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#1
10-26-2021, 04:27 PM
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Tonewood Combos
My wife, who is a pianist and mandolin player, took up the guitar a while back and now she's decided that she wants to build a guitar. So I'm going to work with her on her first project.
She wants to make a custom L-00 because she loves her Gibson L-00 Standard. I just happen to have plans in the collection derived from a 1937 Gibson L-00. But the question arises as to what wood combo to use. Of available wood for the project, the following combos are possibilities: Honduran mahogany/Adirondack spruce. Play it straight and stick to the original formula. Probably her favorite option. Cuban Mahogany/European Spruce. My favorite option. Peruvian Walnut/Redwood Myrtle/Port Orford Cedar So, if you were going to order or build a 1937 Gibson L-00 clone, which combination would you choose? I'd like to steer her on to something that will sound great and be reasonably easy to work with for her first build. Also, what do you think of Granadillo for a bridge plate? That idea has been floating around in my head for a while. Or should we stick with maple? Does anyone own a guitar with any of these wood combos? What do you think? 
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#2
10-26-2021, 04:44 PM
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Building a sonic replica of an L-00 is one thing and "what would sound wonderful in an instrument built from those plans?" is another. And always always always--it's not just the woods, it's the execution that produces a good guitar.
FWIW, I've played a redwood-over-walnut 12-fret guitar and its redwood-over-Indian-rosewood twin, and I found both quite lovely, though I chose the rosewood. (27 years on, it's still one of my favorite guitars.) And I have a redwood-over-walnut archtop that is quite wonderful, though that's so far from the L-00 formula as to be meaningless as a comparison. You never can tell. My Michael Dunn Daphne (Selmer-style grande bouche) is cedar over purpleheart. Whooda thunkit.
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#3
10-26-2021, 04:44 PM
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Not a builder, but my Collings C10 (based off old Gibson L00) has an Adirondack top- it’s fantastic. That would drive my choice to the hog/adi combo.
I thought the redwood topped guitar I had for a time had gorgeous mids/ trebles and they were dominant on a deep bass oriented build, so others may have good reasons to disagree with me, but I think on a smaller redwood guitar might hide the bass. I like cedar on small guitars, sounds rich to me, but not a lot of volume. my 2cents
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#4
10-26-2021, 04:49 PM
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If you want a "clone" of the Gibson, then I'd pick one of the spruce/mahog options, as they are true to the original. Adirondack and Honduran, of course, being the closest.
Redwood/walnut might be a good choice if you want something with a complex tone for softer fingerstyle playing and are seeking a warm sound. Port Orford Cedar/Myrtlewood would be my last choice. Maybe you're doing a "trees native to the Southern Oregon coast" tribute guitar or something, and you are a hard strummer/flatpicker with a heavy hand. Port Orford Cedar is considerably stiffer than the spruces—and is very unlike the widely used Western Red Cedar, which is softer than spruce and much closer to redwood.
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#5
10-26-2021, 05:00 PM
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Thanks for the input, everybody!
Well, to be honest, the Port Orford Cedar/Myrtle combo made the list by virtue of being easy to work for a beginner. It's not my favorite option. Since I've been hornswaggled into doing this, I've already extorted agreement for a new Peterson tuner out of her, so she'll have a shiny new tuner to tune plates and assembly. I might need a new router as well. She wants to do a French Polish finish, so that sort of precluded my request for a new Fuji turbine sprayer. But I'm still preaching the virtues of nitrocellulose lacquer, so all hope is not lost.  She's a definite traditionalist, so she'll probably favor the Adi/Honduran combo. I'd like to try the German/Cuban combo, though.
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#6
10-26-2021, 06:52 PM
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Why those particular combos? Why couldn't you put the Myrtle with the European Spruce, or the Cuban with the Port Orford (for example)?
You seem to have limited it quite a bit. But you've also not offered a whole lot of sense of what tone you are going for, or what kind of music she plays, which are rather important considerations.
__________________
"What have I learned but the proper use for several tools" -Gary Snyder Bourgeois DR-A / Bowerman "Working Man's" OM / Martin Custom D-18 (adi & flame) / Martin OM-21 / Northwood M70 MJ / 1970s Sigma DR-7 / Eastman E6D / Flatiron Signature A5 / Silverangel Econo A (Call me Dan)
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#7
10-26-2021, 07:00 PM
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Quote:
She plays fingerstyle with sort of a light touch and likes a little chime over a good mid-strong base. That's one of the reasons I was thinking German (actually, European spruce these days) and Cuban mahogany. But for all I know, she might want Lutz and Ziricote. I'll let her choose, and just advise and make suggestions. Same with building it. She'll build it, I'll teach and advise. So anything is possible.
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#9
10-26-2021, 07:07 PM
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Quote:
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#10
10-26-2021, 07:09 PM
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Given that description, I'd probably set aside the Adi, and probably the Port Orford.
I'd be curious about a Peruvian Walnut / European combo given that criteria. But really, there are a tone (that was a typo, but I decided to leave it as a pun) of variables there.
__________________
"What have I learned but the proper use for several tools" -Gary Snyder Bourgeois DR-A / Bowerman "Working Man's" OM / Martin Custom D-18 (adi & flame) / Martin OM-21 / Northwood M70 MJ / 1970s Sigma DR-7 / Eastman E6D / Flatiron Signature A5 / Silverangel Econo A (Call me Dan)
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#11
10-26-2021, 07:25 PM
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Quote:
But woods are part of the fun, and do affect tone as well as having aesthetic appeal. And there are a lot of other decisions to make. Straight-forward neck carve or five piece neck? Standard or laminated braces? All sorts of things. And there's plate and assembly tuning and various tweaks and niceties. The little things add up. Seeing as this is her first project, I'm thinking that keeping things relatively simple and straightforward would be best. If she wants to continue, she can get fancy with future builds and implement all the special stuff. This time, if she just makes a well-built guitar that has been properly constructed and has been subjected to the various procedures that make for good tone and projection, she'll be doing fine.
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#12
10-26-2021, 07:46 PM
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Quote:
__________________
The Bard Rocks Fay OM Sinker Redwood/Tiger Myrtle Sexauer L00 Adk/Magnolia For Sale Hatcher Jumbo Bearclaw/"Bacon" Padauk Goodall Jumbo POC/flamed Mahogany Appollonio 12 POC/Myrtle MJ Franks Resonator, all Australian Blackwood Blackbird "Lucky 13" - carbon fiber '31 National Duolian + many other stringed instruments.
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#13
10-26-2021, 08:37 PM
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I would encourage you to encourage her to use the wood combination she likes the most. It's her motivation we have to deal with here, not your own.
whm
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#14
10-26-2021, 08:51 PM
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For her style of play as you described it, I think your idea of Euro/Cuban is perfect...or a very lightweight Honduran Hog set.
The Lutz/Cuban combo would also be fantastic for her, but you have to get a good and dynamically alive set of Lutz and work it to the light side to get the benefit out of what if can offer. Highly figured/quilted Sepele would also be a great back/side option. I reckon you will just have to see what she feels good about working with. Awesome lady you have yourself there, to take on a project like that with enthusiasm! duff Be A Player...Not A Polisher
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#15
10-26-2021, 09:36 PM
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Quote:
She might come up with something completely different. But if I had to guess, I'd predict Adirondack spruce over Honduran mahogany. Knowing her, she'd consider anything else, "incorrect", LOL!
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