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#1
06-27-2016, 08:28 PM
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Wood for electric bodies
So a friend of mine has a short church pew they use in their home.
It's old, it's mahogany and all I keep seeing is using the pew ends to make a cool guitar stand from and the rest of the pew to be cut up for electric bodies. Could it really be that simple? Is a tone wood a tone wood whether it is used for a pew or guitar? 
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#2
06-27-2016, 09:04 PM
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__________________
I only play technologically cutting edge instruments. Parker Flys and National Resonators
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#3
06-29-2016, 08:57 AM
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I don't think wood is cured differently for its application. It is selected differently, however. Wood selected for furniture building may be different than wood selected for electric guitar crafting, where density and weight are key factors.
The good news is that older mahogany is generally considered 'better' than what is growing today. I would suspect the salient characteristics of the church pew may be desirable as a tone wood for a solidbody guitar project. This I know from experience: Old pine makes a better sounding amplifier cabinet. It adds a tonal characteristic that newly harvested pine cannot. Would this thesis translate to old vs. new mahogany for a guitar body? If I had the chance, I would challenge it.
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#4
06-29-2016, 11:43 AM
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All wood is tone wood, and no wood is tone wood. It's tone wood if you decide it is, and if the instrument sounds good to you. It becomes tone wood when an instrument is made from it. I have an old Gibson Melody Maker that is made from exactly two pieces of now 53 year old mahogany, one piece for the body and one piece for the neck. It quite amazes me how that little thing sings unplugged. So yeah, a single piece of mahogany of excessive age is to my mind a good thing to make a guitar body out of.
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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#5
06-30-2016, 06:55 AM
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If the wood was dried properly when first cut, it should be fine.
The problems with wood drying concern more with acoustics, because their thin woods require strong cellular structure for integrity. Some kiln dried wood may look fine on the outside, but if done too fast the cellular structure could rupture mak I ng the wood weaker when resawn. For a solid body guitar, it shouldn't be as much a concern.
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#6
06-30-2016, 08:54 AM
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It could be laminated so watch out for that. I love building with reclaimed wood so much so in fact it's almost the only thing I use now with the exception of tops.
IMHO it doesn't matter what wood you use for an eletric guitar, it's about what pickups you use and what amp you plug it into. I know I just stirred the pot with that statement but it's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it 
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#7
06-30-2016, 06:11 PM
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#8
06-30-2016, 06:49 PM
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So in theory: Someone with average woodworking skills mixed with patience and sprinkling of OCD could build a decent electric body. Wonder if yoy could upsell the bodies as "Artisinal Bodies", "Upcycled", etc?
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#9
07-01-2016, 05:11 AM
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How about those good old Danelectro's? Their tonewood was finest grade masonite and plywood! Hence my view that any wood (or wood like substance) can be "tone wood" in an electric guitar. When I was 16 I made my first electric guitar from plywood, a neck and electronics from a tiesco del ray, and it was great. Mind you the Vox teardrop Teisco del Ray copy would now be worth a thousand bucks, and my little telecaster copy got thrown out one day.
__________________
Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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