I'M SHOCKED by Castanea Sativa - Tommy's Tonewoods

Didn't expect this old chestnut. Comment your thoughts!
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[@TomSandsGuitars]

Thanks for the love on this episode! So lovely to see you're enjoying the new format

[@johnlind5819]

Tom, I know the Tommy's Tonewood wish list is getting long, but if you ever end up with a set of Pernambuco I vote for a Tommy's Tonewood episode! It would be fun to learn about that beautiful wood. Thanks, John Gig Harbor, WA

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Thanks for the suggestion, John, I’ll see what I can do!!

[@GirthGod]

Virgil (the luthier who sent Tom this chestnut) is actually making me a guitar with flamed Pernambuco back and sides. Very excited.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

@@GirthGod how exciting, I’ve seen it, it’s amazing 🥳

[@sbolfing]

Great episode! I have noticed a number of guitars from Japanese luthiers in the 70s using a 3 piece back - typically Chestnut wedge with Jacaranda wings and side. Maybe they were onto something!!!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

That’s a crazy combo!

[@jonathansledge5790]

I like your videos. I play guitar and got the crazy idea to build a guitar. I process my pieces from lumber from a regular wood store. I learned to tap watching you. It's amazing. You can be in the same pile of Honduran mahogany and you get dense boards with more bass and sustain and lighter boards that are more resonant. I went through a lot of Honduran mahogany that was on special looking at grain and tapping rough sawn boards. I think I have enough to build like three guitars. If I make a mistake it's not the end of the world. Any way thanks. Your passion helped me. I'll mix these into good electrics hopefully.

[@dennissiler6672]

This one is absolutely new to me, but I would love to see more of it. American Chestnut was wiped out by the blight in the early 20th century, but the logs are remarkably rot resistant, and I have built mountain dulcimers out of it. I'm not sure how the two compare, but I am now fueled to investigate further.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Let me know what you find!

[@peterjames2580]

What fun a new tone wood!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Agreed!

[@victordu4694]

thanks for sharing this. i'm making a personnal small acoustic and use chestnut... it is awesome when dry... i also have sides from an incredibly straight lumber... young ones used to make poles are pretty straight. and i got a nice bookmatched flamed back from an old chestnut plank. it's a common tree but so durable. the only downside i find is the coarse grain, nice but risky... and the stain the wood may take when some iron acids come into contact.. it stains black easily. thanks a lot

[@TomSandsGuitars]

What first drew you to chestnut?

[@victordu4694]

@@TomSandsGuitars availability where i live there are chestnut, beech, spruce, white cedar, maple, fir tree, ash, cherry.. i try to get some nice dead ones. made a strat with spalted beech body and wild apple neck. i had an opportunity to salvage 2 centuries old chestnut planks used for a cathedral roofing.. too many nails, i used them for an old style door. i also salvaged fence poles made out of young straight chestnut... got 2 nice sides out of them. recently, i ran through a pile of sawn, decades dry chestnut planks no bugs, stored dry, that the owner was about to dump or burn, got them for free. I remarked a nice bend with flamed figures, sawn it, thinned them for a back, braced the back... and it rings like a bell.. chestnut is definitely very musical, warm, crisp and deep with nice power.. i plan to use it for a soundboard on a next build. i use white cedar i salvaged on this one. the only reason i'd be cautious about is the grain.. the pores can really be thick and make cracks on thin parts, i had to CA glue some crack starts but that's okay. i would also be cautious with something acid on it.. chestnut is full of tanins and wants to blacken very quick.

[@GuitarSVD]

The effect of directions of wood grains in Tangential >> Radical > Longitudinal axes when considering internal fiction. Therefore a twisted tree trunk may have higher fiction longitudinally but its tangential fiction can be very low

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Well there you go! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@MrPab1lb]

Australian Spotted gum (Corymbia maculata) would be an interesting thing to use for a tone wood. I've some gorgeous uarter sawn figured pieces. Let me know and I'll send you some.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Oh wow sounds great! Could you email me? [e-mail] ❤

[@MrPab1lb]

@@TomSandsGuitars Will do.

[@johnlind5819]

Well, that was a bit of a surprise. Looks a little like a very pale cedar. The tap tone was far more complex than I expected. Thanks, John Gig Harbor, WA

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Isn’t it just!

[@circaSG07]

Hi Tom, do you have any experience using Lutz Spruce? I've searched your library of videos, and I wasn't able to find anything. Curious if you've ever used it before. Thanks

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I haven’t, I’d love to get some

[@andrewbowen6875]

I’m sure you’ll have seen it but for anyone in the comments section I would advise them to see the Dream guitars video of The singer songwriter and fabulous guitar player known for playing Olsen guitars, his story about finding the most incredible piece of Adirondack spruce taken from a fallen tree that grew very slowly in the Smokey Mountains. I’d be interested to know Tom if this chestnut is for the back n sides, as to what you would be thinking of for the top?

[@andrewbowen6875]

So forgive me for asking but are we talking about using this for the back n sides as oppose to the top? I really like how you are so open for building with new woods. There’s no right or wrong but I’m pretty sure that your mentor and Jason Kostal particularly were more about sticking to the time honoured traditional combinations.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I could see it being used for both?

[@carlom.3737]

Wonderful video. Are you thinking of using this as back and sides or as the soundboard (since you mentioned it almost sounds like spruce).

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Could be either I think!

[@gonnuser]

i’m sure it’s not very common in matched sets but camelthorn would be an interesting one it kinda sucks to work with but it’s nice and hard @ 3,600 lb-feet

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Will have to check that out!

[@larryhawes8295]

Great video Tom. Back/sides or top wood for the Castanea Sativa? I've also read/heard that by handling a tone wood one can get a feel for its responsiveness and I could hear that in spades as you moved the wood in your hands. Thanks Again.

[@Birkguitars]

I was wondering the same thing. If I have my data right those numbers make it slightly harder and heavier than sitka spruce and with that grain pattern and biscuit colour I can see it looking lovely with some dark walnut.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

It can be either! Undecided or where this set will end up at the moment though!

[@lebe220]

How about plumtree? We´ve got some in the garden.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I do love fruits woods!

[@Snakebloke]

@Tom Sands I dream of a guitar made with Chinese Dragon Juniper. Perhaps it will remain a dream...

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Perhaps a teeny tiny violin

[@GitFiddler0123]

Tom... shipping crates ≠ tonewood... until they do!

[@terrywright7893]

Sweet chestnut to be paired with…? Maple(syrup) perhaps…

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Great suggestions

[@lebe220]

The best wood for revolutionary music?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Pallet wood!

[@lebe220]

@@TomSandsGuitars Hmm...working class wood. Been asleep too long.

[@bcrano]

Douglas fir tops???

[@TomSandsGuitars]

We just made a video about Doug fir, coming out soon!

[@tomdalia5284]

Tap on TalenTED next

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I might get cancelled