HANGAR18 Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 Has anyone ever ordered a new Heritage guitar to spec and supplied all, or some of their own wood from which the (solid body) guitar was to be built? With all the talk about wood recently, the thought did occur to me that I might play a more active role in having a guitar built for me by getting my hands on some wood. Perhaps I could even save a little money on the price of the guitar. Let's say a mill was selling instrument grade billet tone wood and I found some that had real nice figuring. Or maybe a storm knocked down an old maple tree and I had the tree taken to a local mill. If the factory would accept wood that I supply, I also wonder could go wrong with this idea. Primarily, what if the wood wasn't dried properly? What is the figuring on the outside of the billet looked great but once the carving began, the inside didn't look as nice? Maybe once I bought the wood and then had it shipped to he factory, I wouldn't have saved a dime or done a better job than the factory could do at procuring tone wood. I guess I'm just trying to gauge my own sanity at the moment.
yoslate Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 Primarily, what if the wood wasn't dried properly? What is the figuring on the outside of the billet looked great but once the carving began, the inside didn't look as nice? Don't quote me on this, but I think, at the factory, or at a PSP, I overheard a similar conversation. The upshot was that, for just those reasons, Heritage would not use wood they had not sourced. An exception, perhaps, might be something like a Braz fingerboard blank. How could they warranty a guitar, built from wood that wasn't theirs? If I were a luthier, I sure don't think I would.
Trouble Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 Ed Roman supposedly had some guitars built with wood he supplied, some went up for sale shortly after he died. The ones I saw for sale were beautiful and pricey, and claimed he supplied the woods and specs. I guess being a dealer he might have had some advantages an individual would not have, and there were probably special circumstances. Maybe it's not completely impossible if the right conditions could be met.
FredZepp Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 It would probably cost more and they'd have to be convinced that the wood wasn't sub-par. They buy wood in bulk and from sources that they've known for a very long time, so they know what they're going to run into with that . But.... hey.. I don't know how they'd react, it might depend on the details.
ledzef Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 Ed Roman supposedly had some guitars built with wood he supplied, some went up for sale shortly after he died. The ones I saw for sale were beautiful and pricey, and claimed he supplied the woods and specs. I guess being a dealer he might have had some advantages an individual would not have, and there were probably special circumstances. Maybe it's not completely impossible if the right conditions could be met. Very true he did supply the woods for his Class of '59 and Blues Deluxe. Although I never looked into it I got my warranty through Roman not Heritage. Don't know if Heritage would have honored any warranty, didn't ask at last year PSP. When I bought my Blues deluxe it was 3 years old, let me tell you at the close out price it was still pricey, that's why when you see those guitars go up on Ebay they go for so much.
kbp810 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I think another risk of buying your own wood is that you could spend a small fortune on a good looking plank of figured maple, take it into the factory and they might see issues with the wood that others might miss that make it unsuitable for use on a guitar. Might perhaps be a different story if say you fell a tree in your backyard that had some other sentimental value or something like that That, and there is really no need to supply your own - if you want a stunning piece of maple for your guitar, Marv will find you a stunning piece of maple for your guitar; the man knows his wood, and he knows how to find it!
H Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 And sometimes even the 'standard' tops are out of this world:
GuitArtMan Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 When I ordered my Michael Tuttle Classic S-Model I had a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard blank that I wanted him to use, assuming it was up to his standards. It's long story, but I used to work with a guy who happens to be a top notch luthier who's wife happens to be Brazilian and has imported some of the most beautiful Brazilian rosewood that has ended up in guitars made by Collings, Taylor, SCGC, Goodall, and others. Anyway, the blank was for a 24 3/4" scale guitar and so wasn't long enough for Michael to use. I still have the blank and would love to have a guitar built with it. Hmmm...
HANGAR18 Posted June 15, 2012 Author Posted June 15, 2012 Yea, I guess I'll just let them keep doing their job building them and I'll just have to keep doing my job buying them.
kbp810 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 Yea, I guess I'll just let them keep doing their job building them and I'll just have to keep doing my job buying them. It's a tough job, but someone gotta do it
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.