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Are '50s Les Pauls acoustically louder?

garywright

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View attachment 11040 Here is a picture of him. He wore that old shirt that says "Greg" even though his name was not Greg (it was Leon). If you look closely at his right hand, and know much about wood, you can easily tell what he did for a living. People call it a "woodsmans finger". Fortunately I escaped with all 10 of mine intact. He also raised those flowers (also not rare in Tn. In reality, the state Flower) and actually had 2 that he hybridized and named--one for his mother and one for him. The special ones were a rust brown almost oiled bronze color.

Looks like a good man ...you should be proud :salude
 

Big Daddy Class

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Jan 11, 2020
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View attachment 1104420200208_091841.jpgHere is my figured black walnut dresser and a closeup of my flamed maple coffee table. Both incorrectly (apparently, according to some) quartersawn by us. The maple on the table was not the "best stuff" which is why he was using it to build things including the table. The "good stuff" (in the case of the maple) was sold. The dresser and bed and 2 bedside tables (that WAS the " good stuff" Black Walnut) built by my GF as a wedding present to me and my wife. It has black walnut front, back, sides, botttoms of the drawers--etc. He hated plywood. Not a nail in it, all pegged together with wooden dowls. I do not know what it weighs but it is a lot. The top and bottom are totally seperate pieces or it would be hard for 2 men to lift. I think I mentioned before that the best scenaio was for him to saw the wood and someone else (cabinet makers we delt with) to actually make the furniture--we was a woodsman and wood grader, not a master furniture maker. I would describe his building style as "Little House on the Prarie".
 

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Big Daddy Class

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At one point I had a figured Black Walnut wiskey barrel built by the coopers at Evan Williams. Had a table style top that matched the dresser. Was intened to be a "bar" with doors that opened. It was stolen from our vaccation home. Someone recognized its one of a kind nature--despite my apparent lack of skill sawing lumber.
 

Big Daddy Class

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sawing-grain-patterns-1024x727.jpgSo I did look it up. I have never looked in a book about quartersawing (did not think I needed to). This picture illustrates what I was trying to draw. If you look at the log on the far right (called live sawing, we called it "board sawing"), it is easy to see how you can "accidentally quartersaw" a few pieces from each log when sawing that way. If you notice the log to the far right ("live sawed"), the center 2 boards will exactly match the first few cuts on the quartersawn log (#2). I did not know the term "rift sawed" wood which we produced in every log. We called it "the waste" and sold it or gave it to knife makers and gunstock makers, or burned it. I realize I am not much of an artist, but I do know how we sawed nearly every log. I was talking with George Gruhn today (I go hang out with him most Saturdays). He just designed a new Martin guitar to commemorate his 50th year in business and received the first 2 today. He is the largest independent Martin dealer. He was talking about digging through thousands of mahogany boards in Pa to find the backs of his 25 guitars they are building to commemorate him. The live sawed wood that is cut from the center of the log is the wood he was digging for. The mahogany necks of guitars (current Martins and current Les Pauls) are quartersawn, but the backs are "Live Sawed" (my new word). Gibson Custom does this, too. Looking through a pile of sawed lumber will frequently reveal a few boards that were quartersawn, albeit not on purpose. (Not sure if there is a word for "accidentally quartersawed" like my new words "Live sawed" and "rift sawed"--again never bothered to look it up) I told George about this chat. He was amused.
 

Big Al

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Thanks Al:2cool

And am I correct in saying honduran?

Yes, the species of Central American Mahogany used was comonly called Honduran Mahogany, a trade name, (I'm not even going to try to spell the Latin name), it was sourced from C.A. and Brazil. It is found alone, among other trees and not in groves.

Some far sighted individuals took saplings of this hard to find wood about 70yrs ago, to plant in Fiiji, a near perfect growing climate with fertile volcanic soil. Smart move.
 

goldtop0

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Some far sighted individuals took saplings of this hard to find wood about 70yrs ago, to plant in Fiiji, a near perfect growing climate with fertile volcanic soil. Smart move.


Thanks Al......when I first came on board here there were discussions about the Fijian wood.
 

Big Daddy Class

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This thread caused me to reminisce about those times sawing wood and another thing jumped into my mind this morning, unrelated to any of these other discussions. Once Gibson was working to find new fret wood and we experimented with Osage orange wood (hedgeapples--also very common around Nashville). It is a strong straight wood that is very hard. Would have been perfect for fretboards but there was a problem--people HATED it on the guitars. There were a few prototypes built but I have no idea if they ever left the plant. I would love to get my hands on one of those if anyone has ever seen one. Again, I doubt they ever left the factory. Also, I remembered that Jim that we worked with had the last name of Hutchins. I thought (and may have typed) Hutchison, but it was Hutchins. Everyone called him "Hutch". I remembered it because he built the Country Gentleman, the only guitar that I am positive that was "our wood". Thats all. Carry on.
 

Black58

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Don't really know what to make of THIS, but I HAVE noticed that my asshole has gotten way louder and more detailed as I've grown older.
 

garywright

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Aug 17, 2002
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Don't really know what to make of THIS, but I HAVE noticed that my asshole has gotten way louder and more detailed as I've grown older.

well ..instead of being “in the bathroom, fixing my guitar” you should possibly fix your ass ?
 

renderit

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Jan 19, 2009
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Don't really know what to make of THIS, but I HAVE noticed that my asshole has gotten way louder and more detailed as I've grown older.

Nope.

It's the throne.

They are generally acoustically very good on the ones right up to the 2000's.

Then they went all "water saving" and changed the bowl shape.

Give me "old porcelain" for tone man!
 

agogetr

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Jan 22, 2019
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Yes, the species of Central American Mahogany used was comonly called Honduran Mahogany, a trade name, (I'm not even going to try to spell the Latin name), it was sourced from C.A. and Brazil. It is found alone, among other trees and not in groves.

Some far sighted individuals took saplings of this hard to find wood about 70yrs ago, to plant in Fiiji, a near perfect growing climate with fertile volcanic soil. Smart move.
interesting. i have some planks 3 inches thick 12 inches wide.. 8 feet long i bought from the son of a builder who died in the early 80.s (pulled it out of the rafters of his barn)they have big black stamps on them 'mahogany' 'honduras' with shipping numbers etc. he said his dad always bought his wood from a supplier in california. i scored brazilian boards too!! i took them home and showed my wife a 12 thousand dollar brazillian plank..she didnt believe me.
i heard there was some mahogany growing in florida but its gone.
 

roxrob

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Mar 15, 2003
Messages
221
real late to this thread but I know that my 1962 Melodymaker is acoustically the loudest electric guitar I have. Unplugged it rings like a bell and several people have remarked on this. Also sounds magic amped up, despite the thin and lightweight body....old wood????


Who knows eh, just another part of the old guitars saga


Best wishes


Rob
 

BurstWurst

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Jan 24, 2008
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568
My 59 Burst is no louder (acoustically) than any of my 15 or so other vintage solid bodies and doesn't need to be. Just musing here, but, it seems that my burst has the ability to transfer vibrations throughout all of it's wood components very well. I wonder if the more energy transferred to and through the wood (making the wood vibrate) results in the less energy released acoustically? One thing is sure, acoustically, the tonal balance of the Burst unplugged is quite pleasing (more so than my other vintage solid bodies). I'll often enjoy playing it unplugged. I love strumming a big open chord (in perfect tune) and being able to actually feel the neck vibrating in my fretting hand. Although no louder acoustically, the Burst just feels more alive/excitable/reactive. I've played a dozen or so Bursts in my time. Some had this same feel while others did not. In my sixties now, playing this burst now for over 45 years. How did I ever get so lucky?
 
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