African Blackwood back and sides
TarBabyTunes
Not exactly African, but this fellow uses Australian native "blackwood" for
guitars and bouzoukis...
steveV
Tar Baby Tunes
steve V. johnson + studio V
Original Music Recordings
All Popular, Ethnic & Formal Musics
Bloomington, Indiana
McCollum
I've built two of African Blackwood, and am going to build a third one in a
couple of months. It weighs alot, very glass-like reflection, hard to get in
two-piece backs. I think it sounds a lot like good Brazilian. Give me a
call or send me an email if you'd like to know more.
Lance
mccollumguitars.com
"PaulC" <PaulC_...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:a4s48...@drn.newsguy.com...
> If it is Australian Blackwood, it is an acacia and a very close relative
to Koa.
> Frankly, I can't tell the two apart. African Blackwood is a different
animal.
>
>
> In article <20020218175906...@mb-da.aol.com>,
tarbab...@aol.com
> says...
Hojo2x
>>Not exactly African, but this fellow uses Australian native "blackwood" for
>>guitars and bouzoukis...
Paul wrote:
>If it is Australian Blackwood, it is an acacia and a very close relative
to>Koa.
>Frankly, I can't tell the two apart.
I've got an Australian blackwood mountain dulcimer that I had built by Blue
Lion Musical Instruments to match an older Sitka spruce and koa dulcimer they
built me in the mid-80s. As luck would have it, the top on this new blackwood
dulcimer is from the same special stash of tops that Bob Baker of Blue Lion has
kept all these years, and looks as though it's even from the same flitch of
spruce.
So the two dulcimers are identical in every regard, except that the new one has
back and sides of blackwood.
The African blackwood on it looks like wildly flamed koa, except that instead
of being koa's exact shade of golden honey brown to dark chocolate, the color
on this set is a more uniform color that's almost beige: there's some pink to
it.
Admittedly, I haven't seen a huge number of instruments in Australian blackwood
other than this dulcimer: perhaps three or four. But all have had a color
similar to this one.
While he was building the instrument Bob was quite surprised at how dense the
wood was: he said it looked very similar to koa but was closer to rosewood in
density and worked like rosewood, as well.
This becomes apparent when you play it: it's bassier and not quite as well
balanced tonally as the koa. The trebles on it are not quite so sweet as the
koa dulcimer, which makes sense because the wood itself is not as light. That
extra density dampens some of the upper partials.
So mine, anyway, sounds more like a rosewood than a koa instrument.
Paul continues:
>African Blackwood is a different animal.
Absolutely. It looks more like ebony, though I understand its crystalline
structure is closer to Brazilian rosewood than anything else.
It's not just density that plays a role in the sound: that cell structure has a
major effect, too. This is why maple and rosewood, which have similar
densities, sound so different from one another when used in instruments.
Different structures.
Anyway, getting back to African blackwood, most of what I know is from hanging
out with my friend Erich Solomon, the archtop guitar builder.
He's since left Alaska, but he has a website where you can contact him.
He knows more about African blackwood than anyone on the planet, at least that
I have met, so he's worth talking to. He prefers it over all other woods for
bridges and tailpieces.
As for getting it in sets large enough to build a guitar, good luck finding the
wood. Most African blackwood on the market is available only in very small
pieces, bridge-sized, basically. I've never seen any sets big enough to build
a mandolin, much less a guitar.
Of course, I ain't been LOOKING, either!
One point that should be made: I don't know how much African blackwood you've
had occasion to pick up and heft in your hands, Paul, but it's the heaviest
damned stuff imaginable. Right there with ironwood, if not heavier. I think
Erich told me that it sinks in water.
So if you WERE to find a set big enough for back and sides and you DID get a
guitar made out of it, you might find that you commissioned one of the heaviest
guitars you've ever held in your life.
But - hey! It's okay! Your chiropractor needs the business!
Seriously, good luck with this. I'd be interested to know what you discover.
Wade Hampton Miller
Chugiak, Alaska