Graham
Venerated Member
capnjuan said:
I think that's worse than the pic I posted Don! Offside!!
Picea Rubens AKA Red Spruce
- Thread starter RT 66
- Start date
I think that's worse than the pic I posted Don! Offside!!
Not a chance, I've already talked to the Dean of Boyz about getting out of detention. Try to remember that the objective here is to promote dialog........ regardless of language....but oddly threatening to look at........
Speaking of threatening, check this ouzi...
I mean doozie:
[IMG:320:240]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/capnjuan/ak47bass.jpg[/img] http://cgi.ebay.com/4-String-Electric-B ... dZViewItem
We could sell some copies of this thing to the die-hard Gothic Commies. Auction text doesn't say anything about it being made of moonwood.
Speaking of threatening, check this ouzi...
I mean doozie:[IMG:320:240]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/capnjuan/ak47bass.jpg[/img] http://cgi.ebay.com/4-String-Electric-B ... dZViewItem
We could sell some copies of this thing to the die-hard Gothic Commies. Auction text doesn't say anything about it being made of moonwood.
Hi Guys
Nice Moonwood guitar Cap, but did you catch the error. The Dream Guitar guy said it was harvested during the "Full Moon when sap activity is minimized in the tree." The Euro-Moon guy said that it is harvested during the "Last quarter of waning moon in the wintertime after the growing period of the tree has stopped(low sap flow"
My problem with both of them is they are running on pure FOLKLORE as I see it.
In the winter especially at 3500 ft. to tree line, the tree is dormant and frozen.
What does the tree care what phase the moon is in.
Other Folklore states that sap flow is lower during a last quarter moon.
Even if that were true to a small extent, in the summer the tree's wood is saturated. One week from one moon phase to the next can't make that much difference. It takes a year for my newly split birch to dry enough to burn hot. Even if the tree has been down a year in the round, it is still too damp to burn after being split. Same is true with spruce rounds. It might burn, but not nearly as hot.
I think that Folks think that tree sap operates the same as the ocean tides.
What they are doing right, however is this.
1.) Cutting a 20+ inch tree around 300 years old at an altitude yhat promotes slow growth in the winter when sap has receded till spring.
2.) Leave the tree alone to stabalize with branches intake to wick out as much remaining moisture after the tree thaws out.
3.) Split the tree into quarters as opposed to sawing them
If you do all that, you ought to get some great tone wood.
There is a lot of mystery, myth and folklore around Stadavarius and his violins too.
A microscopic look at one of his violins revealed a waterborne fungus in the wood cells impying that the log his wood came from floated around in water for some months before being processed. It don't mean they all were like that as he made around a thousand instruments.
Here is a site by some guys that did a study who must have run out of other things to study, on the effects the full moon has on various things, like are there more weirdos and wackos running amok during the full moon etc. No tree sap was included, but it is interesting how people think about the moon.
http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html
Anyway, thats my current take on Moonwood.
Thanks for the Moon Maid link. That was a real blast to the past.
Don't think it'll work for a new name for the Euro-moon guys though.
Guild and others might be able to promote it in a limited edition for the 40th aniversary of the lunar landings in 2009 in say 1969 D55s. Be fun to see if it sounds any different than a regular one. Time to stock up.
RT 66
Nice Moonwood guitar Cap, but did you catch the error. The Dream Guitar guy said it was harvested during the "Full Moon when sap activity is minimized in the tree." The Euro-Moon guy said that it is harvested during the "Last quarter of waning moon in the wintertime after the growing period of the tree has stopped(low sap flow"
My problem with both of them is they are running on pure FOLKLORE as I see it.
In the winter especially at 3500 ft. to tree line, the tree is dormant and frozen.
What does the tree care what phase the moon is in.
Other Folklore states that sap flow is lower during a last quarter moon.
Even if that were true to a small extent, in the summer the tree's wood is saturated. One week from one moon phase to the next can't make that much difference. It takes a year for my newly split birch to dry enough to burn hot. Even if the tree has been down a year in the round, it is still too damp to burn after being split. Same is true with spruce rounds. It might burn, but not nearly as hot.
I think that Folks think that tree sap operates the same as the ocean tides.
What they are doing right, however is this.
1.) Cutting a 20+ inch tree around 300 years old at an altitude yhat promotes slow growth in the winter when sap has receded till spring.
2.) Leave the tree alone to stabalize with branches intake to wick out as much remaining moisture after the tree thaws out.
3.) Split the tree into quarters as opposed to sawing them
If you do all that, you ought to get some great tone wood.
There is a lot of mystery, myth and folklore around Stadavarius and his violins too.
A microscopic look at one of his violins revealed a waterborne fungus in the wood cells impying that the log his wood came from floated around in water for some months before being processed. It don't mean they all were like that as he made around a thousand instruments.
Here is a site by some guys that did a study who must have run out of other things to study, on the effects the full moon has on various things, like are there more weirdos and wackos running amok during the full moon etc. No tree sap was included, but it is interesting how people think about the moon.
http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html
Anyway, thats my current take on Moonwood.
Thanks for the Moon Maid link. That was a real blast to the past.
Don't think it'll work for a new name for the Euro-moon guys though.
Guild and others might be able to promote it in a limited edition for the 40th aniversary of the lunar landings in 2009 in say 1969 D55s. Be fun to see if it sounds any different than a regular one. Time to stock up.
RT 66
RT 66 said:
Unless you and I go to Romania to moon some Carpathian Spruce trees, the chances of my owning or ever seeing a guitar made from the stuff is pretty small. I can appreciate the extremes to which artisans go to create the most compelling objects they can; whether imedieval stained glass windows, wrought iron hinges at the National Cathedral, or painfully hand-crafted musical instruments. If that's what I did and if I could, I'd spare nothing to 'guarantee' that my finished product would be the best I could make it.
If that meant using particular trees based in part on folklore, so be it; to the customer, it's intended to be a 'measure' of the lengths to which the craftsman went to keep his work from being just another guitar. I mean I can relate but won't bore you with my efforts to resurrect a Guild T1 RVT.....if I thought all that stood between me and the finished product was a piece of Moonwood......wood that it was that easy.
Regards,
Graham
Venerated Member
Hey Cap
Your method of procuring moonspruce seems to be as valid as the Euro-spruce guys lunar method. Either should work.
Here is some cool Strad violin stuff by this guy who claims to have figured out how to get the old masters tone including some cool sound tracks comparing the two, A real Strad against one of his.
http://www.nagyvaryviolins.com
Can you tell any difference? He is not saying yet which track is which.
I'm not making any claims for being an expert, but I have been involved in the woodworking trades for 30 years or so. In my youth I went to forestry school and worked for a tree service and eventually became a carpenter/cabinetmaker. I timberframed our own shack in the woods and my shop and do a lot of odds and ends out of it like Windsor chairs, cedar chests, display cases etc. etc.
I got mixed up with violins in the 80s and been trying to figure them out ever since. So far, they haven't thrown me out of our local orchestra yet. Been teaching for the last eight years and work on violins that come into our music store, sometimes in many pieces.
Anyways, thats a little bit of my story, and I'm sticking to it.
RT 66
Your method of procuring moonspruce seems to be as valid as the Euro-spruce guys lunar method. Either should work.
Here is some cool Strad violin stuff by this guy who claims to have figured out how to get the old masters tone including some cool sound tracks comparing the two, A real Strad against one of his.
http://www.nagyvaryviolins.com
Can you tell any difference? He is not saying yet which track is which.
I'm not making any claims for being an expert, but I have been involved in the woodworking trades for 30 years or so. In my youth I went to forestry school and worked for a tree service and eventually became a carpenter/cabinetmaker. I timberframed our own shack in the woods and my shop and do a lot of odds and ends out of it like Windsor chairs, cedar chests, display cases etc. etc.
I got mixed up with violins in the 80s and been trying to figure them out ever since. So far, they haven't thrown me out of our local orchestra yet. Been teaching for the last eight years and work on violins that come into our music store, sometimes in many pieces.
Anyways, thats a little bit of my story, and I'm sticking to it.
RT 66
Ray:
Your bona fides as Woodsmeister are just fine; the rest of us would be fortunate to know as much about what we say we know as you know about the woody stuff.......
FWIW: I've done my share of chopping, cutting, fitting, sanding, and finishing. Still pull splinters out of my hands every now and then and haven't mooned anyone or anything since HS....wish it wasn't true but it is.
j
Your bona fides as Woodsmeister are just fine; the rest of us would be fortunate to know as much about what we say we know as you know about the woody stuff.......
FWIW: I've done my share of chopping, cutting, fitting, sanding, and finishing. Still pull splinters out of my hands every now and then and haven't mooned anyone or anything since HS....wish it wasn't true but it is.
j
Graham
Venerated Member
capnjuan said:
I would be fortunate to know as much about anything I say, as I think, I know, about what I'm talking, about.... :shock:
What was the question?
Graham
Venerated Member
capnjuan said:Speaking of threatening, check this ouzi...
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-String-Electric-B ... dZViewItem
We could sell some copies of this thing to the die-hard Gothic Commies. Auction text doesn't say anything about it being made of moonwood.
Looks like something Nugent would play, no?
