Tamarind wood

koolimy · #1 05-12-2022, 08:02 AM

Hi, has anybody built with Tamarind wood (Spalted Tamarind)? I am currently building a classical guitar kit w/ Tamarind B&S and the properties of the wood are quite interesting.

I was cutting the binding channels and I found that the wood behaved very differently depending on its color. In the darker, browner parts of the wood, it behaved very much like a hardwood, very stiff and strong. I have no experience w/ Rosewood but I would reckon it felt similar to Rosewood, as it would break off very crisply. On the lighter parts of the wood, it behaved like a softwood, not unlike Spruce. It felt quite a lot like pudding.

Just found this very interesting! I did not know that the same piece of wood could exhibit such different properties. Has anybody else built with Tamarind or another wood that exhibited such differing properties? I wonder how it will affect the sound of the guitar.

Thanks!

Bill Kraus · #2 05-12-2022, 09:59 AM

I have not built with spalted tamarind, but I have cut a good amount of it into guitar sets while working with a tonewood supplier. The drastic variation is mostly due to the spalting, basically a fungi breaking down the wood. The wood has started to rot in other words. Luckily the fungi needs quite a bit of moisture to continue to be active, so once the wood is dried, the fungi is inactive.

Bill Kraus · #3 05-12-2022, 10:03 AM

I do look forward to hearing some opinions on the sound of a spalted tamarind guitar from someone that has made one. It has such a unique look.

koolimy · #4 05-12-2022, 10:26 AM

Thanks for your reply! Yes, the wood is absolutely beautiful, at least to my eyes. Would getting some water on the guitar activate the fungus? I did get some water on it so I am a bit concerned....

I don't know if I can provide a good report, as I am a super amateur builder w/ terrible skills. It's also a classical so I don't really have a baseline for what a classical guitar should sound like. Nonetheless I'll try to update this thread (if I can find it, LOL) once the guitar is finished and provide a report on the sound.

When I tapped the unbraced wood, however, I found it to sound quite like cardboard. It had a very low pitch in terms of tap tone and the tap gave a dull thud.

When braced, radiused (15 feet), and attached to the guitar, I found the tap tone to be quite resonant and loud. It surprisingly has a very similar pitch to the top. Hopefully it does not create problems. The top is a bit more airy in terms of tap tone and the back a bit more focused. Of course, I don't know if this means much, just what I can report right now LOL.

Bill Kraus · #5 05-17-2022, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koolimy

Thanks for your reply! Yes, the wood is absolutely beautiful, at least to my eyes. Would getting some water on the guitar activate the fungus? I did get some water on it so I am a bit concerned....

I don't know if I can provide a good report, as I am a super amateur builder w/ terrible skills. It's also a classical so I don't really have a baseline for what a classical guitar should sound like. Nonetheless I'll try to update this thread (if I can find it, LOL) once the guitar is finished and provide a report on the sound.

When I tapped the unbraced wood, however, I found it to sound quite like cardboard. It had a very low pitch in terms of tap tone and the tap gave a dull thud.

When braced, radiused (15 feet), and attached to the guitar, I found the tap tone to be quite resonant and loud. It surprisingly has a very similar pitch to the top. Hopefully it does not create problems. The top is a bit more airy in terms of tap tone and the back a bit more focused. Of course, I don't know if this means much, just what I can report right now LOL.

The dormant spalt fungi needs a high and sustained moisture content to "wake up" and continue to break down the wood, so I would not worry.
There are some woods that do have a dull tap tone, so they tend to not color the sound of the finished guitar as much, making top selection important (though it always is).
Let us know how it goes.

runamuck · #6 05-17-2022, 05:29 PM

Spalt is rot. Rotten wood gets spongy and has, in my experience, a detrimental effect on tone.

koolimy · #7 05-17-2022, 08:31 PM

Quote:

The dormant spalt fungi needs a high and sustained moisture content to "wake up" and continue to break down the wood, so I would not worry.

That's good to know that it won't activate w/ just some water! Thanks.

Quote:

There are some woods that do have a dull tap tone, so they tend to not color the sound of the finished guitar as much, making top selection important (though it always is).
Let us know how it goes.

Quote:

Spalt is rot. Rotten wood gets spongy and has, in my experience, a detrimental effect on tone.

I can kind of see why you say that. Spongy is a good description. The whiter, spalted parts of the wood were noticeably softer, and they cut like butter. The darker parts were much much harder to cut. I guess I'll have to finish the guitar to see what effect the spalt has on the tone. From my preliminary taps and pitch in the dark guesses, I'm guessing the tone will be similar to a high damping rosewood. In this piece of wood, the darker parts dominate, so I'm guessing it will take on more of the characteristics of the darker parts which seem to be close to rosewood. If the spalted parts dominate, I could see it being much closer to a softwood back.