It Was a Blast.
jgoska
Fungus? Hah! One hundred years ago, a comet exploded over the
Tunguska River in Siberia. The shock wave flattened trees for miles,
left other tree trunks standing, stripped of branches. Those stripped
trunks are still standing today. Think about it, potential tonewood,
one hundred years old, acoustically treated by cometary shock wave.
Talk about breaking in. I hear that collectors of tonewood are
adventurous fellows, ready to go anywhere, jungles, swamps, the
bottoms of lakes and rivers, mountains and frozen wastes. Central
Siberia should present no problem. Tunguska Comet Tone, anyone?.
Shy Picker
I was wondering if anyone has tried making instruments out of the wood
from some of those trees they have dredged from the bottom of Lake
Superior that sunk over a hundred years ago.
David
Misifus
Yes. That wood has and is still being used as tonewood for guitars,
with quite good results.
-Raf
--
Misifus-
Rafael Seibert
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafiii
home: http://www.rafandsioux.com
Shy Picker
Got any idea who is using that wood and which guitars?
David
Misifus
One of the other places I hang out is
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=24
Several of the posters there, both buyers and builders have referred to
"Sinker" woods, often redwoods. These are recovered sunken wood which
seems to be quite popular for redwood tops.
hank alrich
heh heh heh
http://www.stellingbanjo.com/stelrim.htm
--
ha
shut up and play your banjo
http://www.armadillomusicproductions.com/CarryMeHome.htm
http://hankalrich.com/
Misifus
Here are a few refences:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167895&highlight=Sinker
There is a reference to a Baranik with "Tree" mahogany b/s and sinker
redwood top.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167896&highlight=Sinker
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168461&highlight=Sinker
hth,
harv
I've built guitars from Maple that came from Lake Superior. Excellent
workability was the main difference I saw. Flamed maple is hard to
machine because of the changes in grain direction cause it to chip,
this stuff had no such problems. Some of the "stump" Brazilian RW is
being harvested from river bottoms as well.
I've never used the "sinker" redwood but several years ago I bought
some Redwood planks that had been wine vats at Sabastiani Winery, that
were filled with wine from about 1918 until the mid seventies. The
wood sounds better than any other redwood I've found (it also has a
unique smell and a dark color)
The old time violin makers in Italy (Stradivarius, Amati etc.) cured
their wood under water, typically in the sewers, for many years before
using it. The theory being (and supported by modern day science) is
that wood that dries too fast allows the cells to collapse which
weakens the wood. Most of the water in the cells will leave even
submerged so when it's removed only the water which has soaked in has
to be removed. The other theory is that the wood that grew in the 15th
-17th centuries grew in colder temperatures so it had more consistent
grain... 100 year old wood from the great lakes would have grown in
the same time period and that are probably had a similar cold climate
to Europe. My wine soaked redwood on the other hand probably grew a
thousand years earlier.
Harv
Geezer51
"harv" <hle...@voyageairguitar.com> wrote in message
news:0b907c15-232e-49c0...@g22g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>Workability was the main difference I saw. Flamed maple is hard to
>machine because of the changes in grain direction cause it to chip,
>this stuff had no such problems. Some of the "stump" Brazilian RW is
>being harvested from river bottoms as well.
>I've never used the "sinker" redwood but several years ago I bought
>some Redwood planks that had been wine vats at Sabastiani Winery, that
>were filled with wine from about 1918 until the mid seventies. The
>wood sounds better than any other redwood I've found (it also has a
>unique smell and a dark color)
>The old time violin makers in Italy (Stradivarius, Amati etc.) cured
>their wood under water, typically in the sewers, for many years before
>using it. The theory being (and supported by modern day science) is
>that wood that dries too fast allows the cells to collapse which
>weakens the wood. Most of the water in the cells will leave even
>submerged so when it's removed only the water which has soaked in has
>to be removed. The other theory is that the wood that grew in the 15th
>-17th centuries grew in colder temperatures so it had more consistent
>grain... 100 year old wood from the great lakes would have grown in
>the same time period and that are probably had a similar cold climate
>to Europe. My wine soaked redwood on the other hand probably grew a
>thousand years earlier.
>Harv
Weren't some m�di�val luthiers soaking their wood in a horse urine (or
bovine urine)
concotcion in an attempt to instill "spirit" into the wood?
I wish I could remember where I read that...
Geezer
harv
> bovine urine)
> concotcion in an attempt to instill "spirit" into the wood?
>
> I wish I could remember where I read that...
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
there are a lot of stories involving urine, my personal favorite being
that the had teenaged boys peeing on them. I expect it comes from the
fact that the best source of water year round was the sewers and some
of the sewers were out back under out houses... there is a theory that
salt water is better than fresh though. who knows.
Harv
Shy Picker
>
> There is a reference to a Baranik with "Tree" mahogany b/s and sinker
> redwood top.
>
>
> http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168461&hig...
>
> hth,
>
> -Raf
>
> --
> Misifus-
> Rafael Seibert
> Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafiii
> home:http://www.rafandsioux.com
Shore must be exciting to watch a guitar coming together for him like
that.
David