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Thread: Redwood burl

  1. #1
    Registered User D18dave's Avatar
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    Default Redwood burl

    My father-in-law offered me up a slab (about 2' by 18") of Redwood Burl he's had for the past 20+ years. Any suggestions what I might use it for? Would the burl make it to0 hard to use as a top plate? Might I use it for a back plate. Seeking suggestions

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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    I think that redwood burl, or any burl for that matter, has so much variation in grain direction that you would be risking catastrophic failure if you used it for a top wood. I have no direct experience with redwood burl for back plate wood, though it might work for that with some thoughtfully appropriate bracing. Straight grain quartersawn redwood makes wonderful mandolin tops. Apparently, the curly figured quartersawn redwood also makes good tops, though I haven't had the nerve to try it.

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  3. #3

    Default Re: Redwood burl

    I made a couple of solid bodies out of redwood. They looked great. I resawed the material and made 1/4" thick bookmatched drop tops on mahogany bodies.
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    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    I have a lot of direct experience with figured redwood. Dave's right: there's hardly any structural integrity to it at all, the wood will shear right across the curls the through the burls. I did see a curious viola once made entirely of redwood, but the top was straight grain, while the back and sides and neck were burl, and quite beefy at that. It actually sounded surprisingly good for a 'folk' instrument, and had held up for decades.

    On a carved top, there's a chance a curly top might survive. Michael Lewis has done more in his realm than anyone I know, I hope he'll tag in here. I do believe redwood - plain stuff - makes terrific carved tops. As a back material I would guess, because it's so weak, that it would tend to stretch flat, which could be an issue. I remember years ago when a major guitar shop did a run of figured redwood guitar tops and every one failed and came back to be replaced. Ouch.

    I think Andrew (above) has found a great use for redwood burl in lutherie.
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    I just got a sample of "sinker" redwood, and it's drop dead beautiful. Incredibly slow growth, very stiff, and the colors are wonderful.

    That said, I'm with Paul. I wouldn't trust figured burl or flame redwood for a top unless it was for one of my semi-hollow body guitars. There's no structural integrity, and I think those building acoustic instruments out of it just want to be dealing with unhappy customers and doing warranty work for the rest of their lives.

    Too many people listen with their eyes.

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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    But you should see the bird's eye quilt camphor burl I just got!

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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    As previously pointed out by my esteemed colleagues, the structural integrity of highly figured redwood generally limits it's use to decorative application such as headstock over lays, supported pick guards, caps for solid body electrics, etc. It MIGHT work under stress, but I would not gamble my time and efforts that it would.

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    Registered User D18dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    Thanks for all the feedback.

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    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    Interesting topic, I have a couple wedges of curly redwood. I have had them for three years in my living room, formerly my workshop. We discussed this then and the determination was to carve it thicker then a spruce top but done right it would be ok. I still intend to use them, once I have a shop again, for my own instruments. Seems a good learning experience. A good time for some experimentation with things I've never tried like CF bracing. Anyone care share their thoughts on bracing for structural integrity of posible problem top.
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    I may be old but I'm ugly billhay4's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    Spruce has had some flame redwood in the past that made very nice tops. I have a billet I plan to use for that purpose. It is very hard redwood and very old. It is stunning in a top. Makes one think the player is playing the instrument upside down.
    However, this is not burl. I would not use burl for a top, or a back for that matter. Too structurally compromised.
    Spruce would be the man to comment on the flamed stuff.
    Bill

  11. #11
    Spencer Sorenson Spencer's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    I have an old Austrian violin that has wood with a kind of burl used for the sides. I don't know what kind, but it is not redwood. I think it has an attractive look to it, though it is not that clear from the old picture here. It is the only one that I have of the side, and I don't have access to the instrument to make a better one.

    From looking at the sides close up, it must have been difficult to work with, as the bends are not that smooth. But I liked the look of it, and I don't imagine the sides are that heavily loaded, or are they?

    Spencer
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    Listening with eyes again, folks!

    There's nothing about high flame figure that makes sense acoustically. It's all undulations and disconnected grain. Yes, it's beautiful. Yes, some outstanding instruments have been made with it, but...

    My most direct experience with acoustic instruments with and without flame figure wood is with ukuleles...yes, the lowly little uke. We've built about 220 of them now, and my personal keeper is an all flame koa one fully loaded with ab purfling and all that. It's a totally outrageous looking instrument. And it (and its other flamey bretheren) doesn't sound as good as the plain koa ones we've made, and this is consistent. We build them very, very consistently, and from one to the next in a given wood, they sound very alike, so I think my observations are accurate. This understanding of the tonality of flame vs. plan koa is well known in the ukulele world, too. Every Hawaiian and mainland builder I've talked to has the same thing to say about it.

    Save the really figured redwood for solid body instruments where it doesn't make quite as much of a difference. If you want to use redwood for tops, try the old growth, stiff and dense "sinker" stuff.

    Listen with your ears unless the sound just doesn't matter that much to you or your clients.

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    music with whales Jim Nollman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    On Antique Roadshow last night, someone showed a 24 inch wide elm "salad Bowl". The piece of wood was one incredible burl. The expert got my jaw to drop open when he said it was almost certainly made by Micmac Indians in eastern Canada in the middle of the 18th century. The guy who owned it, said that when he was little, he and his brothers used to use it as a sled to pull each other around the living room rug. The expert said it would be exceedingly strong, because the burl's grain served as an infinite number of interlocking joints. But it was round, not a slab.
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    Strong if it's big in three dimensions. Cut it down to mando, guitar, or uke top thickness and the strength goes straight to hell.

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    Registered User Brad Weiss's Avatar
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    Default Re: Redwood burl

    Burl makes a nice headstock overlay (though this is amboyna, not redwood)
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