What wood to use for linings? Willow is not readily available to me. I have some Western Red Cedar. Would tht work?
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Double Bass What Wood for Linings?
- Thread starter Ned Smith
- Start date
Use same species as your ribs. I'm sorry I've not been following your build. Are your ribs willow?
Cedar is too soft, in my opinion.
I know you said willow is not available. It is never available in lumber stores: I watch for people to lose a big limb in storms, and volunteer to cart it away.
In my experience, specifically Weeping Willow is my favorite. It bends easily and carves easily.
the old masters used spruce a lot. I have used it, and it works.
The idea is to simultaneously strengthen the edge of the rib and triple the gluing surface between the rib and the front or back plate.
I am told that chestnut is one of the best woods for bending, but I have never seen a piece of it.
Whatever you used for the blocks would probably work well for linings.
I know you said willow is not available. It is never available in lumber stores: I watch for people to lose a big limb in storms, and volunteer to cart it away.
In my experience, specifically Weeping Willow is my favorite. It bends easily and carves easily.
the old masters used spruce a lot. I have used it, and it works.
The idea is to simultaneously strengthen the edge of the rib and triple the gluing surface between the rib and the front or back plate.
I am told that chestnut is one of the best woods for bending, but I have never seen a piece of it.
Whatever you used for the blocks would probably work well for linings.
My ribs are Oak but the book I am following recommends willow.
Since this is a non-standard build anyway, I will use Oak for the linings. Thanks for responding.
We are talking about less than 1% of the total material, so anything will work. Essentially you are looking for something that will increase the surface area of your glue joint. Spruce works great and is well within the tradition. I've seen almost everything you can think of for this purpose. I have a huge supply of 30 year old air dried 5" thick Honduras mahogany beams that I often use for blocks. It may not be traditional for basses, but all of my tests work fantastic and it is well accepted in the smaller instrument world. Kay proved that you can use tulip poplar for inside linings. Those basses may have a lot of issues, but I've never seen anybody say the problem is from the 60,000 basses they made with tulip poplar linings.
For inside linings, the main thing I look for is something that is stable and moves at a similar rate to your spruce top. If you are going to double up and use outside linings, something that either matches or is similar to you rib material. Plenty of my guitar building friends use cedars for inside linings. Structurally they are fine and it leaves a beautiful aroma when you open the case.
Surprisingly, you will notice quite a stability difference between quartersawn and flat sawn with the linings. Make up a few different test pieces and the right one will speak to you. Matching the rib and back material is a great idea for the back linings since they are usually the same wood.
For inside linings, the main thing I look for is something that is stable and moves at a similar rate to your spruce top. If you are going to double up and use outside linings, something that either matches or is similar to you rib material. Plenty of my guitar building friends use cedars for inside linings. Structurally they are fine and it leaves a beautiful aroma when you open the case.
Surprisingly, you will notice quite a stability difference between quartersawn and flat sawn with the linings. Make up a few different test pieces and the right one will speak to you. Matching the rib and back material is a great idea for the back linings since they are usually the same wood.