Just cool wood

[spudmunkey]

I thought of that too when I took down a tree, but didn't have the space to let it dry for 2 years, and didn't want to spend the couple hundred dollars the closest lumbaryard would have charged to kiln dry it.

[Brock]

And the thought of being cold in the winter gets me back on track.

[Doctor Turn]

I've always liked Olive wood but I have no idea what's it's properties are.

Some write ups:
Tonewood data source:

Olivewood Olea europenea, Mediterranean Olive
Gold to black in color, can be highly figured, dense, oily, beautiful golden brown lumber with brown and black streaks running through it. These trees are usually only harvested when they are too old to produce olives or are damaged by disease or nature. Olives are usually pruned to keep the olives close to the ground so long lengths in olive are uncommon. Olive can also come with tiger striping and burl.

Wild Olive Wood - (Olea capensis macrocarpus) A rare hardwood/tonewood from Zambia. Beautiful colors, contrast and light figuring combine to yield exquisite beauty. The extreme density, (approx. 1.05, very similar to Ebony), yields bright tonal qualities, making Wild Olive a desirable tonewood.

Specific gravity 0.89, 4.6 wt/board foot

Goodall Guitars

Olive Wood

Origin: Europe and eastern Africa

Density: 990 - 1050 Kg/m3

Characteristics: Heartwood is a cream or yellowish brown, with darker brown or black contrasting streaks. Color tends to deepen with age. Olive is somtimes figured with curly or wavy grain, burl, or wild grain.

Details: Olive trees are commercially important throughout the natural regions where they grow. The olives harvested from the trees are made into olive oil. Beautiful colors, amazing contrast and light figuring combine to yield exquisite beauty. The high density, which is similar to Macassar Ebony, yields rich, full and balanced tonal qualities, making Olive a desirable tonewood. A historical Biblical wood.

[spudmunkey]

Jet black raw tone ash... Conference table.

20180201_132346.jpg

[gumbynotpokey]

Jet black raw tone ash... Conference table.

20180201_132346.jpg

It has more of an open, clear tone -- better for single coils, including during live shows at concert volumes.

[spudmunkey]

An interesting note... in San Francisco, there used to be a concert venue where my office currently sits. Our conference room is exactly where the stage used to be. U2, Meat Loaf, KISS, ACDC, Etc have all performed here. And now, in the place of this hallowed ground in terms of music history, there is a wood print plastic laminate conference table in an office furniture company's office.

[UnexplodedCow]

So ya think that alder is a plain unfigured wood good only for colored/opaque finishes?

I give you--one of the coolest alder superstrats on earth (unless the guy is mistaken and it's ash.. which based on the figure wouldn't totally surprise me):


Not only is it clear on alder, it's a satin finish on alder, which usually doesn't bring out the figure the way a "deep clear" poly does. Really cool Bolt Plus. Rosewood board. Hardtail. Looks like it might be a 1 pc body. Wicked.



Ah to have limitless disposable cash. Ah to be wealthy.

That one is Ash, for sure. The light color of the wood (Alder is typically a little darker) combined with the huge grain contrast. I've spent plenty of time around Ash, Hickory, and Black Walnut trees (I used to cut them down and split them as a young teen).

If you look at the grain patterns in the blue guitar, they're the same type, and also gorgeous. This guitar just makes me smile. This is a shot of my personal C/K collection as it is today.

The green one I believe is also Ash, based more on weight, though the grain is pretty mild, and Alder looks pretty similar. Under brighter light, however, the contrast comes out, and it looks very much like Ash.

[Doctor Turn]

Your'e absolutely right, that's most likely ash and alder is mostly a snooze; I was just talking about my love of alder as a tonewood over on the Tele thread, but aside from the occasional freak cut with some figure in it, most of it looks pretty plain with sutle grain patterns like so:



Which is why I'm into solid color, painted alder Teles and Strats. Prefer alder because of its way huge sound for those 25.5 scale Fenders.

[spudmunkey]

"Cool wood" because after weeks of false starts (thinking we were ready to start, but then realizing/learning about something else we needed to do/consider)...we finally installed the first course of the wood flooring going in to the newly added bedroom.

Once this floor is in, which I hope to God goes quickly, and I get the ONE piece of wall base board in place that goes where the bed is going, we can finally move the bed into this room, and I can finally get all (ALL) of my guitar gear out of storage!!! It's been in storage for...something like 4-5 months.

20190204_022359.jpg

Walnut, btw. Going for that tone floor.

[spudmunkey]

"Cool wood" because after weeks of false starts (thinking we were ready to start, but then realizing/learning about something else we needed to do/consider)...we finally installed the first course of the wood flooring going in to the newly added bedroom.

Once this floor is in, which I hope to God goes quickly, and I get the ONE piece of wall base board in place that goes where the bed is going, we can finally move the bed into this room, and I can finally get all (ALL) of my guitar gear out of storage!!! It's been in storage for...something like 4-5 months.



20190204_022359.jpg

Walnut, btw. Going for that tone floor.

Getting there...

[spudmunkey]

Just finishesbunstalling the flooring in the living room. This is a particularly character-rich aread.

Screenshot_20190603-015256_Gallery.jpg

20190602_235010.jpg

[Naked Ape]

Your'e absolutely right, that's most likely ash and alder is mostly a snooze; I was just talking about my love of alder as a tonewood over on the Tele thread, but aside from the occasional freak cut with some figure in it, most of it looks pretty plain with sutle grain patterns like so:

Which is why I'm into solid color, painted alder Teles and Strats. Prefer alder because of its way huge sound for those 25.5 scale Fenders.

Agreed. Here is what I consider a rare example of figured Alder.
This is a 1984 Gibson Explorer that I refinished years ago, from the Alder body/ Maple neck days. I was painting it gloss Black, but at the last minute I decided the Alder grain was just too nice to cover up completely. (I had already started to paint it with Nitro Cellulose Lacquer) Luckily I had some Black wood dye and did a quick dye job. In certain light it looks solid black. This is a poor pic with a lot of light glare imperfections.

Screen Shot 2019-06-03 at 5.39.05 AM.png

So glad I left this visible. I still enjoy looking at it.

[ElfDude]

. Prefer alder because of its way huge sound for those 25.5 scale Fenders.

Ditto.
Works well for my 25.5" Bolt and Aries too.