Cypress neck

[crazymandolinist]

Pros? Cons? Just wondering about cypress as a neck wood since I have a lot and wouldn't consider buying curly maple billets just to mess them up, it'd be better for experts like you guys to gettum . The cypress I'd be using is very strong heartwood, even a little resonant (however the heck you spell it). I'd also like to inquire on a black walnut fingerboard since I have tons of that, again, really hard wood, this stuff has nice figure and both woods are nice and straight. I'd love any info, opinions, whatever you can offer on this. The woods would be used for solid badies as well as flatback style mandos (NOT navy style, the streamlined big ole pickguard types).

[Paul Hostetter]

What's the Latin scientific name of what you're talking about? Cypress is much too vague.

Walnut gets the "fairly hard" rating from me. Zillions of Ovation guitars had walnut boards and bridges, but it was impregnated with acrylic to make it really durable. By itself it's a little on the soft side.

[Bill Snyder]

Walnut can be used for the necks.

[Paul Hostetter]

Walnut makes great sides, backs and even tops. One of the great lutherie woods, I believe.

[arbarnhart]

The local cypress (I am in Raleigh, NC) I am used to is pretty soft. Wonderful stuff to work with; smells like oatmeal when you cut it, easy to carve/shape, soaks up stains readily/evenly, doesn't split near as easily as pine or cedar and resists rot. I made some Adirondack furniture out of it and I also like it for this kind of stuff:



But I would not use it for a neck.

[crazymandolinist]

Pretty sure it's bald cypress, the scientific name for that is Taxodium distichum. Very hard heart cypress.

[David Newton]

Crazy,
Where are you?
I built a guitar of bald cypress, not too bad. Bending was a pain. Goes out of tune easily, though.
For a neck, dunno, bald cypress is not very stable, it moves a lot with changes in humidity and temp. Reinforce it plenty.

[Bill Snyder]

Cypress is used in flamenco guitars on a regular basis, but not for the neck.

[David Newton]

Edited my post.
Not for the neck, too unstable.

[Paul Hostetter]

The cypress of flamenco guitars is not the same wood. This is why I avoid depending on common names. Bald cypress is a very interesting wood. Usually conifers are not used for anything but tops, but there are some exceptions, such as doug fir, which is about as hard as oak. I spend a fair amount of time in Louisiana and see how my friends down there use cypress (the state tree) for flooring, construction timber, even nice cabinets. Anything's worth a try, I suppose, but the real expenditure in making an instrument is time, not materials. If fancy curly maple seems too expensive for your experiments, your instincts are probably correct. Plain maple is easier to work and much cheaper. Walnut big enough for mandolins can be gotten from firewood piles. I'd put some of your cypress aside and watch it for a few years, make some less time-consuming items out of it perhaps, and decide later if you want to risk it, and practice on something easier and better known first.

[arbarnhart]

I had a big stack of cypress for a while. I bought much more than I needed because it was cheaper to get the minimum order from a local sawyer than to buy just what I needed at the yard. That's why I used it for artsy proects as well as more traditional uses like outdoor furniture. When I needed other wood, I posted an offer to trade in my local Craigslist and had no trouble finding other woodworkers who had done pretty much the same thing with another wood; bought a bunch of maple or walnut to get a lower price and now wanted other wood. I bet you could probably find a trade for some maple. Not all maple is highly figured and expensive.

[crazymandolinist]

Crazy,
Where are you?

I'm in Live Oak Florida, where bald cypress grows wild in some areas, nice big trees, wouldn't dream of cutting them down for wood though, just too beautiful to look at. Does anyone have opinions on making solid bodie instruments out of cypress, I mean I got the wood for free, huge boards of heavy pure heart that I know can be used for something like this, but I do want to save plenty of it for other projects. My alternatives are walnut, cherry (I'd rather not though, very good wood that I'd rather save), I have some pecan that had to get bulldozed and I haven't found a good use for the giant logs yet. I also have a good source of cedar which I'd rather make funiture out of. Walnut is the wood that I have most of, closely followed by the cypress, thanks guys for all the advice, I'd really like to get into lutheiry as a proffession soon, and I need all the good wood, parts and advice I can get at the moment. My last project cost us like 400 dollars, so now that I have loads of wood in my possession I need to use it.

[Bill Snyder]

If and when you get into lutherie as a profession you should probably stick with the more common tonewoods for marketing purposes at least until you make a name for yourself.
For solid body instruments the acceptable woods is a bit different than it is for acoustical instruments though. Alder and ash are fairly common woods for solid bodies and you could cap them with several different woods.
I still think the walnut would be good for them as well.
Good luck.

[Rick Lindstrom]

......... have loads of wood in my possession I need to use it.

I had a good friend who built a hot tub out of cypress, and it lasted forever. Smelled a little swampy when it was filled with hot water, but you quit noticing that after a beer or two

Rick

[David Newton]

Crazy,
If you are going to be a full time luthier soon, you'd better get to building! Save the cypress for other stuff, use the walnut and cherry for backs and sides, and get some Spruce, Western Red Cedar, or Redwood for tops, and go ahead and order some figured Maple, 'cause you'll have to have it.
If you are like most of the rest of us, the "full-time" and "soon" may be more like a "long term plan". Go ahead and build something, anything, with what you have now.

[crazymandolinist]

One problem: I'm 16, no car, no cash, nada. Good thing is my dad's plant nursery should be up and running in a month or so, so right now my family really doesn't need the pressure of buying stuff for me in our current situation. Still tryin though! I've already built a solid body bass out of alder and it sounds great! As SOON as we get moving I'm going to use the money I've made helping out at our nursery (I have money saved up in an imaginary bank, my dad's going to give me everything as soon as we can afford me)by building some practice instruments, take as many classes as possible, or maybe take up an apprenticeship, maybe both, either way I intend to get serious by the time I'm 18.

By the way Bill, that dog always puts a smile on my face, what's it's name?

[David Newton]

Crazy, you don't have a problem! You are 16, no better time to get started. Get a little shop going when and where you can, stay away from girls, stay in school, get a degree, Jesus will give you the desires of your heart!

[crazymandolinist]

Thanks, that's exactly my plan and attitude (most of the time). Just took a peek at your instruments and I must say they're really nice.

[Bill Snyder]

The dog's name is Spud. He is a Jack Russell Terrier. He is supposed to be my 12 year old son's dog, but he (Spud) mostly stays by my side when I am at home.