Why isn’t birch used much in the manufacturing of guitars anymore?
- Thread starter Rambozo96
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HeyMikey
Enlightened Member
Birch guitars? Yeah, they’re ok I guess.
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Gibson L5 Lloyd Loar Signed 1924 with Virzi | Reverb
Gibson L5 Lloyd Loar Signed, Dec. 1 1924, SN 77392, met Virzi tone #10313, This is a sensational Instrument, even to our standards. Only a hand full of these are know to exist and each of them is of great historic importance. Only a few instruments have the legendary historical status of th...
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SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Obviously for two halves it works pretty well and I wouldn't complain about that example shown in the link I posted above.
Ralf
Nuuska
Enlightened Member
Unless you're looking for XXXXXL-size guitar - three such birches here on my yard - and they're not uncommon at all.
adorshki
Reverential Member
That swing seems a bit low for you. How tall are you anyway?Unless you're looking for XXXXXL-size guitar - three such birches here on my yard - and they're not uncommon at all.
adorshki
Reverential Member
Shorten the ropes, obviously. It'll warp if you don't play it.I was 6-4 - that swing is for kids who used it about 10 years ago . . . should I leave it or remove it
bobouz
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My 1922 Gibson 'A' mandolin has birch back & sides - made in the midst of the Lloyd Loar era, but it was also utilized well before that. Gibson's early catalogs often listed maple for the back & sides of instruments, even when birch was actually used. Typically, the models using birch were stained quite dark (such as the vast majority of Gibsons in Sheraton Brown). These days, Godin in Canada has produced a number of models sporting birch. Birch is similar to maple in hardness, and as a tonewood, it's great stuff.
Here's a shot of that '22 Gibson, resting on, what else, a birch veneer chest of drawers!
Here's a shot of that '22 Gibson, resting on, what else, a birch veneer chest of drawers!
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HeyMikey
Enlightened Member
Funny you mention Godin. They seem like a company that is ahead of the curve on using locally sourced more sustainable woods like birch, maple, cherry. Like Guild, they also seem to be a very good value for N American made guitars at Asian made prices. One of these days I might give one a try.
bruno
Junior Member
My father-in-law own a 1979 Norman B-20. He bought it new in the early 80s for approx 200 CAD. Top, back and sides are all laminated yellow birch. I dislike the neck construction (bolt-on neck) and the fact that it was conceived as a low cost guitar, but the sound coming from this guitar is GREAT ! You can't believe how warm it sound. My 1981 D-25 sound like a bright guitar in comparison.
JohnW63
Enlightened Member
Some of the high end Ovation Adamas guitars had a layer of birch between to carbon fiber layers to make the top.
wileypickett
Enlightened Member
I've never heard that birch is a poor tone wood (for backs and sides) nor that it's hard to work with, like some woods.
Possibly it's not used widely today because birch was, for many decades, used for budget guitar lines -- Stella, Kay, Harmony, etc. Could the association with inexpensive (cheap) guitars be part of it?
But it may mainly be aesthetic -- natural birch isn't as impressive to the average eye as other tone woods. It seems that when birch is used, it's often tinted or used for sunburst guitars.
(My first guitar, a Harmony H167, had birch back and sides. I thought it sounded fantastic!)
Possibly it's not used widely today because birch was, for many decades, used for budget guitar lines -- Stella, Kay, Harmony, etc. Could the association with inexpensive (cheap) guitars be part of it?
But it may mainly be aesthetic -- natural birch isn't as impressive to the average eye as other tone woods. It seems that when birch is used, it's often tinted or used for sunburst guitars.
(My first guitar, a Harmony H167, had birch back and sides. I thought it sounded fantastic!)
spoox
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So that little Regal tenor guitar I got a few months ago has amazing tone and volume for its size--it's smaller than many baritone ukes.
The lower end L.A. and Regal Dobro bodies were laminated birch, but my Model 76 actually cost $76 back in the early 1930s and is completely
made of birch plywood and was one of the more expensive guitars Dobro offered, more than the mahogany Model 37 or the spruce/mahogany 45:
Eighty two fifty with the "Keratol" case! Actually birch was used a lot around the turn of the century to make mahogany "finished" furniture.
Some birch can have flame and figure like some mahogany and would be stained with red aniline dye. And it usually sold for a premium over the equivalent oak pieces back then.
The lower end L.A. and Regal Dobro bodies were laminated birch, but my Model 76 actually cost $76 back in the early 1930s and is completely
made of birch plywood and was one of the more expensive guitars Dobro offered, more than the mahogany Model 37 or the spruce/mahogany 45:
Eighty two fifty with the "Keratol" case! Actually birch was used a lot around the turn of the century to make mahogany "finished" furniture.
Some birch can have flame and figure like some mahogany and would be stained with red aniline dye. And it usually sold for a premium over the equivalent oak pieces back then.
merlin6666
Senior Member
I think they still do!
(3 weeks later...) I was sleeping.
I wish I could contribute something brilliant to the thread that has not already been said, specifically based on experience. I have never built an acoustic guitar using Birch. Kitchen cabinets? Yes. Stringed instruments? No.
I am already *that guy* that builds guitars using woods that are perhaps less popular. I tend to rely more heavily on so-called domestic woods that are readily available and the boards are large enough to minimize seams (Walnut(s), Maple(s), Myrtle, Cedar(s), Redwood, Spruce(s), etc). But there are many more domestic woods that can be (and have been) built into outstanding guitars, such as Alder, Oak, Ash, Osage Orange, Locust, Cherry, Pear, and Mulberry.
Like the author in the article Ralf mentioned, I have found highly figured Birch, such that I would want to feature on a guitar, to be less available. Of greater concern (to me), and echoing text already written, the typical size of the trees (and the resultant dimensional lumber that comes from them) tends to preclude me from using Birch for guitar backs - the boards aren't wide enough for my liking.
Others have already pointed out (and rightly so) that the majority of factories are selling into established markets, to established customer preferences (that the factories largely established, by the way). I suppose if Taylor were to heavily market a new line of Birch guitars ("Street Birch"? - Hey, don't laugh, it worked with "Urban Ash") others might follow.
davenumber2
Member
Beard Guitars, mostly known for resonators, came out with a line of flat tops that used birch ply back and sides. By all accounts I’ve seen they sounded great and weren’t exactly cheap.
https://beardguitars.com/deco-highball/
https://beardguitars.com/deco-highball/
Looks nice, thanks.
AcornHouse
Venerated Member
And, for some good timing, this was in my FB feed this morning.
