Where can I buy Quarter Sawn wood for guitar blanks?

Ads · Post by **Ads** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:49 am

In fact where can I buy quarter sawn wood for guitar blanks in Jyväskylä?

Also if anyone knows where I can buy luthier supplies such as knobs, bridges, machine heads,
pick-ups shielding tape tail pieces, wiring kits, soldering supplies etcetera.
It'd be a great help.

Cheers in advance.

Ads.

**Sponsor:**

tuulen · Post by **tuulen** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:13 am

Ads wrote:In fact where can I buy quarter sawn wood for guitar blanks in Jyväskylä?

Also if anyone knows where I can buy luthier supplies such as knobs, bridges, machine heads,
pick-ups shielding tape tail pieces, wiring kits, soldering supplies etcetera.
It'd be a great help.

Cheers in advance.

Ads.

The only wood that is ordinarily quarter sawn is oak, but that is a wasteful process, done only for the beauty of the finished wood.

To get such wood, Jyväskylä could need a surplus of oak, and whomever buys quarter sawn oak will pay a premium price.

Aging, drying and seasoning go beyond all of that.

Ads · Post by **Ads** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:06 pm

Yeah, thanks for that.

Believe it or not, not only is wood quarter sawn for the beauty of the wood after
finished, it is also done for the extra strength it gives. Particularly this is important
for the neck & head of a guitar as these are the weakest parts of the instrument.
It is also important for the body of a guitar as you can chamber without taking very
little if any strength away from it. Plus if you get a nice book matched curly maple
it looks very, very, pretty. =D

I'm well aware of how wasteful a process it is. I'm not in the market for oak as it were.

I was looking for something like Finnish Aspen, elm, birch, black alder or spruce.

If there is anyone who knows of any lumber or timber yards that may have these quarter
sawn it would be much appreciated. =D

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 1:52 pm

säteittäisesti sahattu is the magical word, and in Finland thats birch as you do veneer from "flame birch"

Ads · Post by **Ads** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:11 pm

Ok sweet säteittäisesti sahattu (Radially sawn? Is that right?)

Thanks Pursuviant.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:26 pm

There should be places selling "furniture wood" for cabinet & boatbuilders... not that impossible one would think... but then again sometimes things are more difficult than at other times...

Ads · Post by **Ads** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:23 pm

Hmm, it's weird I the nearest thing I can find is in Korpilahti. It's called Kouhian Saha.
I don't think they do radially sawn wood. Bit of a bugger. It'd be cheaper than having to
order it online.

By the way, if anyone else is interested in guitar building here are a few sites I would recommend:

MIMF (Musical Instrument Makers Forum) - http://www.mimf.com/cgi-bin/WebX
The people on here are really helpful & will point you in the right direction. The forum
also has quite an extensive FAQ section, it's enough to get any would be Guitar Builder
underway.

Stewart-MacDonald - http://www.stewmac.com/
This company ships internationally & you can place your
order in Euros. They even have an international shipping calculator on the site.
Here is pretty much the one stop shop for
pups (pick ups), bridges, knobs, machine heads, wiring, plans, body blanks,
ready made neck, truss rods, scratch plates, scratch plate blanks & pretty
much anything guitar related. (Excludes Amplifier parts). They even sell
speciality tools like fret files, nut files & fret wire cutters (important for getting
the fret wire flush with the neck.

Also Books that have been suggested & I've found worth reading.

Build Your Own Electric Guitar - By Melyvn Hiscock

Guitar Electronics For Musicians - By Donald Brosnac

I'm pretty sure all the libraries would have these, at least the
one in Jyväskylä does. They're pretty much the Bible & Koran
of guitar building. Very easy to follow with simple straight forward
language, pictures & diagrams.

davin · Post by **davin** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:31 pm

I know that this company send from the UK to the EU.

http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Tonewoods/index.asp

Just not sure if the shipping would ruin the quater sawns moisture content.
Also bear in mind that any log cut "through and through" in a mill, will have some quarter sawn boards in the center, any good local mill should be able to help.
Dont know if instrument timber should be air or kiln dried?

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:05 pm

Ads wrote:In fact where can I buy quarter sawn wood for guitar blanks in Jyväskylä?

Also if anyone knows where I can buy luthier supplies such as knobs, bridges, machine heads,
pick-ups shielding tape tail pieces, wiring kits, soldering supplies etcetera.
It'd be a great help.

Here’s a Finnish discussion forum for musicians and their DIY instrument building section. You might want to check out the pinned topics at the top... perhaps with the help of Google Translate if your Finnish is not up to the task.

tuulen · Post by **tuulen** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:52 pm

Pursuivant wrote:There should be places selling "furniture wood" for cabinet & boatbuilders... not that impossible one would think... but then again sometimes things are more difficult than at other times...

Yes, quarter sawn wood sometimes is used for furniture.

The difficulty could be in finding somebody with the skills to quarter-saw a log.

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:00 pm

This page lists the Finnish terms for various sawing methods / cut types, complete with illustrations.

davin · Post by **davin** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:01 pm

thanks juha, useful stuff.

Anyone know where I can buy hardwoods, Oak, walnut, ash,beech birch etc.
I know a few places in lahti but nowhere in the big city.
Or does anyone know of any interesting places for a furniture maker to visit in Helsinki?
davin

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