Quote:
Originally Posted by gr81dorn
Birch and Hard Maple are pretty similar in many ways and definitely in the ways of hardness, density, etc that impact its use as a tonewood.
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Several Finnish luthiers have been working with birch, for many years. Mainly for electrics but a few build sides and backs - and sometimes necks - out of birch. The top is usually still spruce.
One luthier told me that bending birch sides takes some extra care to keep them from splitting or cracking.
Not all birch is the same. There's about 120 different species of Birch. The people who use birch for guitars seem to go mainly for Betula pendula. Those can grow very large, if you let them and conditions are right. The flamed wood is invariably found in the bottom part of a massive Betula pendula birch tree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_pendula
The posted "Karelian Birch" (Betula pendula var. carelica) is most likely difficult or impossible to bend to any shapes. In Scandinavia it is a traditional material for knife handles and other smallish items. It is rare to find a large piece but I've seen it used decoratively on some electric guitars. ... and it really is expensive.