What can we learn from a Log Guitar?

Guest · Posted 27 Apr 2001 4:08 am

What can we learn from a Log Guitar?

By now all the world is aware of Joe Delaronde's amazing feat, building a steel guitar from a log chewed on by beavers. (For details and photos go to http://www.mightyfinemusic.com/Photos/delaronde/photos.htm) Joe tells us that this unusual instrument plays and sounds great. Given all the discussion on this forum regarding instrument construction and its impact on sound and playability, this could lead us to draw some disturbing conclusions. I would like to set forth the conclusions I see stemming from this "research project" and what it could mean.

CONCLUSION I: JOE IS A NUT AND IT REALLY SOUNDS CRUMMY

While there seems to be ample evidence to support this conclusion, I reject it. Eccentric, yes. Unbalanced, maybe. But a nut? No I don't think so. For one thing, Joe actually played this steel at the Mid Canada Show without visible signs of injury from onlookers. I think Joe is being fair when he says it sounds good.

CONCLUSION II: CONSTRUCTION DOESN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE

It is possible to conclude that if a steel guitar made of logs sounds good, then materials don't really matter -- you can make your steel guitar out of anything and it will sound good. I reject this based upon personal experience and understanding of acoustic properties. I think construction does make a critical difference in steel guitar sound and I think most would agree with me.

CONCLUSION III: BEAVERS ARE GREAT GUITAR MAKERS

That leads me to the only remaining conclusion, that beavers are natural steel guitar makers. Isn't it possible that millions of years of natural selection has given beavers the ability to select the most acoustically perfect trees when they make their dams? After all, beavers don't cut down just any tree. Any woodsman will tell you that they are picky. Maybe, just maybe, the same qualities that cause trees to be good in dams also makes them good in steel guitars!

This raises some interesting prospects for the future. I can imagine genetically engineered beavers capable of not just selecting great wood, but chewing it to precise dimensions for long-scale or short-scale steel guitars. A super-species of beavers, if you will.

Well, any comments?

[This message was edited by Stephen O'Brien on 27 April 2001 at 05:13 AM.]

Joe Delaronde · From: Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Stephen
"A super-species of beavers". You must remember that this was a Canadian beaver, and since it is one of our country's emblems, it has a lot to account for. So whatever it does, it has to be good!!!
Thanks for the kind words. As far as being nuts, maybe, but I used to live 2 miles form the looney bin, then moved 1 mile closer, and now finally settled down 3 blocks from the facility. In fact I can wave to the patients from my front steps. Maybe some day I'll be waving back.

Anyway, the log was a piece of driftwood my cousin found while fishing. It had been deposited higher on the river bank possibly from one of our floods. Who knows where it came from. It's heavier than usual and stunk like high heaven when I was routing it. The log was used in its natural state, nothing was cosmetically altered or changed to enhance the beaver teeth marks. Like I said in the write up, we tried to make it look as ugly as possible.
And yes, MOST any wood can be used to make a steel guitar, but results are another thing. This can be an ongoing argument because what's good to one person's ear might not be to another. I think that the tone and sustain in the log are the result of the wood density. The old Fender steels sounded great.
The reason for 10 strings was so I wouldn't have to re-learn and train the fingers for different string spacing.
I also use a B6th tuning, which is the same as lowering the E's on the E9th tuning. My fret positions are the same. You have to understand, I'm getting older and learning is a little slower.
I squeezed the longest scale I could considering the length of the log, and ended up with a 23" scale. I find this scale perfect for my playing capabilities. I can still get slants quite easily.
Since I am using a 12 string GeorgeL, I have decide to install 2 extra strings.
The beaver Log was built primarily as a converstaion piece, but word has gotten around the community, and every day there is someone over to see & hear a demo. I'm honored.
In the past 2 months the log has introduced more people to steel guitar music than I have been able to do in 10 years.

So remember, when you're fishing or hunting, and you see an old log, you might be looking at a special steel guitar. Also, when you lite a bonfire, be carefull not to burn any steel guitars.

The next projects are:
-Steel guitar shove. If you get tired of shoveling.....play a tune.
-Steel guitar paddel. This would be a true paddle steel guitar. Good for sportspeople.
-Steel guitar Toilet Lid...Not hard to figure that one out. Make sure the seat is UP, or you might get electrocuted.
Think it can't be done??????
By the way, no cabinet drop in the log!!!!
Joe

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

In a similar spirit, check out the Taylor guitar made from an old oak pallet found on their loading dock. It was bob Taylor's response to critics who said Taylor's guitars sounded so good due to the high priced tonewood they use.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/models/pallet.html

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

Joe, you make me prouder than ever to be a Canadian.

I ask you, could anyone possibly make a steel guitar, or any stringed instrument for that matter, from materials that had been processed by a bald eagle? And if you could, wouldn't it be gross?

Joe Delaronde · From: Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Andy
In '69 we lost our home to a fire, and needless to say, we lost everything. Just had the cloths on our backs, but thanks to the people of Churchill, MB, we managed to survive.
However, bucks were few and far between, especially to buy another steel. A carpenter at my worksite made a cabinet for a double 8, using material from old pallets. He cut 1" strips and laminated them together with the wood grain reversed for each slab. Since I couldn't afford a GOOD pickup, I had to use a regular 6 string pickup and squash 8 strings in this spacing. Lokked more like a door jam than a steel. This instrument sounded pretty good and I went on to use it on several radio segments for the Northern CBC and used it on local TV. I still have it.
Good wood in those pallets and those flat tops look real fine.
Joe

[This message was edited by Joe Delaronde on 27 April 2001 at 04:47 PM.]

Joe Delaronde · From: Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Hey! John, got any eagles your way????
Joe

Gary Slabaugh · From: Scottsdale, AZ

Wasn't it a Canadian who invented the air steel guitar?

Sage · From: Boulder, Colorado

What fun! Makes me glad to have you Canadians as near neighbors. Joe- I don't know if you and Stradivarius both had such a sense of humor but you do have something else in common- http://www.timelesstimber.com/showroom2/science.html
As you suggested, Stephen, I belive we can learn a lot from a log guitar.
A) It's the bacteria, not the beavers (sorry).
B) You can use anything to hold the strings apart, but it does make some difference.
C) How it turns out in the end depends on a lot of things.
D) Having a sense of humor is worth more than an engineering degree.
Thanks for the pictures, and thanks Joe for bringing that one into the world!

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T. Sage Harmos
Musical Instruments

Joe Delaronde · From: Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Sage
That is an interesting article. So I should call it a Stadavarius Beaver Log "Fixed" String Steel Guitar on a driftwood stand?????

I use the Fixed string phrase (Byrd), simply because it is not a lap steel, a country steel, an hawiian steel, or a consol model and not a pedal steel. It's a FIXED string steel guitar on a stand and I play any music which sounds good to my ear. I think Jerry Byrd coined it correctly

And if the article is correct, if I want a violin, I can shave slivers of the log and make one.

Sort of like a 2 for one deal.
Maybe that's why I hear cello sounds in the lower register?
Joe

[This message was edited by Joe Delaronde on 27 April 2001 at 10:51 PM.]

Guest · Posted 28 Apr 2001 9:37 am

Thanks to you all for having such a great sense of humor and thanks to Joe his great contribution. I actually learned something, which in itself is more novel than the log guitar. Good to have such good neighbors to the north.

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Viewing that log guitar reminds me of the chap everyone referred to as being the "Victor Borge of the Steel Guitar"...(the late) Norman English. Norm was an accomplished steel guitarist in his own right, a builder of many steel guitars, a pioneer associated with the old OAHU Publishing Company and a fine steel guitar instructor. Moreso, he was known as a great comedian on the steel guitar and would bring much happiness, laughter, hilarity and good music as he performed on a steel guitar made from a piece of 2x4 (8 ' long) or a steel guitar made from a wooden toilet lid. Those were only 2 of the many "unusual" guitars he made and performed upon. Ask anyone who attended the IHSGC conventions in Winchester, IN., (during the 1980's) about his wit and comedy on the steel guitar. Many will fondly recall his "dopler effect" which defies description if you were not there to actually see and "hear" it. I doubt there will ever be another quite like our old friend Norm English...do you agree, Bill Stafford ?
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By the way, as a Canadian I gotta tell you good Yanks you actually stole one of our folk songs years ago...the great Duke Ellington was the culprit. Remember "Take The 'A' Train"....hey guys, that's an old Canadian folk song which we called, "Take The Train, Eh?".....uuuugh!

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

Actually, we have a LOT of bald eagles our way. I counted thirty in a big beech tree by the poultry plant once. Really.

If you like, I can start saving their.. products .... and you could try mixing them with epoxy or spar varnish and see what kind of building material you come up with.

I lived near a Bakelite factory once, and as I recall the smell when they were cooking up a batch, eagle products would probably be quite refreshing to work with by comparison.

Bill Stafford · From: Gulfport,Ms. USA

HI George (Keoki),
Yep, sure do agree with you about our friend, Norman English. He is sadly missed. A great talent. I will never forget the time in St. Louis that he came up on stage during my performance and recited a poem about what the steel guitar means to us while I was playing "Beautiful Kahana." Could not hardly see how to play as he really spoke from his heart about our feelings for this instrument.
Yes, Norman is missed very much.
Bill Stafford

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

There's a lot to chew on in this thread...

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Mark van Allen-"Blueground Undergrass" Pedal, Non-Pedal, Lap, and Dobro

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