An inexpensive service with BIG rewards

[Dave Bagwill]

I'm now set up with the equipment, experience and sufficient expertise in testing tonewood, and doing it now for Forum members for those who are interested.
(If you are buying a kit from Ken Cierp, you do not need this service, okay? And if you are building 20 instruments a year, you do not need this service - you should invest in the equipment yourself and do your own tests. :-)

BUT - I can provide reliable data that will tell you whether the wood you are purchasing - soundboards, backs, brace material, bridge material, fretboards - is up to the standards you require as to certain measurable characteristics. In other words, the wood may look pretty (see the short story below, but it may be crappy ,(and sometimes vice-versa!) and we are just working AGAINST ourselves trying to make a very good instrument out of lousy but pretty wood. Good testing can deliver us from that evil. You might as well get off to the best possible start, dig?

I attach two data sheets showing a good result of some Redwood, and a terrible result of some Englemann. Both tops looked very good, but if I had built with that Englemann, no matter how good my workmanship was, I would not have the guitar I'd hoped for; the couple of bucks for testing would have saved a headache.
Great wood, of course, does not guarantee that our workmanship will do it justice, but at least we are not working uphill - we're starting with the right stuff. Soundboards, backs, bridge material, bracing material, fretboards - it can all be tested to see if it meets the mark.

I'm not looking to make a living at this - just cover my costs and make a few bucks. But I enjoy doing it, and I stand behind the results.

Let's not do any of this business on Ken's forum - please P.M. me for details. I did contact Ken to see if I could - in his words "Make my pitch! - and he consented, but this is not to imply that he in making a judgment about it good or bad. He's just got way too much on his plate already.

The process is this:
--Order some wood wherever you like and have it drop shipped to my place. I'm in the NW (Oregon) so you have a number of excellent tonewood merchants out here that could ship right to me. Or have LMII or Stewmac or whoever you like send it. Or send me wood that you currently have and are a little unsure of.

--When I get it, I take some photos for my data base and send you the photos and any comments I have - runout, inconsistent grain, whatever.
--If I get the go ahead from you, I do the various tests and calculations, with some photos of the process, and fill out the data form (attached) that gives you the data concerning stiffness, weight, the ratio between them both longitudinally and cross-grain, other data and a final 'Q' Score as explained on the data sheet. I save all that in my data base as well, and email it to you.
--You make a decision - I will tell you how this compares to other woods I have tested (and I have the use of other data bases as well), and you either decide to pay me via paypal for shipping and the tests - or you contact whoever sold it to you and say that you are returning it, and getting their printed/emailed return information.
-- I either send the wood to you or back to your seller!

I have a quick turnaround. You'd be paying for shipping wherever you order wood anyway, so your only real cost is my time, and we will discuss that in a p.m. A few bucks to me would be a great investment for you.

I can also thickness and join the wood for you if you are strapped for time or don't yet have the equipment for it.

Quick story - a friend sent me some top wood - aged, old, great looking straight-grained Spruce of a special kind. We both had HIGH expectations. I tested it and it had such a low Q (high Q=Good) that I asked another luthier and instructor to test on his equipment - got the same results - and against his huge data base over many years, it was the lowest score EVER! So going by looks is NOT definitive.

Let me know if I can provide this service for you. I want us all to build great sounding guitars.
Dave

P.m. or you can email me at: deadedith@earthlink.net
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[Dave Bagwill]

A few pix of the equipment I've used for Q testing.

[Kevin in California]

Dang Dave, you've been a busy busy boy! That is most cool.
If I build one guitar a year do I need you to test my wood?

Kevin

[Dave Bagwill]

Depends how much of a gambling man you are, Kevin! :-)
If you only build one, you've only got one shot - after putting on the finish is not the time to discover you'd been working against yourself with pretty, but pretty awful, top wood.

Thanks for the softball, buddy :-)

[Dave Bagwill]

In response to a number of inquiries - a TON of thoughtful experience can sharpen some people's abilities to judge wood by other than strictly mechanical operations.

Most of us do not have that volume of experience. Luthiers that have built 100 guitars would come up with the same judgment about a piece of tonewood that the mechanical testing I and others would, I believe.

When I use the term 'untested' I don't want to give the false impression that wood you get from a luthier supply or a kit provider is not good wood - it depends on the supplier or the kit provider. If you have a good one, you're in good hands. You can surely trust Ken Cierp, or Kovacik or others of that rank, and you can talk to them and get good information and feel confident; large outfits and wood suppliers that supply the construction industry and a few tonewoods on the side - I have other opinions about using their product uncritically.

BTW, my charge for a top is around $20. Less if you send me a handful to test.

Thanks for the questions!

[TonyinNYC]

This is a good service Dave. Excellent testing rig too. I bet is will save you from using less than stellar wood many times while you are building. I might even send you a few tops for testing!

[Dave Bagwill]

The equipment I use is an exact copy of what Brian Burns invented. Brian has tested woods for LMII and others, not always giving the results they hoped for, but that is why it is called 'testing' :-)
I did not show all the equipment in the pix I posted; I also use a sound generator and a computer program that locates the center frequency of the wood, and a program that does the calculations.

I'd be happy to test your wood, Tony!