Author Topic: Oak as a Tonewood? (Read 12773 times)

Manji · « **on:** March 06, 2007, 10:49:51 AM »

Hey guys,
I've had an idea knocking around in my head for a custom build, but since I'm not particularly good at the technical stuff I thought I'd ask for advice regarding the viability of my idea.

What I'm thinking is- can you use Oak as a tonewood? I've no idea what the sound would be like, all I've got to go on is a Wikipedia article saying "Japanese oak is used in the making of professional drums from manufacturer Yamaha Drums. The rough, hard surface of oak gives the drum a brighter and louder tone compared to traditional drum materials such as maple and birch."

Not particularly helpful, since it's about drums. What I'm thinking is a Les Paul-shaped guitar made out of oak, perhaps with neck-thru construction if oak would be good as the neck wood too.

Of course, this is all just rambling until I find out whether it'd actually make the guitar sound any good :D

Thanks!

DeanS · « **Reply #1 on:** March 06, 2007, 11:02:42 AM »

Personally never seen/heard about oak as a tonewood. For others see link below.

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/options/options_bodywoods.cfm

Philly Q · « **Reply #2 on:** March 06, 2007, 12:32:47 PM »

Brian May's guitar has a body made partly of oak. It has an oak fingerboard too, which suggests it's pretty hard-wearing.

WezV · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2007, 01:07:19 PM »

Its too heavy,too hard and will probably sound too bright!

There are definately eaiser wood to make a guitar from!

Brain May did use oak on his but dont forget that he favours a very bright sound and he hollowed it out quite extensively which takes care of the weight issue and will have warmed the tone a bit.

Tonewood is a bit of a misnomer with electric guitars since you can make them out of most woods. think of a fender made out of whatever alder/ash and maple was available when it was first built by Leo - not really tonewood is it!

Tonewood is a good term to describe the wood you need to build an acoustic but is largely marketing hype when applied to electric guitars because the primary characteristics we use to choose wood are weight, strength, appearance and finally tone.

Anyway thats just me being picky because i get abit fed upwith guitar-shop BS!

So you can use Oak if you want but it will be harder on your tools and the sound may not be good - but you might like it-only one way to find out really.

If you are planning on making a guitar i would advise using something more standard (alder/ash/mahogany or equivelent) for your first instrument to increase the chance you will want to play it.

Manji · « **Reply #4 on:** March 07, 2007, 02:01:44 AM »

Well, I'm really not considering making the guitar myself- I have no woodworking skills. I don't make the things, I just play 'em :D

Thanks for the advice, though... hmm... maybe a body made of something more 'standard' (although a bit more boring :P) like mahogany with an oak top might work? Any more advice from the luthiers out there?

WezV · « **Reply #5 on:** March 07, 2007, 08:04:53 AM »

yeah, sorry - i mostly post of guitar building forums where everybody and their dog is trying to make their own guitar, i just forgot where i was.

Mahogany with an oak top is quite a nice idea

something like this set on ebay would look great and should sound nice:

EBay oak

Muzzzz · « **Reply #6 on:** March 07, 2007, 08:48:15 AM »

Don't get Oak unless you really want it, coz there ain't much left, and you'll pay a shiteload for it :(

Might be worth mentioning that the bit of oak in Brian May's guitar (from a mantlepiece, by the way :) ) was 500 years old when he put it in, so it would have mellowed out a lot during that time.

WezV · « **Reply #7 on:** March 07, 2007, 12:58:32 PM »

Quote from: Muzzzz

Don't get Oak unless you really want it, coz there ain't much left, and you'll pay a shiteload for it :(

A peice of oak for the top of a guitar is no more expensive than a piece of flamed maple.

Muzzzz · « **Reply #8 on:** March 09, 2007, 08:48:23 AM »

Oops... I must have been thinking of red oak, that's pretty expensive, and Brian May's guitar is red, so that's probably it. Apparently there are cheaper types of oak around... so please excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject...! :oops:

Manji · « **Reply #9 on:** March 09, 2007, 11:26:44 AM »

I guess we'll see how expensive it is if I ever get a quote for it- I was thinking of talking to the guy from Legra, just because everybody on this forum seems to love his work so much :D

WezV · « **Reply #10 on:** March 09, 2007, 12:55:11 PM »

Quote from: Muzzzz

Oops... I must have been thinking of red oak, that's pretty expensive, and Brian May's guitar is red, so that's probably it. Apparently there are cheaper types of oak around... so please excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject...! :oops:

No, you were quite right - oak can be expensive! But so is a lot of the wood we use for guitars