Wood Turners Supply Blog

Alder is a standard body wood for solid body guitars and and basses, and is one of the most popular because of its light weight, balanced tonal response and good resonance. It is the most common body wood used by Fender and is found in most stratocasters. While Alder is known for great Blues and Rock tones, it is very flexible, making for a very adaptable guitar that can fit most musical styles.

The guitar in this video has an alder body that exudes warm, midrange tones while the quilted maple top not only looks great but adds some bright articulation. The perfect balance!

If you’re in the market for a great quality alder guitar body blank, check out Vedder Mountain Hardwoods. They have a good supply in stock of both one piece blanks for $65.00 and two piece blanks for $45.00 to $55.00.

This video gives you a really good example of the sound you can expect from an alder body. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for an affordable mini lathe for turning pens or bottle stoppers, I came across this awesome sale. Rockler has a great little lathe in their clearance center for $99. while supplies last.  I checked out the shipping and it’s pretty reasonable at $11.95 to the USA.    

Wilton 99177 Mini Wood Lathe, Internet Only, While Supplies Last!

Woodworkers of all skill levels will love this compact, capable lathe. It’s perfect for turning a wide variety of smaller projects, including pens, pencils, small bowls, and spindles up to 12” long. Plus, it packs plenty of power (2/5 HP, 2.3 amps) and stows easily anywhere in your shop. Additional #1 Morse Taper available (27050)   Wilton 99177 Mini Wood Lathe, Internet Only, While Supplies Last!

If you’re looking for a quality cedar acoustic guitar top, check out Vedder Mountain Hardwoods . They’ve just listed several really nice sets on their website with good pictures and affordable prices.

Here’s a bit of a preview from their site. Be sure to check it out. It’s full of interesting information on woodworking.

Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) from Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Western Red Cedar has long been used as a soundboard material by classical guitar makers for its vibrance and clarity of sound. It’s extremely light weight compared to spruce, and the tonal result is a slightly louder, more open response. An interesting characteristic of Red Cedar is that it sounds broken in, even when it’s new.

When looking to purchase a soundboard for your acoustic guitar, here are a few terms you should be familiar with.

The first is RUNOUT. Runout refers to the fact that the orientation of the wood fiber over the length of the guitar top is not running parallel to the edge of the guitar top. It is often caused by a twist to the growth pattern of the tree. When severe, runout causes the wood fibers to be shorter over the length of the guitar top, and over time can weaken the structural integrity of the top. It’s best to avoid purchasing guitar tops with runout.

The second term to be familiar with is Grain Orientation. Your acoustic guitar tops should be quarter sawn to no more than 12 to 15 degrees off perfect quarter. The grain should be straight and run parallel to the edges of the guitar top.

There are many reasons to select a perfectly quarter sawn acoustic guitar top. Here’s a few of them…

Perfectly quarter sawn wood is generally stiffer, stronger and more resilient which helps maintain the structural integrity of the guitar. It’s the stiffness of the wood that makes the instrument less likely to deform under the pressure exerted from the strings.
It’s said that because of its stiffness, perfectly quarter sawn wood tends to have a crisper more responsive tone.
The appearance of quarter sawn wood is also very important. When a top is perfectly quartered it will reveal the medullar rays that run at right angles to the grain (which is often called silking) and have a luminous, reflective quality to their appearance.

I’ve also captured a picture of one of the sets