Blanks or Regular lumber

[TheKeith]

I'm shopping around for some wood for a guitar I'm building and have
decided on either poplar (because it's cheap) or Ash (because it's
light...suposedly) for the body and maple for the neck. It seems to me
that a lot of these places selling "blanks" are charging premiums for
this wood. I don't know if it's because most people have trouble
finding hard woods or if it's because it's already cut down and glued
up to approximate dimensions, or both, but I was wondering if it would
be a good idea to go out to a hard wood dealer and buy the wood in
boards and then just glue it up myself or are the "blanks" specially
treated/dried, or what? Also, I noticed that Lowes and probably Home
Depot have 3/4" maple boards. Do you think this would be appropriate
to use for my neck? I may have to sandwich two pieces together but is
this a big deal considering how fingerboards are basically sandwiched
on anyway? Any help would be appreciated--thanks.

[Sacramento Dave]

"TheKeith" <kpetrino@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1177113905.357971.259390@d57g2000hsg.googlegr oups.com...
> I'm shopping around for some wood for a guitar I'm building and have
> decided on either poplar (because it's cheap) or Ash (because it's
> light...suposedly) for the body and maple for the neck. It seems to me
> that a lot of these places selling "blanks" are charging premiums for
> this wood. I don't know if it's because most people have trouble
> finding hard woods or if it's because it's already cut down and glued
> up to approximate dimensions, or both, but I was wondering if it would
> be a good idea to go out to a hard wood dealer and buy the wood in
> boards and then just glue it up myself or are the "blanks" specially
> treated/dried, or what? Also, I noticed that Lowes and probably Home
> Depot have 3/4" maple boards. Do you think this would be appropriate
> to use for my neck? I may have to sandwich two pieces together but is
> this a big deal considering how fingerboards are basically sandwiched
> on anyway? Any help would be appreciated--thanks.
>
>
I never bought a body blank I always buy wood at a hardwood supply. You
can buy 8/4 (2") and make a two piece blank pretty easy. As for maple at
home depot it might be all right, but if you really look at their prices
they are way over priced on all their wood. Plus most their wood is pretty
warped

[TheKeith]

> I never bought a body blank I always buy wood at a hardwood supply. You
> can buy 8/4 (2") and make a two piece blank pretty easy. As for maple at
> home depot it might be all right, but if you really look at their prices
> they are way over priced on all their wood. Plus most their wood is pretty
> warped

yeah the home depot wood does look a little warped, plus it only comes
in 3/4". I ended up just ordering my wood--there are just no decent
hard wood dealers arount here (NYC area). I've called up a bunch of
places and none of them seem to have appropriate woods for guitar
buiding. Oh well.

[Mattia Valente]

TheKeith wrote:
>> I never bought a body blank I always buy wood at a hardwood supply. You
>> can buy 8/4 (2") and make a two piece blank pretty easy. As for maple at
>> home depot it might be all right, but if you really look at their prices
>> they are way over priced on all their wood. Plus most their wood is pretty
>> warped
>
> yeah the home depot wood does look a little warped, plus it only comes
> in 3/4". I ended up just ordering my wood--there are just no decent
> hard wood dealers arount here (NYC area). I've called up a bunch of
> places and none of them seem to have appropriate woods for guitar
> buiding. Oh well.

I find that very, very hard to believe. I know for a fact there are
plenty in New Jersey, and others in the NE of the country. Maple,
Walnut, Cherry, Alder, Ash, Poplar, Basswood should all be available
with relative ease, ditto some form of (African) Mahogany if it's
anything like it is over here.

The reason wood suppliers charge premiums is simple: you buy stock in
the rough, you get waste (warping, checking, cracking, knots,
discolouration), and they've gone and cleaned it all up for you and
selected a nice, good quality, solid, well-dried piece. I get almost all
my wood from the lumber yard, but despite assurances that it's dry, and
me trusting them on that (ie, I ask when they got it in, usually over a
year or two back with them, and it's almost always kiln dried), I still
won't use the thick stock until I've had it for at least 3 months,
preferably a year or so.

Mattia