Nice one Zac. I have been using Tulip wood from old pianos. A great wood to use. From about four old pianos I’ve taken apart I have yet to find a piece that has warped or split. A very durable and elastic wood.
Aha, yes I’ve had that happen once. It was in my first workshop and my humidity wasn’t as well controlled at it should have been. It happens when the environment the back is in is humid. So the wood is swelled up with that extra bit of moisture - then you glue the 15’ radiused braces on and as a result they try to hold the back at it’s swollen width… but the back wants to shrink and return back to a lower humidity so it is forced to only shrink on the outside surface opposite the bracing. This actually works very similarly to a truss rod. The only solution I know of is to rout off the back, knock off the braces and reglue new ones at a drier humidity. Then you’d likely have to add a couple purfling strips to clean things up. As a general rule I try to brace my backs, carve the braces and get it glued onto the sides within a day or two to make this less likely to happen. Hope that answers your question! It sucks to see a back go concave…😞
@@treehouseguitars thank you. I already made two out of oak on old Kay guitars. I consider the result ok soundwise but I need to find one way to ebonize them, the raw oak colour doesn't match the tops of the guitars. Again thank you
If you’re going to ebonize it, why not use a different local hardwood that is lighter weight and less porous? Like walnut. Just a thought - a lighter weight bridge does make a more efficient, livelier guitar in my experience. My go to bridge material right now is Rocklite which is man-made, it’s already black and it’s actually not very dense at all.
Nice one Zac. I have been using Tulip wood from old pianos. A great wood to use. From about four old pianos I’ve taken apart I have yet to find a piece that has warped or split. A very durable and elastic wood.
Awesome!! Good for you!! 🙌🏻
Have you ever experienced the back deform becoming flat again after 15 foot radius brace glued? And how to fix it?
Aha, yes I’ve had that happen once. It was in my first workshop and my humidity wasn’t as well controlled at it should have been.
It happens when the environment the back is in is humid. So the wood is swelled up with that extra bit of moisture - then you glue the 15’ radiused braces on and as a result they try to hold the back at it’s swollen width… but the back wants to shrink and return back to a lower humidity so it is forced to only shrink on the outside surface opposite the bracing. This actually works very similarly to a truss rod.
The only solution I know of is to rout off the back, knock off the braces and reglue new ones at a drier humidity. Then you’d likely have to add a couple purfling strips to clean things up.
As a general rule I try to brace my backs, carve the braces and get it glued onto the sides within a day or two to make this less likely to happen.
Hope that answers your question! It sucks to see a back go concave…😞
Hello from France, my concern is about bridges. Locally I can easily find good oak. Is oak suitable enough for bridges ? Thank you.
Hello! I don’t see any reason not to use oak. It should make great bridges. :)
@@treehouseguitars thank you. I already made two out of oak on old Kay guitars. I consider the result ok soundwise but I need to find one way to ebonize them, the raw oak colour doesn't match the tops of the
guitars. Again thank you
If you’re going to ebonize it, why not use a different local hardwood that is lighter weight and less porous? Like walnut. Just a thought - a lighter weight bridge does make a more efficient, livelier guitar in my experience. My go to bridge material right now is Rocklite which is man-made, it’s already black and it’s actually not very dense at all.
@@treehouseguitars many thanks for your advices and very best regards