I have a big fat piece of Sapele that has been in my garage for years, easily big enough for a large body blank. After that, I have a few big pieces of pine which I have used before. It’s not the best wood for guitar building and it’s not ideal but it satisfies guitar building addiction. 

@boo Well John, I'm no expert but I would guess that you'll be able to turn all of that stuff into guitars.

🙂🎶🎸🙏

@boo

Hi Boo, I'm very happy with my pine body with mahogany cap, so why not?

Well John, I'm no expert but I would guess that you'll be able to turn all of that stuff into guitars.

Thanks @russ I try my best. I’ll definitely have to continue down this road for a while, it will hone my skills. 🤘😁🤘🎸

I'm very happy with my pine body with mahogany cap, so why not?

@robin Of course, I forgot about the woods you used. I’ll definitely have a go. I’m just wondering whether to plain down the sapele (@darrenking) board a bit thinner. 

@boo

so am having to use whatever I have or get my hands on

I've got a Bailey kit for my next build, but I'm thinking about searching the charity furniture shops for real old solid wood for my third, once it's safe to go out.

I've got a Bailey kit for my next build, but I'm thinking about searching the charity furniture shops for real old solid wood for my third, once it's safe to go out.

@robin Yeah I’ve got a mate who found an old wooden chair in a park. He claimed it, took it home and used it as part of a guitar build, a body cap. Yep, it’s time to get creative. 

Hi Boo,

Do have the ability to slice the 18mm sapele down the middle to provide 2 caps? You could then bond a 6-7mm cap on either side of the body core. Less chance of distortion if the lamination is balanced on the center line.
Thinking about other materials that might be used then, looking at softwood options, douglas fir and hemlock are fairly easy to source in large, mainly knot free, dimensions. Thinking outside the box a little then birch ply is cheap, stable and is a really good density for electric guitar making. I think it could be a really interesting low cost material for bodies (or necks come to that) especially when makers are either working on restrained budgets, just wanting to try something out or especially for a practice runs prior to using expensive materials for their dream build. Poplar ply is also available but is much less dense, so easier to work but less of an instrument grade material. For quick design development work it would still work well.

So Boo, do you (or anyone else) want to beta test a birch ply guitar build or prototype program if supply the material?

Darren

So Boo, do you (or anyone else) want to beta test a birch ply guitar build or prototype program if supply the material?

Great idea @darrenking

I completely understand/agree that the quality of materials used is critical to acoustic builds.

But for electrics, surely the materials used has more impact on aesthetics than the sound?  If you're going to put a nice cap on it, or spray it with coloured paint, then the material used for an electric's body is surely less important. 

I know there are people around who claim that they can hear the difference between the different glues used for neck/body joins (it just has to be proper hide glue, but only the '57 recipe, nothing later, and heated over a charcoal stove not gas or electric), but I can't help feeling just a little bit sceptical.

Pickups, Amps, FX, strings, even the sort of plectrum you use (if any) is going to impact the tone produced as much as the materials used.  Clapton sounds like Clapton (etc) no matter what guitar he plays ...

I'm going to have a bit more time in the NY, so I might sign up for the test pilot programme (again).

So Boo, do you (or anyone else) want to beta test a birch ply guitar build or prototype program if supply the material?

@darrenking Thank you very much for this information, I really appreciate it. And....... YES PLEASE! I would love to try a laminate guitar build. I am also in agreement with Tony @tv101 about electric guitar body materials. Those guitar guitar snobs out there that are self proclaimed gurus of the construction and sound of an instrument, right down to the glue used are just full of it! I am always willing to try anything new, there is no point dwelling on the past. We would never progress as a species if we never changed anything, if there weren’t innovators, developers and early adopters. 
That makes me sound like a pretentious, self proclaimed innovation guru! 🤣 I’m not, I’m just willing and excepted to try new things and see what happens. We can use the prototype development model to design, construct, develop, test, analyse, tweak; repeat! 

So, let’s make a start and experiment. 

I know there are people around who claim that they can hear the difference between the different glues used for neck/body joins (it just has to be proper hide glue, but only the '57 recipe, nothing later, and heated over a charcoal stove not gas or electric), but I can't help feeling just a little bit sceptical.

@tv101 I agree with you entirely Tony, pretentious guitar snobs are full of it! I think it’s all absolute nonsense and at the end of the day, does it really matter? NO! 🤘🤣🎸

@darrenking No I don’t have the equipment to resaw that mahogany window sill, my bandsaw isn’t big enough. I’ll sort something out. 

@tv101 You forgot the day of the week and the phases of the moon!

You forgot the day of the week and the phases of the moon!

And that's why I'll never be a *proper* luthier @darrenking ...

😆

I always remember “The Kodak Effect”

Kodak shot themselves in the foot when they failed to listen to the science about digital photography. Instead they buried their heads in the sand and denied this new fangled digital upstart of an idea would ever get of the ground. They lost their major market share due to their ignorance and arrogance, all because they thought their established rule book couldn’t ever be updated or or outgrown. 

I apply this story to everything in life now, nothing lasts forever! As with all things, entropy erodes everything and new things take their place. 

Hey Boo, A man after your own heart 🤣 

From what I've seen around the internet you can build a guitar body out of anything you can fasten a neck, pickups, and bridge to (circular saw blades, concrete, lego, pencils, and shovels are all on YouTube). My last build was made from some Ikea pine shelves and it sounds just like me playing on any other of my Seymour Dunan equiped guitars, so like the wise people above have said - 'tonewood is bollox'.

If it's something like the correct size and will let you route/drill without breaking, then I don't think there's any harm in using any type of wood you find (unless you're breaking into the house next door to steal their mahogany doors).

unless you're breaking into the house next door to steal their mahogany doors

@rockpile99 That thought had actually occurred to me! 🤣

@boo Here's some inspiration. Nothing wrong with this as a self-build project!