#31
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I always get white oak and red oak mixed up. White oak has more tannin in it, and will darken up when fumed. It also has tight pores, which is why they use it for whiskey barrels: the red oak would leak. They char the inside of the barrels just before putting in the whiskey, and the activated charcoal absorbs a lot of the impurities that would make the liquor bitter. Also, the tannin in the oak converts to vanillin over time which helps give it a smooth flavor. According to Consumer Reports, you can up the apparent quality of cheap Scotch by adding a half teaspoon of vanilla to a bottle.
I had a Red oak Dread at the last Woodstock; my first Dread in about 40 years. Since it was red oak, I could not fume it as I had planned on doing, so it was light colored. It got a lot of play, and people liked it, but it didn't sell.... |
#32
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Quote:
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#33
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I built a white oak dreadnought a few years ago. Sitka top,scalloped forward braces, the back was braced ala vintage Martin with the two lower bout wide braces. It was a light weight guitar and if I do say so myself was fantastic sounding. I have a matching set that is a figured as you’ve ever seen.
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#34
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Hans Brentrup has made some of the most beautiful Larson copies in oak for the last 30 years.
http://www.brentrup.com/page2/page2.html I made a J-185 with Scottish white oak b+s, and a white oak neck from a centuries old plantation in the Spessart forest in central Germany. I had an 8" wide board with sap on one side and pith on the other and it had 40 grain lines per inch at some points - the neck was planted around 1755. I was inspired by the Gibson Florentine treatment and glitter purfling of the 30's: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby16...7649776959267/ scroll to the right and wording below Ed |
#35
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I built a quarter-sawn white oak guitar a couple of years back and loved it. And more importantly, the client did.
I love the medullary rays, and in an acknowledgement of the arts and crafts furniture history with white oak, used 3 ebony “bow ties” to bind the two sides of the back. If I get an opening, I’m definitely gonna do another one. Bright, articulate, and loud. Maybe I need to do a Greene and Greene version :-) Steve
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www.denvirguitars.com Last edited by JSDenvir; 02-20-2018 at 08:10 PM. Reason: General typing incompetence. |
#36
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https://downhomeguitars.com/instrume...lutz-spruce-4/
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-------------------------------------------------------------- Matin D-18 -Dad's newest toy Simon and Patrick Showcase Rosewood Concert Hall-Daddy's Toy Part II Martin Dreadnaught Jr-E Sapele - Daughter's Toy Yamaha FG JR2S - Son's Toy Gretsch Jim Dandy - Seafoam Green - Everybody's Toy |
#37
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I played a Stevens OM with Oak and did not like it at all. I also do not like the looks. _If_ it would sound great to my ears I might consider Oak, but in that case this is a wood I am not interested at all.
Others reported they like the Lakewood guitars with Oak. |
#38
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Here is an interesting read. It clearly reveals that most of the ‘tonewood’ perceptions are more between the ears of the listener than going through the ears of the listener. Makes perfect sense to me. Back and side wood species has little effect on the tone of a guitar anyway.
https://hazeguitars.com/blog/listening-tests-tone-woods
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#39
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Not for acoustics but not for nothing, when Leo and Paul Bigsby were figuring out this whole solid body electric guitar that could be maintained easily by the owner, oak was tried a few times but just too dang heavy at the thicknesses they needed.
Not Leo and Paul Bigsby together, but the two of them around the same times, late 40's ish. rct |
#40
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Builders have used Oak, Hickory, and others for decades. It was just probably a bit more common pre-WWII. I once owned a spruce top, Oak body Scmidt and it was a very nice sounding guitar. I even owned a guitar and a fiddle with a sycamore body.
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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard |
#41
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I play an 'evolved' (modified) Cowboy guitar Not sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
#42
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You can also stain oak with an iron rich solution. I've tried fuming it with ammonia but the store bought stuff is just not strong enough. But steel wool in vinegar makes a stain that reacts with the tannin in white oak and you can get some really cool effects with it.
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#43
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I think Alan Carruth's first post pretty much says it all. I think oak's relative absence from the acoustic world is easily explained by that combination of factors. It's hard to get excited about a wood that is a close second in so many respects but not exemplary in any. Why choose "good" when it is easy to select "better?" I don't see this as knee-jerk bias or empty tradition -- I see it as good thinking. Of course some great luthiers make wonderful guitars out of oak, but for most makers and buyers, it's simply not advantageous, at least until the better alternatives are exhausted.
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#44
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There is this beautiful oak guitar for sale: Brand New Avalon A1-Oak Cara Series with Cedar / Ancient Bog Oakhttps://applink.reverb.com/item/9428705-brand-new-avalon-a1-oak-cara-series-with-cedar-ancient-bog-oak
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#45
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Biased perceptions .
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