Wood slices

[Pea Turgh]

My mum just had a big ash tree cut down in her garden.  I thought “ooh!  I could make a bass body!” So asked her to ask the tree guy to save me a bit.  I didn’t specify cut, so I’ve been given cross sectional slices 🤦🏻 about 18” - 20” in diameter.
 

Is this completely useless for the purpose of a bass body?

 

[paul_5]

dunno, but as far as necks go, I reckon it might be a short-scale...

[alittlebitrobot]

For people that want to use tree cookies as a table and keep the bark, or have a waney edge board with the bark intact, the tree should ideally be cut in winter when it's dormant and dry. That way the shrinkage during drying is minimised.

With this tree being cut now, those sections are going to develop big radial cracks as they contract quickly and dramatically, so it's highly doubtful that they'll remain as one cross section.

 

The cross section of the trunk is the direction in which the wood expands and contracts, so even if you did get a body out of it, I'd worry about the various cavities, the neck pocket, the bridge location all drifting out of alignment and cracking the body along the way.

 

If those logs are yours, you could mill (or have them milled) into planks to make a laminated body. Maybe.

 

EDIT:

It is a crying shame, though. My parents had an ash tree in their garden (nowhere near the size of yours) that was due to come down. I asked my dad if I could cut it down so I could get the wood that I wanted from it. A few weeks later, I found out that he'd gone ahead and done it, and then said "the wood was boring. Just pale and all straight-grain. You wouldn't want it." so he gave it all to my auntie for her fire 😩

Edited July 19, 2022 by alittlebitrobot