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Topic: Oak suitable for lap steel?? |
Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2005 7:47 am |
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I have always used mahagony and maple for my building projects. Anyone use any oak to build a lap guitar? What kind of tonal properties might I expect?
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Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2005 7:52 am
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| Hi Bill. I made a 12 string lap steel out of oak and it sounded great. Come on down to the new shop and play it! |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2005 8:08 am
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| Well post a pic!!! |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2005 9:31 am
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Ok here's a pic.
I made this steel out of "Silky Oak" and it sounds WONDERFUL.
I did get extremly Sick when routing and sanding as I'm allergic to Oak and didn't realize it until I ended up in the Hospital.
Ricky |
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Mark Vinbury
From:
N. Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 6:59 am
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Let me start by saying I haven't used oak in any instrument so am just offering an opinion.
My guess is you'll get a lot of variation in tonal quality between different pieces of oak.Oak with slow growth,tighter grain and narrower rings seems like it could have a very different tone quality than a more open grain, faster growth piece.
I suspect this is one reason manufacturers use "homogenized" woods like mahog. or maple.It seems when they do use open grained woods like ash they go to a "sub species" like "swamp" ash to limit the variables.
I think if I were going to use oak I might try to get an idea of the tonal quality of a few different pieces by setting up a string or two on the piece. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2005 8:12 am
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Mark.
Wouldn't you think that the density of the wood no matter what species would have a bearing on the final sound. I have chosen both mahogany and maple for different purposes due to growth ring structure, weight etc. I can't see how these or any other tone wood could be thought of as "homogenous" with no regard to the growth rings, grain pattern etc. Just my opinion. |
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Mark Vinbury
From:
N. Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA
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Posted 23 Feb 2005 11:09 pm
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Bill- What I feel is that you could get more variation in density between two different oak pieces than two different maple or mahogany pieces.
I think this may be partly responsible for the specific gravity of dry oak having to be listed with a spread of 36.8 lbs/cu ft to 58.1 lbs/cu ft while maple and mahogany do not show a spread but are listed as 47.1 and 34 respectivly.
[This message was edited by Mark Vinbury on 23 February 2005 at 11:22 PM.] [This message was edited by Mark Vinbury on 23 February 2005 at 11:33 PM.] |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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