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Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:30 am
by MaineGeezer
I've just been wondering...has anybody ever built an all-spruce (or all-cedar, or all-whatever traditional topwood) guitar? Top, sides, back?

How would that work?

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 5:03 pm
by tippie53
yes I have seen them
They sounded ok.

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:26 am
by thronson
here's a western red cedar arch-top... from the sold page...
http://benedettoguitars.com/boutique/si ... red-cedar/

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 5:23 pm
by ruby@magpage.com
My next instrument is about 6 months away, but I have the wood. It will be an early Gibson L-1 shape (round lower bout) completely out of Alaskan Yellow Cedar -top, back, sides and neck. I have all the parts and seeing the Benedetto cedar guitar gave me the idea of using Yellow Cedar for the binding with just a black line it its top and bottom. I had counted on using a black ebony fretboard and bridge, so the black will fit in nicely with the pale yellow of the Cedar.

I have used this wood in boatbuilding and there is no wood that smells better.

I also built a resonator out of a piece of Ash from a friend's farm - top, back, sides, and neck all from the same piece. Turned out great.

Maine - give it a go

Ed

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 5:46 pm
by MaineGeezer
I'm wondering about a bell cittern. I think I've posted this link before, but here it is, anyway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoB_-yWOJKo
Jud is a friend of mine and I've gotten the dimensions of his cittern. Given the sound that it has with a cedar top and teak back and sides, I'm thinking an all-cedar version ought to be quite amazing. Maybe.

Is there any significant difference between western red cedar and Alaskan yellow cedar?

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 6:22 pm
by ruby@magpage.com
Looking at Sitka Spruce - SP, Yellow Cedar - YC, and Western Red Cedar - RC, here are a couple of stats:

Weight: SP 27 lb3, YC 31 lb3, RC 23 lb3
Janka SP 510, YC 580, RC 350

So Yellow Cedar has a harder surface than either RC or SP, and has a little more weight. I know there are other numbers that might be important, but I don't know what they are.

Ed

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 6:41 pm
by MaineGeezer
Maybe a red cedar top and yellow cedar back and sides....

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:07 am
by music143
thronson wrote:here's a western red cedar arch-top... from the sold page...
... red-cedar/
This is cool

Re: Has anybody ever built an all-spruce guitar?

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:57 pm
by ruby@magpage.com
I never put up the all-Alaskan Yellow Cedar guitar on this thread. Top, back, sides, and neck. Extremely light weight, nice punchy sound, great balance.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 488198220/

Click left and right, text below. At the end are 2 sound clips of my daughter playing it when it was 5 days old. The sound changed every day it seemed for the first couple of months, but it has settled down nicely

I also built one in all-Ash - top, back, sides and neck all from the same piece of log. It's a resonator, so hard to compare

Ed