Pacific Northwest Yew...

[Tspaxton]

Greeting to everyone...

It's been a while since I've posted here, so likely no one remembers me. Anyway, a prospective client wants an OM guitar made of Yew wood with Dogwood burl accents. He's providing the wood, so that's not an issue. However, I have no experience with Yew wood in this application, i.e. guitar building. Any thoughts?? Any caveats about Yew wood?? Bending??

TS Paxton

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hey Paxton, a blast from the past. Nice to see you here again.
They make bows from Yew, don't they? The guitar has strings so maybe it would be good to shoot arrows??
Well, I don't have any experience with the wood, you know it will bend, so doing the sides shouldn't be an issue, and it should be a closed grain wood, so finishing should be a snap.

Kevin

[Tspaxton]

Hi Kevin... good to uhh... see... uhh... hear... uhh... hmmm...
Anyway thanks for the response. I was thinking similarly. I saw one Yew acoustic on the www, but that guy said he had a bit of trouble bending... may be the elastic quality of Yew... But yes, I agree that the finish should be great. The prospective client is a friend, and wants ttoswap for a years worth of firewood.

[Dave Sayers]

I think it was Brooks guitars that used Yew in an acoustic, and apparently the sound was good. Yew is very toxic, though, so make sure your dust mask is tight and use gloves when handling as much as possible.