 31, 2014 15:16:32 GMT
Many will find this interesting. As a follow-up to my enquiry as to the source of my ziricote set Aaron Hix wrote;
" Woods have their own unique "soul", and where they come from do reflect that. Guitars made by artisans who can capture the soul of the materials and put a bit of their own soul into their instruments influence a guitar to exude that soul into the music that is made. "
My kinda dude. Rock on, Aaron.
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Post by earwighoney on Mar 31, 2014 16:09:14 GMT
I've seen some 'special' darker sets of cedar. Aaron Hix occasionally has some very nice Sinker Cedar sets, and there's another seller on ebay Roy Tonewoods who some of the luthiers at AGF have been buying some amazing sets of Sinker Cedar from. Some of the darkest 'normal' cedar tops I've seen are referred to as 'chocolate' cedar tops. Maderas Barber have a few sets. |
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davewhite
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Post by davewhite on Mar 31, 2014 16:16:30 GMT
" Woods have their own unique "soul", and where they come from do reflect that. Guitars made by artisans who can capture the soul of the materials and put a bit of their own soul into their instruments influence a guitar to exude that soul into the music that is made. " Arti San is a well known Japanese luthier  |
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Post by colan on Mar 31, 2014 17:36:54 GMT
" Woods have their own unique "soul", and where they come from do reflect that. Guitars made by artisans who can capture the soul of the materials and put a bit of their own soul into their instruments influence a guitar to exude that soul into the music that is made. " Arti San is a well known Japanese luthier Ah, so. I'll nippon over to his site. Checkin' out them links here, 'wig. Edit. Hmmmmm. First one looks like it got left in the road. The ' chocolate ' samples look nice. I wonder what they're like when they're finished ? |
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Post by colan on Mar 31, 2014 19:24:02 GMT
What are the forum's luthiers views on asymmetric bridges ?
Are they detrimental to an ' even ' tone ?
Could they be designed to enhance the bass or treble sides ?
Daft questions ?
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davewhite
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Post by davewhite on Apr 1, 2014 9:57:43 GMT
What are the forum's luthiers views on asymmetric bridges ? Are they detrimental to an ' even ' tone ? Could they be designed to enhance the bass or treble sides ? Daft questions ? This is April 1st right  |
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Jo whoever he is.
