R&D Project

[Bob Johnson]

I thought I'd Just share this with you all 'cos since it's a what if project there might be some scope to include some suggestions. I'm currently building this guitar to assess the issues, advantages and disadvantages of using teak in guitar construction. There's not much info about on teak so I thought I'd find out for myself. This is the kind of thing you need to do from time to time if you're a guitar builder.
The body and neck are Burmese Teak. The top is Maple and the fingerboard Indian Rosewood. The Mahogany insert for the bridge mount is to give a softer mount than you'd get fron the Maple.
I've got some nice BK P92s for it.

[Bob Johnson]

There should have been an attachement. Here's the URL.  http://home.clara.net/183highlands/ABbody.JPG

[chrisola]

good luck with it bob, be interesting to find out exactly what it sounds like..

Looks very nice indeed so far... maybe one of the other luthier guys on here has had any run ins with teak guitars before?

[TwilightOdyssey]

That's really interesting.

The nut looks a little high, tho, lol ;)

I will gladly field test the guitar for ya, too!  :lol:

[DanK5163]

Looks lovely, i've always wondered about teak as a guitar wood.  Would it be suitable as a fretboard wood?  It has a reputation as a particularly tough wood.  How dense is it?  Somewhere around swamp ash?  I'd be really interested to hear how it sounds.

Cheers,

Dan

[Bob Johnson]

At the moment just the top has a few coats of tinted cellulose. So let's have some suggestions; do we oil the body back and neck or laquer it? Gloss? Satin? Which fret wire? How about the wiring, finger board inlays (just one at the octave if it's gonna be complicated). Headstock inlay? Pickup cover colour? Control Knobs? Machine heads?

Go for it.

[indysmith]

I'd say Oil for the back and neck, Gold hardware, and my name on the headstock  

By the way - you are extremely brave. I Would have thought there'd be a good reason for guitar manufacturers like NEVER using teak. I'm interested as to how it sounds. Do you often get oak guitars? Brian May's red special is made out of an old oak fireplace isn't it? I've always fancied a British handmade guitar made of a slab of British oak  :P

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

Oak is suppost to be a big no for guitars, dont know why though.

[Bob Johnson]

I Would have thought there'd be a good reason for guitar manufacturers like NEVER using teak.  :P

Some of the reasons appear to be a) it's difficult to glue and finish  because it exudes oil and b) the tree tends to pick up minerals that can knacker planing and routing machinery. "Starfield" a subsidiary of Hoshini, Ibanez' parent company, used to make a "Teak Custom" but I can't find out much about them.

I think the oak in Brian Mays guitar is just a strip down the centre that the neck, pickups, bridge and trem are mounted to. The rest is blockboard covered with mahogany veneer.

[big steve]

what are you doing with that nut, bob?

[Bob Johnson]

what are you doing with that nut, bob?

It's just a Corian blank Steve, It was used to get the spacing between the head veneer and the fingerboard right. It's just slotted in place until I shape and slot it.

[Ratrod]

It looks gorgeous!

I'd say oil the teak since they make special oil for it.

[PhilKing]

Hi Bob,

The flame looks great on it - I would leave that clear aged laquer look.  What are you putting in for a bridge?  It loks like this will be a bolt on neck?  I would love to hear how it sounds accoustically.  I have a couple of guitars from slightly different woods.  One is English Walnut (and it actually has some flame in the neck), the other is back Korina with a flame maple top and rosewood neck with ebony fingerboard.

I guess the other key question is how much will this guitar cost?

Cheers
Phil

[Bob Johnson]

Hi Bob,

 What are you putting in for a bridge?  It loks like this will be a bolt on neck?  I guess the other key question is how much will this guitar cost?
Cheers
Phil

Yeah it's a bolt on neck and the body is drilled to take bridges with 83mm post centres and a wrap around/no tailpiece configuration. My personal favourite is from Schaller but Tonepro, Badass and a few others do bridges that will fit.

As for cost, well I either keep it as a demonstrator or sell it to recover the cost of the parts, probably the latter. As it's not finished, I only work on it in what little spare time I have, I can't put a figure on it right now but it's gonna be relatively cheap as custom builds go.

[Johnny Mac]

I looks fantastic Bob! I'd go with an oil finish to the back of the neck and gold hardwear too.