# Climatization of Wood



## gooberman (Apr 3, 2009)

I am considering buying some wood from British Columbia, and they dry their wood to 11 - 12% moisture content. I have read that I should have wood at approx 6-7% moisture content for building an electric guitar. 

First, is that the case for here in Southern Ontario?

Second, how long would it take to climatize to be able to use it?

Third, what is the best way to climatize it?

Thanks.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

gooberman said:


> I am considering buying some wood from British Columbia, and they dry their wood to 11 - 12% moisture content. I have read that I should have wood at approx 6-7% moisture content for building an electric guitar.
> 
> First, is that the case for here in Southern Ontario?
> 
> ...


6% is good. Two inch ? First get a moisture meter. Lots of ways to bring it down. Most involve fans and dehumidifiers. I would keep it out of the sun as well. A month in your well ventilated attic may be a start. An old car would be good too. 

The biggest thing about drying wood is not to caseharden it. That's when the outside dries harder/faster than the inside. It locks the moisture on the inside. Run it through a planer, remove the outside and your wood is unstable again.

11% sounds like it's been airdried only. You can do it but monitor it with the meter.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Nothing at Peacocks in Oshawa ? or 
http://www.exotic-woods.com/musical/guitar.aspx


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## gooberman (Apr 3, 2009)

The body blank was 2" thick alder...but I was more interested in the 3/8" maple cap.

quote;Nothing at Peacocks in Oshawa ? or 
http://www.exotic-woods.com/musical/guitar.aspx quote

I have been to Peacocks, but I have no idea how to look for a good piece of wood. I would also need to glue them up and I have some questions about that. If you buy surfaced wood, do you still need to joint the sides before glueing them up?

I sent exotic woods an e-mail about 3-4 months ago requesting some information, but they never got back to me?


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

How fancy of a maple cap? I have some maple but it's fairly plain. There's Monaghan Lumber in Peterborough too. 

Did you try phoning Exotic? 

What's the project?


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

gooberman said:


> . If you buy surfaced wood, do you still need to joint the sides before glueing them up?


Ideally YOU surface the wood ( joint,plane, edge joint) then glue right away. The theory is that oxygen contaminates the glue surface.


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## gooberman (Apr 3, 2009)

shoretyus said:


> Ideally YOU surface the wood ( joint,plane, edge joint) then glue right away. The theory is that oxygen contaminates the glue surface.



Problem is that I don't have a jointer or a planer...working with pretty basic tools. I have a small bandsaw, table saw, and a simple router. There is a place close by that you can go to to rent equiptment, but it is $18.50 an hour, minimum 1 hour fee.  Plus an additional $.75 per ln foot to plane and also joint...I don't know if that is per pass or what..if so it could start getting expensive. Probably cheaper to buy a blank.


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## gooberman (Apr 3, 2009)

shoretyus said:


> How fancy of a maple cap? I have some maple but it's fairly plain. There's Monaghan Lumber in Peterborough too.
> 
> Did you try phoning Exotic?
> 
> What's the project?


I never called them...just e-mailed. I should call I guess?

The project is going to be a take on a design I saw in my guitar building book...a single cut away, with a slight offset. It will have two humbuckers which I got free from my brother, a hardtail bridge, a strt stlye neck with a take an a headstock design from the same book. I was going to go with a 25.5 in scale with a rosewood FB...still haven't decided on if I will try to make my own FB or go with a pre-slotted one. Would like pre-slotted but don't really wantt to order one from the US.

The question is regarding the body wood...I was thinking of doing a poplar body and just painting it black...but I like the look of Alder...and then I saw those maple caps...now I can't decide?


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## geezer (Apr 30, 2008)

RE: edge joining boards.You can get a very good job done by cutting a bit oversize and then taking about a thirtysecond off the edge to be glued in a slow steady pass on the tablesaw with a sharp fine blade.Mark the top face and glue the mate with the mark on the bottom to allow for the blade being slightly out of square with the table.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

geezer said:


> RE: edge joining boards.You can get a very good job done by cutting a bit oversize and then taking about a thirtysecond off the edge to be glued in a slow steady pass on the tablesaw with a sharp fine blade.Mark the top face and glue the mate with the mark on the bottom to allow for the blade being slightly out of square with the table.


A router table with offset fence will do the same thing. ( the outfeed even with blade) I don't recommend messing with router blades. The need to be balanced. 


Your first project I recommend a bought neck. I have 30 yrs of woodworking and tools. I found necks intimating. 

But ... this isn't too bad of a price 
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Rosewood-Fingerb...66:2|39:1|72:1215|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50


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## geezer (Apr 30, 2008)

A router table would work too,but I would worry more about chipout on highly figured wood .


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