Hi, I am a sailor by day and guitar player/hobbying refinisher/builder by night...being a sailor I need to do many repairs on my boat, and a few years ago I stumbled upon a gold mine of teak. I got three 1 3/4" x 2' x 5' pieces of teak. THese are not solid, they are probably like a dozen splined together pieces. THe wood is almost a hundred years old... and is truly beautifull. Does anyone know the sonic qualities of a teak instument? I would obviously cut the splines out, plane everything and reglue...I would like to build a neck through guitar out of it...I think the wings Id make form something else, possibly maple cause I think teak isnt all that hard, and I want some of the snap afforded by maple, but I think the neck could be made very nicely from it.
a maple bodied guitar would be (is 🙁) VERY heavy. I used canadian rock maple for the neck on my neck-through-body guitar and the main body, despite routing large pockets out before bonding the top on it is still VERY heavy (it has a good couple of kg on a Les Paul).
9am53 said:
Teak is tough to glue because of the oil, make sure you clean the surface with a solvent immediately before applying glue.
I think teak is pretty hard, especially on tools.
To puggy's reply, I would make only the wings from maple, so that shouldnt be that bad right? I am an unusually tall and large guy, so I dont really mind a little extra weight on my shoulder anyways...thanks for the consideration though.
To leadbelly, Cool, I never thought of that gluing issue, thanks. Does anyone know about the sonic qualities of teak though? I googled it and I found that there are a few guitars built from teak, the only indication of sound quality is a review on harmony central that says it is kinda dry sounding, good for blues..
To leadbelly, Cool, I never thought of that gluing issue, thanks. Does anyone know about the sonic qualities of teak though? I googled it and I found that there are a few guitars built from teak, the only indication of sound quality is a review on harmony central that says it is kinda dry sounding, good for blues..
leadbelly got it right. Teak is very oily by nature and gluing would be difficult if you're
looking for long term results. And believe me, if you're going to go through the intense
labor of building a guitar... you'll want it to last forever! For me, guitar building is like
creme de mint. So intense that one drop will last you a lifetime.
Old teak might be dried out, which could cause checking (cracking). And note sustain
gets lost in those cracks. Even perfect glue joints will adversely affect sustain.
Phred K. and I built my guitar using well seasoned eastern hardrock curly maple, hawaiian koa,
iron wood and rosewood. Built in 1980. It's holding up Wonderfully. My only regret
was not installing a whammy bar. But its too perfect to mess with, I don't want to risk
screwing something up.
It's a thru neck design and stays tuned for months on end. The action is extremely low,
and its the best balanced guitar I've ever played. Got real lucky with this build.
Sorry I don't have better pictures.
looking for long term results. And believe me, if you're going to go through the intense
labor of building a guitar... you'll want it to last forever! For me, guitar building is like
creme de mint. So intense that one drop will last you a lifetime.
Old teak might be dried out, which could cause checking (cracking). And note sustain
gets lost in those cracks. Even perfect glue joints will adversely affect sustain.
Phred K. and I built my guitar using well seasoned eastern hardrock curly maple, hawaiian koa,
iron wood and rosewood. Built in 1980. It's holding up Wonderfully. My only regret
was not installing a whammy bar. But its too perfect to mess with, I don't want to risk
screwing something up.
It's a thru neck design and stays tuned for months on end. The action is extremely low,
and its the best balanced guitar I've ever played. Got real lucky with this build.
Sorry I don't have better pictures.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
would I be able to see the cracks? or would they be like really small? I plan to make the neck from 4 pieces of teak so there would be quite a bit of glue...would teak be an out of the question wood? or should it be ok? I would like to use it cause its "really me", Im a sailor and sailors use teak ll the time, plus its a beautifull wood, but if its 3rd rate when it comes to tone then I dont need to use it.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.