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This is 400 board feet of Black Walnut

@@thepragmaticluthier .........which equals a few guitars Kevin and all at cost price 😉😊

The same friend who gave me the Butternut log for the bass guitar had these trees taken down and offered me the logs. I gave the hauler the majority of the logs in trade for moving them. I have worked with several mills and sawyers over the years, this one is one of the best. I have almost all of my lumber sawn 5/4, especially if it is intended for instrument purposes. The lumber will remain in stick as seen in the video for one year and will be moved to a storage building for another year. I reduce each board as needed into shorter billets as dictated by need and what a board can yield. While a lot of my lumber is intended for instrument use, a real deal of it goes for furniture, millwork and any other needs that I may have. I took this lumber because the quality is high and I got it for the price of sawing, a mere $.50 per board foot. The reality is, I'm sitting on more lumber than I can possibly use, abut 2000 board feet. I think I might be compulsive:)

The sawing method depends on the log and what I need to get out of it anymore often than not it's a compromise, but rarely if ever, do I square a log into a cant and saw from there.

The lumber will dried as seen in the video for a year and then moved into a building for an additional year before anything is fabricated from it.

You're welcome. thank you for watching.

I'm not sure I understand exactly what your message is, but respect to money spent, it's a convoluted logic and system when you pay big money for that perfect top in one guitar, but obscene dollars for tops that have under water, under ground, or some structure for who knows how long. But none of that is about music; it's ALL about money and putting one's thumbs behind one's suspenders and pushing way out. The more you pay, the farther you can push. Suppliers find ways to market for higher dollars. Builders find ways to maximize their returns and the buyers enjoy the bragging rights that come with affording the whole thing.

To my knowledge and experience, there is no such thing as a "hybrid" nylon string guitar. Beyond the obvious commonalities of body shape, a neck and a bridged, there is no crossover and very little overlap between steel string and nylon string guitars. Even if you want your nylon string guitar to look like a steel string guitar, putting a radius on a fingerboard, giving a non-classical guitar shape, or whatever else one proposes, the result will be all for naught. A nylon string (classical) guitar is, by its nature more easily played than a steel string instrument because the strings are much more flexible. Necks are wider on nylon string guitars because the strings themselves, being of greater diameter, take up more space on the fingerboard. It needs to be wider. Additionally, the idea that a neck becomes easier to play on as it gets narrower, to a point, is a common but misplace notion. There is little or no point to arching the fingerboard of a nylon string guitar. Classical guitar construction best practices demonstrate that clearly and an arched board may actually be a deterrent to playability. The action of a nylon string guitar must be higher than a steel string guitar, given the increased flexibility of the strings. A guitar intended to use nylon strings must be designed specifically for that purpose. Once again, classical guitar best practices demonstrate this consistently. Put nylon strings on a steel string guitar and you will immediately hear a loss of volume, a muddy, inarticulate tone lacking in strength and harmonics throughout the range of the guitar.

Linden, the botanical genus name for basswood is pretty much acoustically dead. It is frequently used or interior lines in guitar bodies because it does not wick kinetic energy from the top to the rims nearly as efficiently as other tome woods. I'm certain that a guitar top of Basswood would yield an instrument of low volume, sonority and rather vapid character.

@@thepragmaticluthier Thank you for that. Was just thinking back to an old all laminate lindenwood acoustic guitar I had decades ago that at the time I thought sounded ok. Thinking that basswood is harder than spruce, yet was never used for a solid soundboard.

That would indeed be a hurtle for manufacturers large or small, but individuals like myself or possibly you, I (we) meet clients one on one and they come looking something that they can't get in a D28.

The bast way to decide is to not over-think the issue. The width of the top you have is the only limitation. Decide what size guitar you want to make and proceed with dispatch. It's the best and quickest way to learn you and it can do. Build yourself a nice one:)

I have jigs that help me position a bridge, but i also double check by measurement. You can place a bridge by determining the center of the high E string a 1.0035 times the scale length of the guitar, then measuring the opposite end of the bridge saddle slot at an increase of 1/8" per 3" of travel along the bridge. A second check should also be made by measuring from each end of a fret (I use the 4th) to the front corners of the bridge. When those two distanced are equal, the bridge should be in the correct position. Use as many checks and double checks as you need to assure correct positioning..

@@thepragmaticluthier Is there a standard distance from the high E side saddle slot to the high E bridge pin? Thank you for that info!

What any instrument builder is after is stability. Whether it be air drying or kiln drying doesn’t really matter as long as the material is brought to a proper working moisture content, and then carefully acclimated to the environment in which it’s going to be used. As Lumber ages, the various sugars and other substances inside it tend to solidify, and that creates greater stability, but waiting for decades for that to happen is not all that important as long as the material is nicely dry when you begin using it.

Robert Benedetto made an arch top guitar with a flat sawn SPF 2X10. He said it was equal to any guitar he made with respect to sound. I think rift or flat sawn coniferous tops are not used because they are unsightly, that is; they don't look "guitar-esque". The possibility of runout in a flat sawn top may be a matter of concerning of course, tangential shrinkage. Deciduous tops, however seem to be exempt from all of those considerations. I would always want to make sure that the tangential shrinkage rate of any given specie is tolerable before use, but of grater concern would be the tonal character that a deciduous top would deliver. I would be much more concerned with that than anything else. Maple can't shake like Butternut and Butternut can't shake like Spruce.

I can say from experience that Oak, Red or White, make an excellent back and rim. You needn't concern yourself with porosity unless grain filling before finishing is a concern. When considering the crossgrain strength of materials as thin as made for instrument purposes, porosity and actual strength are practically irrelevant. What is to be considered in back materials is density because it relates to the amount and character of the backs vibration. Allow density back such as Butternut, may flex more in sympathy with the top, producing a slight increase or character in low frequency, while a very stiff back will be more reflective, producing a more percussive response, possibly with slightly reduced low frequency response.

Absolutely true if you want or need to streamline or automate your process.

I regret, in my youth, not taking the opportunity to tear down at least ten different pianos offered to me. BIG MISTAKE:)

Thank you for viewing my presentations. I'm glad you derive benefit from them.

Thank for your encouraging words. I will try to produce more informative videos.

You can build in any combination of materials that comes to mind. General;y, a softer, less dense back will lend warmth and richer bas to an instrument while a dense material will be more percussive, punchier. Think of a D18 as opposed to a D28 for example. You can use hardwoods for tops as well. Harder woods, more dense tops will make a more drastic change in tone and volume. Basically, more dense will be crisp, even lacking some richness and may cost the instrument some volume. Still, experiment. There are may guitars with hardwood tops of Sycamore, Osage Orange and many more. You may also want to search out Dick Boak's all Spruce guitars. They are fascinating instruments.

All science and diffuse porosity aside, Hickory makes an excellent back and rim, It will make a terrific neck, albeit heavy. A Hickory fingerboard is a definite if color suits the user. I wish more of it was seen in guitars.

Thanks. I appreciate your participation.

Thank you. I hope you view and enjoy my other videos.

From your description, you would end up with a square shouldered OM guitar. If you could perfect the blending of those two shapes, you could make an excellent guitar. I think the actual shape of the guitar is less important than the area of vibrating top that is available. I think you should pursue your idea. It could be unique and made to produce very pleasing tone.

It;'s pleasing to know that my presentation was particularly helpful. Thank you for watching.

You're very welcome. I don't believe that making a guitar sound good is even close to rocket science. It's a matter of finding your preferred sound through application of easily understood principles and building until you reach your goal.

Thank you for that comment. I hope many read it. I believe you're correct. If you wait until you can buy backhoe, you'll never get a rose bush planted.

I couldn't agree more. I don't have any of those fingerboard protectors, but i wouldn't try to lift a single fret from an Ebony board without them.

use a Gurian red file. You can buy fretwire with a wider tang from Jescar.

@@thepragmaticluthier cool. Thank you!