What Wood is this..

KevS

The Wood is really soft..Screw Threads don't last,,they don't even get that snug,,just continue turning..I have plugged the Scratchplate holes with hardwood cocktail sticks.It says the Body is Nyatoh on the Andertons Website...I thought Nyatoh was quite a hard wood..This is like Basswood hardness,,maybe softer..It was originally a Andertons Limited Edition Classic Vibe Strat..I like how light the Body is,,very light...it is going to become the Vimtocaster..Fender Performer Series Neck..Player Series Trem..2 Splittable Humbuckers https://i.imgur.com/k3dgrrM.jpg.      https://i.imgur.com/lAYCNc7.jpg

SteveRobinson

I have to say, it looks like balsa. 

I doubt it is, although Gibson did use it as a centre block on at least one model. They called it "chromite" IIRC?

Dave_Mc

@SteveRobinson ;Yeah. I was tempted to post that meme of "How to identify wood- Yep it's wood", except that barely even looks like wood! It doesn't look great, that's for sure, it does look very soft and crumbly (wensleydale?!?!)  

Roland

SteveRobinson said:

I have to say, it looks like balsa.

That was my first thought. Looks like it. Breaks like it.

uksaint7

SteveRobinson said:

I have to say, it looks like balsa. 

I doubt it is, although Gibson did use it as a centre block on at least one model. They called it "chromite" IIRC?

Yes I think it was the ES-135?

Sporky

The streaks in the grain don't look like balsa to me. Could be unusually pale nyatoh, but it's usually redder I think. 

WezV

Phillipine Mahogany/yellow Meranti/Lauan???

WezV

uksaint7 said:

SteveRobinson said:

I have to say, it looks like balsa. 

I doubt it is, although Gibson did use it as a centre block on at least one model. They called it "chromite" IIRC?

Yes I think it was the ES-135?

The Sonex was the solidbody with a chromite core

The other guitars using balsa were the Yamaha AIR bodies

ICBM

That looks like rubberwood.

That isn't a joke , it's the actual type of wood, from the rubber tree. Commonly used in cheap furniture and other products from Malaysia and Indonesia.

https://www.wood-database.com/rubberwood/

Funkfingers

WezV said:

Phillipine Mahogany/yellow Meranti/Lauan???

I'm going to agree with Wez and ICBM and pretend that I know what I'm talking about.

ICBM said:

… rubberwood … from the rubber tree … used in cheap furniture and other products.

Reminds me of an Eastwood Airline Twin-Tone guitar body that I modified. I decided to enlarge its already vast control cavity to accommodate a Fernandes Sustainer PCB. The paint was harder to cut than the wood beneath.

KevS

ICBM said:

That looks like rubberwood.

That isn't a joke , it's the actual type of wood, from the rubber tree. Commonly used in cheap furniture and other products from Malaysia and Indonesia.

https://www.wood-database.com/rubberwood/

It does look very similar indeed,,but Rubberwood sounds like quite sturdy stuff..
It does look very similar though..Maybe it's Eraserwood..Sorry,,shit jokes are my speciality..

My Cousin had Rubberwood Furniture..

KevS

WezV said:

Phillipine Mahogany/yellow Meranti/Lauan???

Yeah it looks similar to Yellow Meranti Also...
Red Meranti has those type of Streaks also..

Andyjr1515

My guess is Paulownia.  In fact, I'm just about to have a go at making a body in it and am well aware that it and screw threads aren't happy partners...

KevS

The more that I read info and look at pictures,,I am thinking it is Yellow Meranti..
It says about it being light which it is..
Other posts say about it being soft..

My cousin has a rubberwood bed..
I think a Yellow Meranti Bed would disintegrate with any weight on it..
The two woods do look similar though..

The Wood doesn't visually look like Paulownia although it seems to share similar quirks..

https://mynewmicrophone.com/is-meranti-a-good-guitar-tonewood-electric-acoustic-bass/

Some of the Yellow Meranti trees grow over 300ft tall by the way..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorea_faguetiana

tone1

It’s definitely of the tree wood variety…

Dave_Mc

Funkfingers said:

WezV said:

Phillipine Mahogany/yellow Meranti/Lauan???

I'm going to agree with Wez and ICBM and pretend that I know what I'm talking about.

I've been doing that for years! 

(In my defence, though, I have heard of those woods- apart from rubberwood!- before )

Flip

uksaint7 said:

SteveRobinson said:

I have to say, it looks like balsa. 

I doubt it is, although Gibson did use it as a centre block on at least one model. They called it "chromite" IIRC?

Yes I think it was the ES-135?

Also on the Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman 1986-2005 and the Gibson Chet Atkins Tennessean 1990-2005 according to Tony Bacon.

Interestingly, in his own book, Chet Atkins describes the Gibson iteration of the Country Gentleman (he owned the name) as better made than the Gretsch models of the same name that preceded it. Bear in mind of course that the Gibson model was brought out towards the end of Chet's life when it's possible that he preferred the lighter weight of a guitar with a balsa core rather than a maple one.

I'm the lucky owner of a 1979 Sunburst ES335 PRO and there's no disputing it's not a lightweight guitar.

ICBM

Flip said:

Interestingly, in his own book, Chet Atkins describes the Gibson iteration of the Country Gentleman (he owned the name) as better made than the Gretsch models of the same name that preceded it. Bear in mind of course that the Gibson model was brought out towards the end of Chet's life when it's possible that he preferred the lighter weight of a guitar with a balsa core rather than a maple one.

A friend of mine had one of those, and it was certainly nicely made - apart from a typically-Gibson less than ideal neck angle - but it really wasn't a light guitar even with the balsa centre block.

MARVlN

Bit late to the party, but it looks an awful lot like a wood I used to build my first bass, that I got from G&W in Spain. Called Samba, or Obeche. It's very light (almost absurdly so - it's headless and still neck dives!) and has a similar grain. Very soft also.

That is, if it isn't ICBM's thought, which does look very similar.

https://guitarsandwoods.com/Materials-Supplies/Materials-Supplies-Tonewoods/Materials-Supplies-Tonewoods-Bodies-Blanks?product_id=3268

BillDL

https://www.wood-database.com/obeche/#comment-14439