The Cedar bodied Telecaster saga

Roland

This week I'm logging a blue pine for my neighbour.  The trunk section is a good 15ft, and 2ft in diameter.  It's surprisingly light wood, not as resinous as expected, and rings nicely when tapped.  Is it worth drying some to make Tele bodies?

Sassafras

I would.

You could get it kiln dried or let it dry out for a few years. Depends how much of a hurry you're in. I would never pass up the chance of a good piece of timber, even if it can't be made into guitar bodies doesn't mean it can't serve some other purpose.

Dalefty

I would go for it, even though I dislike light and weight relived guitars, I would do it purely for the experience of working with pine and seeing what it has to offer in terms of building a guitar body out of, don't forget the very first Les Paul, 'the log' was made out of pine with a hollow body cut in half joined onto the sides of it as wings to complete the shape of the guitar.

DaLefty

ThePrettyDamned

My sugar pine strat is one of the best strats I've played - light, balanced, resonant.

Dings easily, though. Means it looks cool quick!

Roland

First the bad news. The wood has started splitting under internal pressure, with hair line cracks radiating from the core. Apparently it should planked within 48 hours of felling.

The good news is that it's cedar rather than pine, and I'd already cut a 2.5 inch blank which hasn't cracked.  If I "kiln dry" inside the house then it should be ready later this year.

WezV

Don't rush it, it will only lead to more chance on instability later... Unless you actually have a wood kiln in your house

Jez6345789

Hi 

Iam no wood expert but my understanding  is resinous pines and cedars we have in the Uk are unlikely to season easily as for the resin drying you are talking years without proper kilns. I would suspect.

After the big storm I collected poplar and walnut with the view of curing, for guitar bodies the poplar as logs was not stable after 21/2 years outdoors, the pieces sawn and brought indoor all moved badly in the spare non heated. The walnut sawn and allowed to dry in the cool dry spare room split after about 12 months in a number of places. It was left big enough for 2 piece strats or teles but endup as fire wood pretty  much.

YMMV

Roland

The main trunk was slab cut this morning at the Rempstone Steam Rally, and is shown here waiting to be collected when the rally ends.  I also acquired a slab of Ash, which is coincidentally being cut in the background.  It will all lie in my barn for a couple of years whilst it dries out.

melvynhiscock

Cedar makes great solids. The end.

guitargeek62

@jookychap had a couple of the cedar bodies that I made a few years back, he'll have a better idea of how they turned out than I would tbh, but they smelt beautiful to work with.

melvynhiscock

I have used it quite a bit. It does mark easily which is a problem and it is better to jig sand the edges rather than rout, as it can be hard to get marks out of, but it is very resonant.  For guitars for me it is a fave as it is so light it helps my back which is knackered after years of misbehaviour.

I have a soft spot for soft wood and have even used douglas fir on necks. That works well too

Roland

2" planks are supposed to be dried for at least two years before they are used. However I'm impatient to find out what it sounds like. There's a lot of wood in store, and I can afford to waste a bit, so I've started work on a body. This isn't one of the planks in the picture above. Instead it's the 2.5 inch slab which I cut with a chain saw. As a consequence it's not very flat, and is too thick and too uneven to go through my neighbour's thicknesser. So I'm using a router to level off the back and front.

Once it's been trimmed down to vaguely level it's 2.25" thick. Still too thick for a Telecaster. Taking a tip from Graham's thread I've brought it into the house where it will sit for a couple of weeks to see whether it cracks or twists.

Roland

Well, the wood has almost had its two years seasoning. Time for a trial build.

Yesterday I cut out a body blank. Since I don't have bandsaw I've always used a hand held jig saw. This time the plank was a little bit thicker, and the blade wouldn't reach. The scroll saw however is just big enough, although it took an hour to crawl it's way round. 
Then it was down to planing, routing and sanding. 

Routing the edges was OK, with the blade rotating at speed. Being soft a bobbin sander tidied up the edges. Flattening the front and back surfaces were a different matter. My hand plane pulled up sections of the grain, and I resorted to an orbital sander. Then on to the chamfers with surform, spokeshave and sanders. I like deep belly and forearm chamfers so that the guitar sits close to my body. 

This wood is very soft. As @melvynhiscock noted, it marks easily. I was intending to round the edges, 1/4" front and 1/2" back, and use an oil finish. However it's going to mark so easily that I might have to bind the edges, and use a hard varnish. That's going to be fun running binding around the chamfers.

Now I need to sort out how to load pictures

Vaiai

I have a Spanish Cedar Tele and it's fantastic, the body and depth of mahogany but nice and light!

Danielsguitars

I'm making a Spanish cedar Lp 
It's lovely to work with, light and smells great  

Roland

This is Atlantic Cedar. It's lighter and softer than Spanish Cedar, with a larger grain, and its not as strong. Still smells good though.

WezV

Spanish cedar (cedrela) - not Spanish and not a true Cedar!!!  It's part of the mahogany family

WezV

Atlantic Cedar is a true Cedar, it's a member of the Cedrus family.

Roland

This is chamaecyparis thyoides, rather than cedrela odorata. Yes, I did have to look that up.

WezV

Ah, Atlantic White Cedar (not a true Cedar, but closer than  Cedrela, it's a cypress)..... not Atlantic Cedar (Cedrus Atlantica)


never trust a wood name not in Latin  

Roland

Foreign woods aren't my strong suit.  This could easily be Atlantic, or even Lebanon, cedar. The question is whether it's strong enough, and resonant enough, to make a few guitar with. So far I've waited two years to find out. Another week or so should provide an answer.