Domestic Guitar

[Ken Hundley]

Ah, David that is what I have. Hmmm.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

David,
Did I miss something?
KOA!!!!!! It is a domestic wood.....Hawaii is in the USA!
You can use it for fretboard, bridge, and of course the obvious.

Kevin

[crimsonlake]

Here a few pictures showing the Adamas (Ovation) walnut bridge and fingerboard. The fingerboard is described as "impregnated walnut". I'll see if I can dig up a description of what that means.

[Darryl Young]

Wouldn't you want a dense piece of wood for a fretboard so it doesn't wear too quickly pitting the FB? Seems a hard and dense piece would last much longer.

[Darryl Young]

Here a few pictures showing the Adamas (Ovation) walnut bridge and fingerboard. The fingerboard is described as "impregnated walnut". I'll see if I can dig up a description of what that means.

Is it made from walnut dust and epoxy and compressed to form the shape? If not, you should be able to see natural grain lines in the wood.

[crimsonlake]

Darryl - it's solid wood. From the manual - "The fretboard is of resin-impregnated black walnut which is about 2x more dense and strong than the native wood and is also virtually impervious to heat, moisture, acid from sweat and so on. The impregnation is accomplished in a retort with resin, which is then polymerized to offer the high density."

The neck itself is also made of black walnut. Here are a couple of more pics (sorry for the lousy picture quality):

[kencierp]

Those fingerboards and bridges are solid Walnut with a satin Epoxy filler -- actually on my PC I can clearly see the grain pattern on the above pic. Kaman is very proud of this departure, especially the bridge -- there are claims of acoustic benefits since it is so much lighter then Rosewood or Ebony.

[David L]

Kevin, I thought of Koa and Mango also and while Hawaii is one of the United States, technically that would qualify them as domestic, however, I'm gonna pull a fast one on you, Hawaii is not part of the continental U.S. (LOL). BTW, that piece of scrap of tulipwood that I posted pictures of was originally a fingerboard blank, that is a leftover piece from another project (non-guitar related).

David L

[David L]

I don't prejudice Alaska just because Canada snuck in-between us (HaHa) but Hawaii requires addressing a couple thousand miles of salt water, and yes Alaska is continental U.S. Hawaii, no. All kidding aside, My issue is that Koa and Mango have an "exotic" look that most domestics don't (to my eye anyway). If someone built an "all" domestic guitar that included Koa or Mango or any other type of wood indigenous to Hawaii, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

David L

[David L]

Somehow I knew you were going to go there. Yes it's true that many of the trees (in th U.S.) that we harvest for timber, fruit, etc, were originally imported and not indigenous to the U.S. yet we still designate them as domestic, perhaps because so many generations have passed since they were originlly imported, they have somehow been grandfathered in as domestic. As far as "exotic" looking figuring on domestic woods such as curly or quilted maple, the figuring doesn't scream "exotic" to me just because some exotic woods possess the same type figuring. To me maple looks like maple whether it is curly, quilted, bird's eye or non-figured just like quilted (waterfall) bubinga doesn't lead me to think that it is a domestic wood just because some domestics share that same figuring, bubinga looks like bubinga and it looks like an import. maybe it's just a mind-set thing and that it doesn't really make sense except in my mind and how my brain translates what my eyes see. At this point I think we are fringing on splitting hairs. It's just like the old argument (at the risk of beating a dead horse), scratch built or not scratch built. Some will argue that it's not truly scratch built if someone else bent the sides or applied the finish or thickness sanded or etc... At what piont does it truly become scratch built? One could argue that it's not scratch built if you didn't plant the seed, grow the tree, fell the tree, mill the tree into lumber, convert the lumber into musical instrument parts, kerf the lining, etc... Did you did a hole in the ground, call it a mine, extract iron ore from it, smelt the ore and add the other components to transform it into steel to cast your own tuners, and on, and on and on... I think (at least for me) it's about perspective whether it is if a wood looks domestic or not or whether I consider a guitar scratch built or not...perspective, and that can and will vary from person to person, I don't think that there is a "right" or "wrong", just a difference.

David L

Edit: BTW, I am a big fan of figured woods. I like my wood just like I like my women, full figured!