Speaking of wood...

[jade]

This was brought up in the Imports "NAMM" topic, and it got me thinking.

How come there aren't any guitar bodies that are made of pine? It's used in some guitar cabs and pianos as a sounding board. Why aren't there any pine guitars? Is that the wood is too open-grained?

[sully]

Re: Speaking of wood...

probably b/c it's a soft wood.

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: Speaking of wood...

probably b/c it's a soft wood

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">A womans worst nightmare. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Mrs LPC [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[jade]

Re: Speaking of wood...

Originally posted by LesPaulCustom:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">probably b/c it's a soft wood

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">A womans worst nightmare. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Mrs LPC [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">LOL!

[HuntinDoug]

Re: Speaking of wood...

I think basswood is softer than pine. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[jade]

Re: Speaking of wood...

Maybe it has something to do with holding a finish well. Maybe pine soaks up the paint too much, but then why not just do a natural finish? hmm..

[kremit]

Re: Speaking of wood...

Originally posted by jade:
Maybe it has something to do with holding a finish well. Maybe pine soaks up the paint too much, but then why not just do a natural finish? hmm..

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wow...it's a good thing I just deleted my reply [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] When I went back and saw your post I thought I had accidentally posted because it was word for word what I was typing (almost [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) Pardon my tree ignorance but isn't pine a "sappy" wood ? Would that not pose a problem for the finish ? Could it be cost prohibitive ?

[mm2002]

Re: Speaking of wood...

The first guitars Leo Fender built in 1949 were made of pine. If it was good for guitars he would probably have kept using it! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Pine is a very unstable wood, meaning that with varying atmospheric conditions it tends to warp easily, even if it's kiln dried. They only use it to build houses because it's CHEAP!

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Speaking of wood...

Yup it's a soft, unreliable, doesn't hold finishes all that well (takes a lot of finish especailly the ends grains), and it's not a pretty enough wood for a guitar to be a clear coat or natural finish. Although it does look desent as a stained piece of inexpensive furniture. Probably not a real good tone wood either. The closest to pine used in gutars would be Poplar. It's in the same family.
Gil