Hokanu wrote:
Where does one acquire large hunks of wood like that?
I actually 'acquired' this over a year ago, and to be honest, I'm not exactly sure how I found the seller. It was probably through on online classified on of the guitar building forums I occasionally participate in.
Most 'tonewoods' are imported.. at least the hardwoods (rosewood, ebony, etc...), and have to be certified by CITES, and so are usually only sold by licensed dealers. There are quite a few who sell 'guitar sets' online.
I made up my mind a while back that I was going to do a Texas themed guitar (I still haven't decided on all of the details), and went looking for some pre-milled mesquite guitar sets. Unfortunately, Mesquite trees don't generally grow thick and tall enough to get a guitar sized piece of wood out of, and it's not considered a premium tonewood. It's also not terribly common, and since most of the trees are small and scraggly, most of the wood goes to chippers for those BBQ's.
I have found a few accounts of people building guitars out of mesquite, both electric and acoustic, but they are rare, and finding pre-milled guitar sets is even more rare.
I stumbled on this for sale online somewhere, and snapped it up, not really putting a lot of thought into what I was going to do with it. It's been stashed in the woodshed for a while now, and I just finally got it out and knocked the mud and spiders off of it to look it over. It will be my first time milling my own sets... I hope I'm not in over my head :p
It's almost too big for my shop tools to handle and 1" thick and 50+ inches long. I can use my 13" bandsaw to take the bark edges off. At that point I'll line out the biggest pieces and see what I can make from it. I'll probably try to get one solid body guitar and at least two sets of acoustic back and sides. I have more than I need and/or can use, which is good, especially since it's rare. Wood makes excellent bartering currency. I can trade it for other wood, or any number of other goods and services that I might find handy.
As far as turning it into guitars, it isn't going to happen any time soon. I have half a dozen odd projects I'm currently working on that I'm determined to finish this summer/fall. I need to finish them to make room in the shop before I can start on any new big projects.
Getting set up to build acoustic guitars is extremely time consuming. For each body style I want to build, I have to have a full set of side bending forms (with and without cutaway), and building molds, all of which have to be built from plans before I can even start thinking about milling wood. It takes longer to build the jigs, molds, and forms than it does to build the actual guitar.
Also, as a general rule, I always let my wood 'acclimate' in a temp/humidity controlled environment (i.e. the shop) for several months before I start trying to convince it to become a guitar. This is particularly important with acoustics, where moisture content is critical in the bending process, and the stability of the (relatively thin) wood is critical to prevent cracks in the woods later down the road. Being meticulous about this allows me to build to much finer tolerances than an off-the-shelf instrument.
I hope to chronicle some of my building adventures online, but that too takes time... stay tuned....
Edit:
This is an example of a site that sells 'guitar sets'.
http://www.alliedlutherie.com/unusualsets.htm
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