#16
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Anyway, most of the Russian balalaikas, domras and seven string guitars I saw at that time appeared to be made with birch backs and sides and either spruce (possibly pine) or larch tops. But all were of Soviet era manufacture. The fit and finish of those Soviet era instruments I had a chance to play were fairly crude by Western standards, but a lot of them had a really sweet tone. Wade Hampton Miller |
#17
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https://doffguitar.com/product-categ...aikas/?lang=en https://doffguitar.com/product-category/domra/?lang=en They would probably produce the birch versions as well, for tradition sake, but as I see no one is offering birch as tonewood. |
#18
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There was a guy here in Alaska named Dave Carlson who was making mandolins that he built from the spruce and birch trees that grew on his property. They sounded remarkably good. It didn’t take him long to saturate the market up here for custom-made birch mandolins, though, as you might imagine, and I haven’t seen or heard of him in quite a while now. Ten years at least. I admire him for doing something creative and not just trying to build yet another Gibson F-5 copy, even though that’s what most mandolinplayers want. whm |
#19
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I do like the sound, however. When I lived in Finland in the early 1980’s the Finnish guitar company Landola was still in business, and most of the instruments they built were from birch - not just guitars, but banjos and other stringed instruments, as well. Most that I played sounded good. In retrospect I wish I had bought a Landola guitar back then to bring back with me to the United States, but there are all SORTS of guitars I would have liked to have bought years ago!! C’est la vie... whm |
#20
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How about tops? The old Stella guitars also had birch tops. I’ve searched for that, and haven’t found a source for birch or maple tops. What would be the best substitute? I was thinking about either just using a maple or birch back/sides set for the top, or substituting a more common top material. If I were to do the latter, would spruce be the choice? Or something else? I’ve got a redwood top set I never figured out what to do with...
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#21
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Levin is another (swedish) guitarmaker that has built guitars with birch. It's actually a great toonwood. |
#22
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Yes, instruments factory made in Soviet Union were awfull. The first guitar my mom bought me was Russian 7th string which I converted to 6 simply cut new nut slots and make a plastic spacer at the bridge And it was screw adjustable neck angle No truss rod.
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#23
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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.
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Breedlove, Landola, a couple of electrics, and a guitar-shaped-object |
#24
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Perhaps OT but why bother? Vintageparlorguitars.com has em all ready to go. The inventory changes from time to time but tell him what you want.
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#25
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So, the answer to “why bother?” is only partially “to have one”, and partially to see if I could sort of recreate the sound. Just a hobby. But, to your point, one reason that I’ve never attempted a 6-string acoustic guitar build is that there are just so many available, and even most of the inexpensive ones are probably as good as or better than anything I could build, with the possible exception of if I worked from some well-established plans (and maybe even then). And that’s not fun - the design process is at least half the fun. |
#26
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I have a flat sawn 6" board of birch that I could get a full instrument out of doing the top and back 3-piece. The flat sawn direction should not make a difference other than more susceptibility to humidity changes. And the reason for it? As said, just to have one. I do have a couple of order catalog guitars from back in the time built from birch, not the best examples of instruments though.
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Fred |
#27
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There’s plenty left to make a neck, and also a top, if I wanted. My bandsaw would choke on trying to resaw anything wider than 3” or so (it’s a small one). Do you think a 6 or 7 piece top would be a disaster? Alternatively, I have some spruce and some redwood top material, that would each easily make a 2-piece top. Would western red cedar be better for getting close to that “mail order” parlor guitar sound? |
#28
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Going for a hardwood top I would think the added stripes would not matter. I thought of doing a multi piece top like that with darker colored strips. I think a thicker width purfling would tie it together. I have built a spruce 5 piece top and back, just more gluing to do. When I get the time I'll do it yet.
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Fred |
#29
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