That's a nice piece of wood. It is a beautiful wood to work with. Our homestead that I'm living in at the moment in Aotearoa New Zealand is made of kauri. The home over 200 years old. It even has hand made nails.
@@davidblake1663 This one? ruclips.net/video/MGIKyqgYBPw/видео.html Unfortunately, you are unable to hug Tāne Mahuta (god of the forest) these days, but back when I was 7 yrs old, nearly 50 years ago my fellow students and I on a school trip were able to link hands around Tāne. There must have been about 20 of us.
I've got a pile of beautiful, rustic looking Kauri that was part of an early 20th century fishing trawler. The timber itself is much older. Future guitar tops. I'm in New Zealand.
Oh my word! I don't care if it takes a hundred videos over three years, I want to be a fly on the wall for as much of this build as possible. Every moment, every thought -good, bad and insane- during the contemplation and design stage, every shaving removed and every speck of dust offered to the four winds. It's taken us 40000 years to get to this point, let's not rush this
I’ve had two guitars built from 45,000 year old Kauri and I have a plank ready for a 3rd. It is quite soft so needs to be handled with care. Beautiful wood and great for guitars.
This is the first piece of wood I have ever seen where my eye just refuses to see it as flat. That long piece is just incredible. Can't wait to see what that effect looks like on a fingerboard. Hope the frets don't ruin it.
I love redwood and I just made a LP body in redwood with 1 block. It's flaming on the back and the front looks like a pin stripped suit. Fun stuff! As for Mr. Crimson a simple note. Wear a hat outside! I'm 65 and I watched several friends with skin tags on their heads and then cancer because of the sun! I wear a 2 cotton turbin I tie and forget about it. Easy to tie, easy to wear.
I'm from NZ and seen a few guitars built from Kauri, I don't think that they were 50,000 year old swamp Kauri though! I would love to be able to follow this bit of timber on it's journey to becoming an instrument! Please keep us updated Ben!
I can't believe Ben waited till he got this amazing wood to build his first ever (ever) on screen lefty! I can't believe it, I genuinely can't believe it
Hey from West Auckland New zealand ,in auckland we have the Waitakere ranges which was full of huge kauri but was clear felled in the late 1880 to basically to build Auckland from houses,doors even the floorin g of Mt eden prison was Kauri ,Im living in a Kauri house and that wood is beautiful ,and i used to go top sea Cadets as a kid and we had 17 ft cutter that was made from Kauri and they would never sink even full of water
I remember seeing an awesome documentary a few years ago about a luthier in New Zealand makes acustic guitars out of swamp kauri. "Song of the Kauri" i think it was called. He makes some beautiful instruments.
I built my shadowbox for my retirement from the U.S. Navy out of Kauri (wasn't as nice of a figure as what you have there, but still beautiful). To get the "whitebait" (which ran streaks of gold, green and blues in mine) I sanded up to 3000 grit and just did a hand rubbed finish. So happy with the result. I will definitely be following to see what takes shape!
Hi Ben! No doubt you're well advised, but to leave nothing to chance I'd like to let you know to be very careful with friction heat when working Kauri. It's very easy to generate too much warmth in the wood (e.g. by using an orbital sander) and if this happens it will crack. It's not a difficult thing to avoid 🙂 On the plus side, this is one of the very nicest woods to work with a blade, it's super fine-grained and can almost feel like marble. I've used it for bodies but never for a neck, personally I'd consider some carbon-fibre strips under the fretboard to help with stability around heat.
Thank you for the advice, I didn't know to look out for the heat thing. I will use carbine fibre rods and maybe even stabilising resin for the neck. Ben
Cheers on sharing your wisdom skinny honkie, and in a way that was very genuinely good hearted and useful rather than the all too common presumptuous guitar guru that we've all crossed paths with I'm sure. Generativity toward building a positive Luithier community really fuels my fire and this good sir is a perfect example. That being said....mind if I snag a few scraps for a pedal enclosure Ben??...... 🤣
I get giving your customer what they want, but that would be the only guitar I would build out of this. The enormous distance between the "flames" would be wasted on anything but the largest of guitar bodies.
You MUST keep that "Live Edge" and do some of your Magic and Creativity with it!! I'm quite sure that you have a hundred ideas running through your head already Ben! I can't wait to see what becomes of this in the Future..
There’s a theory that one of the reasons Stradivarius violins were so amazing is that the wood used grew during Europe’s little ice age so the annual growth rings were tighter giving a better sound.
Oh man that's gorgeous! I have a slab of giant sequoia that was cut from a 100+ year old trunk. It has a really nice even curl to it and a funky live edge, I plan on using it for a bass body and incorporating as much of the live edge as I can. Fortunately for me, this was harvested locally in southern Oregon, I purchased directly from the guy who went in the woods and salvaged it 😍
Should see if someone can get an old puriri fence post milled up for you to use as a fret board. One of the hardest woods I have used, would probably last forever. Heavier than water.
And I thought the sapele used on The Complication was the most beautiful bit of timber ever! That is just stunning, and so much of it too! Stop all other builds in progress at the moment at show us more of this!!!!!
I worked with a bit of Kauri some years ago. It proved to be very unstable at small thickness (2-3 mm). Hope this gotgeous piece will be better for a electric-acoustic
That’s nice Kauri. Lots of it here in NZ and it doesn’t usually look like that. They made loads of houses and shed etc from kauri back in the day. Never seen it that figured though and it’s not a very hard wood so not particularly good for a guitar neck
Well...I was looking forward to hear what you paid for these exceptional pieces of timber...maybe I missed it so went backwards in the upload....and forward again but....?
I'm pretty sure that Wagner Moisture meter requires the wood be supported at least an inch off the support surface to gain an accurate measurement. Try lifting the wood up off the tables. Also, measurements are best taken below 70F, it looked pretty warm when you were measuring the moisture content.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars I did think about that after posting my comment, typically the moisture meter will pernitrate no more than 2". Thank You for sharing the delivery of that wood, very exceptional, the excitement was indeed warranted.
That quilt is so wide and wavy you need a surfboard to examine it. And seeing how hot and sunny it is there in drab-n-dampland a surfboard is prolly not a bad idea
Was going to post a comment saying ,”that would make a nice coffee table” but I think the internet would kill me….? Congratulations on getting it, can’t wait to see what you do with it! Some solid bodies or a shit ton of veneer and tops?
Here in NZ that's exactly what gets done with it. This one would have been exported as a table top to get around our export laws. It's a native here and obviously really old but we have houses made of the stuff. Common with the early settlers too.
Please can I have an off cut?! No matter how small? Pleeeeeeease!? Joking aside, that really is stunning. You could do a Maori style calved green jade inlay?
Most definately that wood should be a guitar or two! It had depth to it, as if it was not a smooth serface. yet that clearcoat was like glass! I could see that being done up and cleared again, to bring out all that woody goodness!
Stunning colour and marking. The marking reminds me of waves and would like to see a blue- green sunburst. Unfortunately, too damn expensive to play with
I looked for the vid showing the finished project?? ... this would is special in more than just age ...tells the story of the flood and the sun's wrath cycle
you don't wanna mess with that stuff. it looks horrible. the best thing to do is to give it to me and I will dispose of it properly!!! haha how sickly beautiful that stuff is. great find brother. would the clear coat cause the moisture meter to give a higher reading? just wondering.......
That's a nice piece of wood. It is a beautiful wood to work with. Our homestead that I'm living in at the moment in Aotearoa New Zealand is made of kauri. The home over 200 years old. It even has hand made nails.
that's is cool with the hand made nails
Amazing.
I remember hugging a Kauri on the North Island that was easily 20 feet in diameter at the base.
@@davidblake1663 This one? ruclips.net/video/MGIKyqgYBPw/видео.html Unfortunately, you are unable to hug Tāne Mahuta (god of the forest) these days, but back when I was 7 yrs old, nearly 50 years ago my fellow students and I on a school trip were able to link hands around Tāne. There must have been about 20 of us.
If only I had a dollar for every time I heard those first two sentences.
Having your 'Burn It' intro straight after saying it is probably the most valuable piece of wood you've had was a little scary...
I was going to say something very similar :-)
I've got a pile of beautiful, rustic looking Kauri that was part of an early 20th century fishing trawler. The timber itself is much older. Future guitar tops. I'm in New Zealand.
Oh my word!
I don't care if it takes a hundred videos over three years, I want to be a fly on the wall for as much of this build as possible.
Every moment, every thought -good, bad and insane- during the contemplation and design stage, every shaving removed and every speck of dust offered to the four winds.
It's taken us 40000 years to get to this point, let's not rush this
If Ben were to rush this it would be a first!! DC
I’ve had two guitars built from 45,000 year old Kauri and I have a plank ready for a 3rd. It is quite soft so needs to be handled with care. Beautiful wood and great for guitars.
Wow..... Ben i send you greetings from New Zealand.... that is... a piece of the great forest. Make it into a great instrument.
Wow, it has a real 3D look. When you first showed it I thought it was scalloped.
It is scalloped! The sides that is. Isn’t it beautiful? Too bad you can’t find a way to use that edge.
This is the first piece of wood I have ever seen where my eye just refuses to see it as flat. That long piece is just incredible. Can't wait to see what that effect looks like on a fingerboard. Hope the frets don't ruin it.
My half sister lived in a house with Kauri floors. It felt like sacrilege to walk on them.
I'm just going to say it...that wood gives me....
Goosebumps....
Na. I've got wood.
I love redwood and I just made a LP body in redwood with 1 block. It's flaming on the back and the front looks like a pin stripped suit. Fun stuff! As for Mr. Crimson a simple note. Wear a hat outside! I'm 65 and I watched several friends with skin tags on their heads and then cancer because of the sun! I wear a 2 cotton turbin I tie and forget about it. Easy to tie, easy to wear.
It is most valuable piece of wood we've ever had come through Crimson Guitars... BURN IT!
I LOLED so hard :D
I'm from NZ and seen a few guitars built from Kauri, I don't think that they were 50,000 year old swamp Kauri though!
I would love to be able to follow this bit of timber on it's journey to becoming an instrument!
Please keep us updated Ben!
I can't believe Ben waited till he got this amazing wood to build his first ever (ever) on screen lefty! I can't believe it, I genuinely can't believe it
Ok, I’m drooling to see the guitar(s) you build from that glorious timber.
As a kiwi this warms my heart ... What an amazing piece of wood! ... I know you'll do it proud.
I'm really looking forward to this build!
Sacrilegious statement approaching:
What a lovely desk that would make!
The beauty of that wood took my breath away, I am truly in awe of it.
I love the unintended ( I hope) start to the audio, "the most expensive piece of wood we at crimson have ever had, burn it".
An absolute gem of nature there ... The build will be epic.
You have to do something with that raw edge, even if it's not guitar related 🤔
That could be used for a guitar too! V-shaped guitar with that edge on the outside?
Definitely would be cool! 👍
Hey from West Auckland New zealand ,in auckland we have the Waitakere ranges which was full of huge kauri but was clear felled in the late 1880 to basically to build Auckland from houses,doors even the floorin g of Mt eden prison was Kauri ,Im living in a Kauri house and that wood is beautiful ,and i used to go top sea Cadets as a kid and we had 17 ft cutter that was made from Kauri and they would never sink even full of water
I was salivating watching this...
I remember seeing an awesome documentary a few years ago about a luthier in New Zealand makes acustic guitars out of swamp kauri. "Song of the Kauri" i think it was called. He makes some beautiful instruments.
Those are absolutely stunning grain patterns.
Just looking at them makes my mind explode with ideas.
I hope you have a great time working with them.
Absolutely fantastic wood. Can’t wait for the build video’s! That is some sick figuring. 👍🏻
I was at Crimson last Thursday. Ben must be the only member of Crimson I haven't meet? Hopefully one day I'll meet him?
Those two pieces look like they came straight off a giant guitar, neck and body...
I built my shadowbox for my retirement from the U.S. Navy out of Kauri (wasn't as nice of a figure as what you have there, but still beautiful). To get the "whitebait" (which ran streaks of gold, green and blues in mine) I sanded up to 3000 grit and just did a hand rubbed finish. So happy with the result. I will definitely be following to see what takes shape!
O.M.G. in my 45 years of building guitars I have never seen . It's like curly maple on steroids
Hi Ben! No doubt you're well advised, but to leave nothing to chance I'd like to let you know to be very careful with friction heat when working Kauri. It's very easy to generate too much warmth in the wood (e.g. by using an orbital sander) and if this happens it will crack.
It's not a difficult thing to avoid 🙂
On the plus side, this is one of the very nicest woods to work with a blade, it's super fine-grained and can almost feel like marble. I've used it for bodies but never for a neck, personally I'd consider some carbon-fibre strips under the fretboard to help with stability around heat.
Sounds like a perfect material for a hand tool build ;-)
@skinny honkie This is important info! Maybe drop them an email or DM on their social media in case they miss seeing your comment.
Thank you for the information. I have made sure that Ben is now aware. DC
Thank you for the advice, I didn't know to look out for the heat thing. I will use carbine fibre rods and maybe even stabilising resin for the neck. Ben
Cheers on sharing your wisdom skinny honkie, and in a way that was very genuinely good hearted and useful rather than the all too common presumptuous guitar guru that we've all crossed paths with I'm sure. Generativity toward building a positive Luithier community really fuels my fire and this good sir is a perfect example. That being said....mind if I snag a few scraps for a pedal enclosure Ben??...... 🤣
I’m from NZ, and have used Kauri, great wood to work with.
The wife says, and I totally agree, that the long piece should be mounted horizontally as a work of art just as it is!
Yeah, it should be illegal to butcher those pieces of wood.
Fairly sure my aunt has or had a fireplace mantle of exactly that. Nowhere near as expensive of course, but it's local here.
Hey what a great chopping block for Sunday roasts Ben.
I get giving your customer what they want, but that would be the only guitar I would build out of this. The enormous distance between the "flames" would be wasted on anything but the largest of guitar bodies.
Some swamp Kauri has a beautiful chatoyancy looks like you might have a piece there. It’s beautiful wood. You just need some Rimu and Pohutukawa now.
Its like a giant slab of tigers eye gemstone, I'm longing to see an epic one-piece guitar out of some of that.
Wow. Looking forward to seeing how you use it. Best Regards!
Wow Kauri! Nice one Ben.
You MUST keep that "Live Edge" and do some of your Magic and Creativity with it!! I'm quite sure that you have a hundred ideas running through your head already Ben! I can't wait to see what becomes of this in the Future..
1000%👍
I hope the plan is to make just tops and make a bunch of gorgeous guitars out of this wood.
There’s a theory that one of the reasons Stradivarius violins were so amazing is that the wood used grew during Europe’s little ice age so the annual growth rings were tighter giving a better sound.
I'm already jealous of whoever gets a guitar made from that! Just beautiful!
Oh man that's gorgeous! I have a slab of giant sequoia that was cut from a 100+ year old trunk. It has a really nice even curl to it and a funky live edge, I plan on using it for a bass body and incorporating as much of the live edge as I can. Fortunately for me, this was harvested locally in southern Oregon, I purchased directly from the guy who went in the woods and salvaged it 😍
there’s a ton of beautiful tops in that haul … can’t wait to see what you craft with it!
I can't wait to see you build something out of this beautiful wood. Maybe a bookmatched arch top guitar?
Assuming it’s stable, this is asking to be a single piece body.
@@bandobandit353 there is enough timber for both builds
One Beautiful piece of wood !!
That wood is Bloody Gorgeous.
Should see if someone can get an old puriri fence post milled up for you to use as a fret board. One of the hardest woods I have used, would probably last forever. Heavier than water.
That is some of the prettiest wood I've ever seen!!
And I thought the sapele used on The Complication was the most beautiful bit of timber ever! That is just stunning, and so much of it too!
Stop all other builds in progress at the moment at show us more of this!!!!!
Lovely looking wood 👌Looking forward to seeing what becomes of it 👍
That is gorgeous. Can't wait to see what you're going to make with that.
The flaming is huge! Very jealous, but can't wait to see what you make out of it.
I worked with a bit of Kauri some years ago. It proved to be very unstable at small thickness (2-3 mm). Hope this gotgeous piece will be better for a electric-acoustic
Very beautiful piece of wood
Beautiful piece of timber
The cut to the Intro and "Burn it!!" Was well timed!
incredible wood, especially under this glossy varnish, it really pop up all the details
there is an gigantic fretboard going on ... maybe when someone from far away in space is coming by looking for a real fretwork... ofcause Crimson
That’s nice Kauri. Lots of it here in NZ and it doesn’t usually look like that. They made loads of houses and shed etc from kauri back in the day. Never seen it that figured though and it’s not a very hard wood so not particularly good for a guitar neck
"Lovely brown colour", growing up in New Zealand we are so used to it it seems like the normal colour for timber.
Exactly. I saw it and immediately thought of past family furnature.
You could hang those slabs on the wall untouched.
Beautiful grain
That's truly beautiful wood to work with 😍
I have been on the internet long enough to see plenty of people beating beautiful old wood 😜
I heard there was a ton of nice lumber in the rainforest. Lots of figuring and some really old trees to harvest…..
Well...I was looking forward to hear what you paid for these exceptional pieces of timber...maybe I missed it so went backwards in the upload....and forward again but....?
Not sure what the client has commissioned but there's plenty of acoustic top sets in that there gorgeous lump of tree wood, a sister to nebula2 maybe?
This is like Gold 🤩🤩
I'm pretty sure that Wagner Moisture meter requires the wood be supported at least an inch off the support surface to gain an accurate measurement.
Try lifting the wood up off the tables. Also, measurements are best taken below 70F, it looked pretty warm when you were measuring the moisture content.
True. Should have done it inside. This wood is so thick that the meter is certainly not reading the table. But cheers for the headsup. Ben
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars I did think about that after posting my comment, typically the moisture meter will pernitrate no more than 2". Thank You for sharing the delivery of that wood, very exceptional, the excitement was indeed warranted.
Absolutely gorgeous
The figuring is stunning. Looks like sand ripples under peaty water. Can’t help thinking that would be a gobsmacking cap on a Scion…
That is some beautiful wood
Simply stunning
The sound from the plane; seems like that's good tone. I'd like to see some of it go into acoustic guitars.
That quilt is so wide and wavy you need a surfboard to examine it. And seeing how hot and sunny it is there in drab-n-dampland a surfboard is prolly not a bad idea
I see a Bass guitar in one of those nice chunks of gorgeous wood
Such beautiful grain.
My first thought was 'I wonder how many solid bodies that would make?'
But how many ACOUSTIC guitar bodies would it make??? 😃
Look at that it’s naturally high gloss!
Love the wavy pattern
Was going to post a comment saying ,”that would make a nice coffee table” but I think the internet would kill me….? Congratulations on getting it, can’t wait to see what you do with it! Some solid bodies or a shit ton of veneer and tops?
Here in NZ that's exactly what gets done with it. This one would have been exported as a table top to get around our export laws. It's a native here and obviously really old but we have houses made of the stuff. Common with the early settlers too.
Can I have some? go on... just a little bit? 😆
Fantastic can't wait to see you make a build with it
Beautiful. I wonder if it could be sliced to make tops.
The live edge is too beautiful to not use
that long piece has a scalloped fretboard looks, it sweet! also, would make a really nice fireplace mantle
Please can I have an off cut?! No matter how small? Pleeeeeeease!?
Joking aside, that really is stunning. You could do a Maori style calved green jade inlay?
The "waves" are quite big. I wonder how you will align it on guitars. You'll probably have one and a half wave per guitar.
Would be cool if you could incorporate the live edge profile into the body edge. Sweet pieces of wood
Nice piece of wood
Amazing stuff.
Those are great looking !
I hope they sound as good as they look.
Can't wait to see what you make of it ;)
Just beautiful wood it's different but how hard is it.
I'm thinking you can get 4 guitar 's in this bundle.
Most definitely need a part two.
Most definately that wood should be a guitar or two! It had depth to it, as if it was not a smooth serface. yet that clearcoat was like glass! I could see that being done up and cleared again, to bring out all that woody goodness!
That looks like an incredible bass.
Neato. That is one beautiful piece of lumber. Better keep them beavers away!
Stunning colour and marking. The marking reminds me of waves and would like to see a blue- green sunburst. Unfortunately, too damn expensive to play with
I looked for the vid showing the finished project?? ... this would is special in more than just age ...tells the story of the flood and the sun's wrath cycle
you don't wanna mess with that stuff. it looks horrible. the best thing to do is to give it to me and I will dispose of it properly!!! haha
how sickly beautiful that stuff is. great find brother.
would the clear coat cause the moisture meter to give a higher reading? just wondering.......