British Lumber Suppliers

[Truckstop]

Hello all,

I want to build a hollowbody fretless 6-string and I'm trying to decide where to buy my wood from from. So far, I can onl find what I want from american firms and I'm pretty sure it'd cost a small fortune to get it posted.

Any thoughts anyone?

Truckstop

[skelf]

What are you looking for.

[Truckstop]

The only definite 'must-have' is a Buckeye Burl top and matching headstock. Love that s**t!
Other preferables are Birdseye maple fretboard and white maple neck, but honestly, when I go wood hunting, i'll probably just pick what looks good and easy to carve! Also, i'll be designing the rest of the bass around what the buckeye looks like because it's so inconsistent. I dontt want to end up buying loads of of neck/fretboard/body wood to find it doesnt work well with the top.

Truckstop

[skelf]

Best of luck with the Buckeye, finding it will not be that difficult in the US here not so easy,working with it is a complete pain.

Edited August 31, 2010 by skelf

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='skelf' post='941009' date='Aug 31 2010, 02:41 PM']Best of luck with the Buckeye, finding it will not be that difficult in the US here not so easy,working with it is a complete pain.[/quote]

Agree - I've yet to spot a wood merchant with a good supply of buckeye.

[henry norton]

Touchstone Tonewoods and David Dyke (Luthier Supplies) are both well stocked and very knowledgeable and helpful. Birdseye maple boards and bog standard maple necks are easy to find but the thing about any kind of burl is it's not much of a structural wood which is why it's mostly cut thin for veneers or top laminates. I'm sure you could get hold of a burl big enough to make a whole body but if it's going to be hollow anyway, maybe you could find a thinnish buckeye top and marry that with a chambered maple/mahogany/ash body? It would certainly be cheaper to post from the US. Give us a few more details about what you're wanting to do.

[Mr. Foxen]

I don't think we call is 'burl' in the UK, it's burr.

[scojack]

Andy at Prime Timbers too.....
[url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Prime-Timbers?_rdc=1"]http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Prime-Timbers?_rdc=1[/url]
He has more stuff than he advertises on his ebay site..... always worth a call.

[Pete1967]

Exotic Hardwoods UK??

TBH I know nothing about them except what a quick Google reveals, and they seem to be the company that Jon Shuker uses - and he's usually able to get hold of Buckeye.

[url="http://www.exotichardwoodsukltd.com/"]http://www.exotichardwoodsukltd.com/[/url]

[Mikey R]

Jon had some buckeye burr at Shuker Towers last summer, it looked like fairly gnarley stuff, with cracks and voids that would need to be epoxied. Would it be structually sound enough to make a top from?

[Truckstop]

Yeah, the idea is is just to use it for the top. You'd be a seriously lucky person to find a piece of buckeye big enough to make a body with that wasnt filled with cracks and holes! Also, buckeye's very hard to work with. The strength of the wood fluctuates throughout and is liable to break easily so it's bets just to use it for the top. If I can get enough and it doesnt cost too much, maybe the bottom too would look pretty good.
Anyway, thanks for all your suggestions, I've fired off emails to all of them and hopefully i'll be getting lucky and soon enough i'll be able to get started! Dont worry folks, there will be a build diary forthcoming!

Truckstop