Salvaged Materials!

[@monday6524]

Reuse is a wonderful thing!

[@MrJohntheHarp]

Its great that your putting this out there. I do this all the time & produce some great 'stable' instruments. Renovating an old parlour from 1870 atm. Its going to take a lot of work - but fortunately I've got some ancient timber to do the task.

[@Csharpflat5]

They say the spruce from old pianos sound board is wonderful fully stable and aged and typically 100 year old growth trees.

[@thepragmaticluthier]

I regret, in my youth, not taking the opportunity to tear down at least ten different pianos offered to me. BIG MISTAKE:)

[@SilasHumphreys]

My neighbor left a pallet out as trash. I grabbed it, took it apart, and I'm turning it into a banjo. I know a great architectural salvage place that I can get lovely vintage door furniture from, and also perfectly usable reclaimed lumber at very low prices.

[@red58impala]

Thanks for sharing. More food for thought. Using that trick you mentioned, using the scrap from the upper bout and gluing it to the lower bout, you might be able to make some soprano, or smaller, ukuleles out of two of those boards. The lower bout on a concert is about 8 inches, so that might be a bit of a stretch.

[@steeleguitars9684]

I am always on the wood scrounge. I find the local milled walnut in WNY produces a pretty decent instrument. Even using it for the top wood. Yard sale furniture is another good source, tho sometimes it’s a wrestling match with my wife for it!

[@jonahguitarguy]

I've got a black walnut billet that was saved from a burn pile. I have already built a solid body and plan to get a back and side set from.

[@acusticsix]

83 year old fish hatchery cypress! you don't see that every day... never knew you could do a 11 piece pine top either... i'am always picking scraps out of peoples rubbish... just wondering if you could mix and match different types of woods for a top plate ... such as maple, walnut maple walnut for cool looking contrast and sounding `guitar? i do like the look of a 3 piece back on a martin D-35.

[@thepragmaticluthier]

I have never mixed woods for a top, but I am aware of a two-piece Cedar and Spruce instrument, I think by Rick Turner? I think you should try what you're suggesting before I do. You've aroused my curiosity:)

[@larryatha3221]

Jose Romanillos built guitars from multi-piece tops. And Antonio Torres made guitars from unmatched top pieces.

[@thepragmaticluthier]

Absolutely! Interesting, however, that when I advocate the use of less than perfect, salvaged or unconventional materials, the lutherie elitists take a dim view of it.

[@dalgguitars]

Piano sound boards are all small boards, always have been. Pianos sound great.

[@thepragmaticluthier]

Absolutely! I'm continually frustrated over the regularity with which tradition become a rule that we follow obsequiously, Rosewood, Mahogany and dovetail necks and fish on Friday among them.

[@thijs199]

So what are the considerations for bracing a multipiece top? I believe an X brace is probably the way to go. But I could see how a parallel bridge brace could work to give support in width there as well

[@thepragmaticluthier]

May experience has been that there really aren't any. C.F. Martin was being (as required I suppose) a little grandfatherly, professorial, and salesman-like. I did an 11 piece classical top in Sugar Pine with conventional fan bracing and i have done several 3 and 4 piece steel string tops with no special consideration given the the x-bracing, beyond what I would do for a 2 piece top. Every one of those guitars is equal to any guitar with a 2 piece top and the oldest one is 29 years old, still stable.

[@thijs199]

@@thepragmaticluthier alright, thank you for the info m8

[@JoshWard-g5i]

WOW! Thanks, what kinda blade are you using on the honking bandsaw?

[@thepragmaticluthier]

I'm currently using a "Timber Wolf" 3/4" blade, which I absolutely hate. ALL HAT, NO RANCH.

[@JoshWard-g5i]

Well you could have bought the expensive Laguna Resaw King Blade and hated that one too...can't get it to behave!

[@brucewheeler9519]

Morning Sir,. A number of sources recommend against wearing gloves of any kind around rotating blades as they tend to draw the hand into the blade if caught. Now I know that I have no place criticizing the master luthier but I always wear gloves ironically when chain sawing. Your comments please....

[@thepragmaticluthier]

I understand you comment and you are correct; wearing gloves can be extremely dangerous and I one had a close call. Still, I wear them under very specific circumstances to avoid the constant splinters, abrasions and sometimes lack of grip that has been part of my work for decades. I carefully weigh risk and benefit and hope I never miscalculate. For what it's worth, I don't advocate the others follow my practice in that regard. In the end, there are three ways to absolutely avoid injury; get someone else to do the work, don't do the work, buy several stock feeders for your equipment. And that last one has no guarantees:)

[@JoshWard-g5i]

I know I could use a talk on bandsaws and bandsaw blades....just an Idea

[@thepragmaticluthier]

GOOD SUGGESTION! There's a lot to that subject but I'll see if I can put something useful together.

[@JoshWard-g5i]

Many Thanks!

[@MrDaveKC]

My next door neighbor heard about my guitar building and gave me a couple pieces of walnut. I intend my next guitar to be built from that stuff.