Top wood knots in King Billy Pine
A question for the builders. I'm having a bouzouki built in Australia and I want to use King Billy Pine for the top wood. Clean sets are very difficult to come by these days and this one was just shown to me. Aesthetically, the knots do not bother me but I'm wondering from a structural and tonal standpoint, would those small knots create issues?
https://i.imgur.com/PpAeUWW.jpg?1 |
Okay, so I thought those were small knots but my builder says they're spots from leaking resin from when the board was cut.
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Yep, leaking resin, typical of King Billy Pine if it has been stored for a while. It is a surface thing so will disappear once it has been sanded. They won't re-appear under a finish. That looks like a nice clear piece, very difficult to get nowadays.
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I'd appreciate any input or recommendations you might have. Being a New Yorker, I'm unfamiliar with some of these woods. |
But just so you know, yes knots would be a problem in the top. In the back not so much but in a stressed top they will crack. I know from experience. Of course it depends on a lot of things like the size and location of the knots. Knots over braces for example or under the fretboard extension might not be a problem.
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I would use Blackwood with King Billy Pine, so you are on the right track there. I tried other woods with King Billy some years ago, but best results were with Blackwood. For the fingerboard there are lots of choices. Gidgee is popular, and I have used Gidgee, Lancewood and NSW Ironwood, but there are many others. All work and all are harder and heavier than Ebony, but I did prefer Lancewood because it seemed to work more like Ebony. Gidgee is extremely hard. I am not familiar with Black Mulga, so can't comment on that. For fingerboards, a bit heavier than Ebony is not going to make much difference.
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Actual knots in a top? NEVER! all I can say.....
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I want to build a guitar with a knotty top and maybe back and sides, just have not found the right piece yet.
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This is the second time I've had Jack running around looking for wood. My first build with him was Cedar over Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle. It took him a bit but he found a really beautiful set for me. I really love how that wood combo sounds. It has everything I love about the zouk sound but the top end has none of the harshness or brittleness that I hear in other zouks sometimes. I ordered that one with a shorter 610mm scale. I'm going a bit longer on this next one. Probably in the 640-650 range so I have a bit more room for my fingers as I go up the fret board. https://i.imgur.com/lBqnt60.jpg?1 |
Wow! That tiger mrytle id stunning.
Well here is one thing you can do to avoid knots in the top. Just use a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 piece top. Cut the knots out. Nothing wrong at all with using multiple piece tops. |
Jack is a good friend of mine, but that is not some of my King Billy Pine. No idea where he got it from. Occasionally a top does come up for sale on Ebay, but most of it is nothing like what I still have from 20 years ago.
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I stopped at HD today looking for a knotty piece of wood. Just looking for pin knots and a little bigger. No luck. And I said I won't come home with any other wood. No such luck. Came home with two boards 6' by 10" (9 1/2" actual). The grain gets into some serious runout in one area due to a branch and there is a knot further on, but about 44" of the board looks clean. While in the center of the width the grain widens a little, one edge I measured 32 grain lines per inch. That was the easy side. Along the other edge the grain is more than 60 per inch. It was packed in tight for the first half inch and then settles out more like the other edge.
Did I mention it is quartered? Because of some blue stain and pith knots a 15" lower bout seems reasonable. The second board looks like it came from the same tree but it has some hard lines in an area and the weight is noticeably more than the first board. I debated for some time before I bought them. I have more than enough boards of straight grained quartered wood from HD. I have whole whack of actual tops that I really do not have to resaw more. But for $18 I took them, this is the last time though. But an interesting pin knot riddled piece? No such luck today. |
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