Western Redcedar: What to Look For?
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 3:23 pm
My brother-in-law gave me some cedar he salvaged from the beach on the west side of Vancouver Island. Some of it he has milled into one or two-inch planks. Some of the grain is extremely fine and straight, but I don't know about runout. I am thinking of splitting some body-length pieces down the middle to see if it splits straight. I hope that will give me a "true" surface to resaw from. If I do get any suitable pieces out of this exercise, what should I look for in tap tone or other factors to determine if I get anything guitar-worthy out of it? I had a Yamaki cedar top guitar once which was quite decent, but I have not been drawn to it now that I am building steel string guitars. I understand some builders like it for classicals? I don't have a planer, but do have a thickness sander, and my 14" bandsaw does have a riser block.