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  #1  
Old 03-19-2018, 02:00 PM
Osage Osage is offline
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Default Redwood top

Who's built a dread with a Redwood top? Any advice? The customer requested Redwood and wants "lots of low end". He's a light strummer/finger picker. I've had this set for 4 or 5 years. It's beautiful and I'm glad that I'm finally going to build a guitar with it. Back and sides will be Rosewood.
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Old 03-19-2018, 02:03 PM
ChalkLitIScream ChalkLitIScream is offline
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The body shape will have the most influence on producing that big bass. My all laminate dread blows my all solid OM out of the water when it comes to volume and bass.

Keep the bracing light to enhance this even more
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Old 03-19-2018, 02:49 PM
redir redir is offline
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The last dred I built is Mahogany with a redwood top. Usually when people talk about bass boom they talk about scalloped bracing. If I was going for 'lots of low end' I'd probably consider doing scalloped bracing and don't tuck in the X-Brace ends in the lower bout. I would also give the top a bit more deflection.
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Old 03-19-2018, 03:02 PM
Osage Osage is offline
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Thanks. I've built a number of dreads but have never used Redwood for anything. I've repaired Redwood guitars by several makers but never a dread.
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Old 03-19-2018, 06:07 PM
Carl1Mayer Carl1Mayer is offline
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Ive never made a dreadnaught with it but I used it quite a bit out when I was out west where it was cheap. I made a few guitars, a mando and a miniature bass. Construction wise its actually a lot more dimensionally stable than any other softwood I know of with respect to humidity. I still have an acoustic arch top with an all redwood body I made out in AZ. I moved to the swamps of VA and the maple neck is a mess now but the body held up great
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Old 03-19-2018, 08:17 PM
dekutree64 dekutree64 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl1Mayer View Post
Ive never made a dreadnaught with it but I used it quite a bit out when I was out west where it was cheap. I made a few guitars, a mando and a miniature bass. Construction wise its actually a lot more dimensionally stable than any other softwood I know of with respect to humidity. I still have an acoustic arch top with an all redwood body I made out in AZ. I moved to the swamps of VA and the maple neck is a mess now but the body held up great
Is that maple neck curly? If so, is it bowed forward or backward?

Redwood is indeed great for humidity tolerance. But it is brittle, so even though the dimensional shrinkage is not much, it will still crack if braced in high humidity and then dried out. But if you brace dry, it will be more or less humidity-proof.
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Old 03-20-2018, 04:15 PM
Carl1Mayer Carl1Mayer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dekutree64 View Post
Is that maple neck curly? If so, is it bowed forward or backward?

Redwood is indeed great for humidity tolerance. But it is brittle, so even though the dimensional shrinkage is not much, it will still crack if braced in high humidity and then dried out. But if you brace dry, it will be more or less humidity-proof.
plain maple, rosewood fretboard, bowed forward. Ive currently got it apart cause I wanted to mod it to have an adjustable neck anyway
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Old 03-21-2018, 03:16 AM
dekutree64 dekutree64 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl1Mayer View Post
plain maple, rosewood fretboard, bowed forward. Ive currently got it apart cause I wanted to mod it to have an adjustable neck anyway
Interesting. I was expecting curly, since that puts a lot of side grain in line with the longitudinal axis, so the maple would increase in length while the rosewood remains the same. But this must be a different cause. Maybe just a bad piece of maple.

Never can tell for sure about stability unless you stockpile neck blanks in a non-humidity controlled room and check them with a straightedge in winter and summer to see which ones stay straight.
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Old 03-22-2018, 09:25 AM
LouieAtienza LouieAtienza is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dekutree64 View Post
Interesting. I was expecting curly, since that puts a lot of side grain in line with the longitudinal axis, so the maple would increase in length while the rosewood remains the same. But this must be a different cause. Maybe just a bad piece of maple.

Never can tell for sure about stability unless you stockpile neck blanks in a non-humidity controlled room and check them with a straightedge in winter and summer to see which ones stay straight.
Just like a cuemaker, I have neck billets cut fairly oversized when I get them in, then after a few months before I need them, I'll machine them flat again and let them sit again. After the third time, they're pretty good to go... although I know of cuemakers who will turn at least 4-7 times over the course of a few years, but they're turning a shaft that's less than 5/8" diameter at its thinnest...
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