Wood selection for kerfing, bridge plate and blocks

[Tom West]

I love reversed kerfed linings. Mainly because of the ease of inletting braces without any blow out. Also for the extra stiffness. Working on three guitars this fall and left the webs of the lining a bit thicker,they were quite stiff so I bent them in the bender. Works a treat. For linings and blocks it's hard to go wrong with Mahogany.
Tom

[Kyle Barbour]

On this most recent guitar I'm using mahogany for the neck block and Baltic birch ply for the tail block. I read about the use of Baltic birch ply from Todd Stock. His reasons, which make sense, were a reduction in weight and the ply will reduce the chance of split sides from a drop on the end pin.

[Dave Bagwill]

Head block wood choices - what are the criterion? Is there any sonic value to the block, or is it simply a structural thing?
Poplar and basswood are plentiful and cheap - do they work?

[ken cierp]

I believe Mahogany, Spruce, Sugar Pine are first choices because of stability over time. Personally I have had problems (in furniture making) with Poplar dimensional changes. I know Bass wood is used in instrument making -- I'll look but it seems that Siminoff did rate the damping effect in one of his books.

[Dave Bagwill]

Any other ideas about basswood? How about hemlock, or other woods sold cheaply by HD and Lowe's, etc?

[ken cierp]

You need to use "furniture grade" lumber -- that will generally have a moisture content of less then 7-10% The stuff in the racks are 14-17% (almost still have leaves growing!) The hard wood I used from Menards was very dry and very stable Walnut, Oak and Maple but just as expensive as some exotics.

[Dave Bagwill]

i checked lmii for tailblock - $5.00 or so. At Stewmac - $10.00. For an endblock!!
Could not find headblock blanks at either place.