looking for alder in the Cleveland Oh area...

Howdy Folks! I'm new to this news group...it was recommended to me by a guitar builder at Wholenote.com. I'm trying to find someplace or someone in the Cleveland Oh. area that would be willing to sell some pieces of alder for a reasonable price...I'm looking to build a guitar body (or two) and I'd like to make it out of 2-3 pieces, if not 1 piece. I've checked around my area for suppliers, but am not having much luck (and place like Home Depot and Lowes are absolutly no help). I did a search on this newsgroup, but with 200 thousand + posts...not much luck there either! LOL!

I have found a number of guitar body "blanks" here and there on the web, but they seem to go for around $50 and up (plus shipping) which is much more then I want to pay for this particular guitar body...again looking for cheap here :-)

As for some specifics, again I'm looking for 2-3 pieces...either 2 pieces around 2" thick x 6" wide x 20" long -or- 3 pieces with 1 piece being 1" thick x 12" wide x 20" long and the other 2 pieces being 1" thick x 6" wide x 20" long. If anyone has a slab that is 2" thick x 12" wide x 20" long, that would work great too!

I can get poplar and ash around here and have worked with both and both make fine instruments, but I really want to start working with alder. Later this year I'm going to build a nicer guitar and I'll be willing to pay a little more for a good piece, but this guitar I'm working on now is just sort of a basic project, so again I don't want to spend too much on it. I found a couple of guys "out west" that can get alder cheap, but the shipping cost negates the price, so it's not worth it.

If anyone in the Cleveland area (within say 50 miles) has something like this they'd be willing to part with for cheap, or if anyone knows of a place that could supply the same, please contact me directly at snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.net as I'm not sure I'll be able to find this post again! LOL!

Many Thanks! Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes, Jim

Reply to
Lomi
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lots of stuff focused on guitar making, bodies, necks, electrical , etc

again!

Reply to
bellsouth

I'm in Ohio as well, and have rarely seen Alder around. But the guy who makes guitars on DIY channel's (handmade music?) uses red spruce from West Virginia for his guitar bodies. Red spruce may be easier to find, and cheaper. Just my $.02 --dave

Reply to
Dave Jackson

Fellow buckeye, I don't think alder is common to Ohio so I doubt you will find any. Based on your post, I'm assuming you're building a bolt-on-body Fender style. Although not typical of a Fender, I suggest try using local soft maple which is common, available, and similar to alder. As a drummer and guitar player, I believe the maple is more "bright" than alder due to a higher spcefic gravity. I also think 8/4 soft maple will be easy to find cheap. Sam

Reply to
msschmenk

Hey Sam, Nice to see a fellow guitar player who knows what I'm talkin about! Yea, you hit the nail on the head...looking to build a tele body at the moment. This "project" actually started out last year...I have a "Rhythmline" tele clone that I had gotten years ago. The body on this guitar isn't even a good laminate...it's -really- cheapo plywood, however it made for a good piece to practice refinishing on. Quite by accident, the finish actually turned out pretty nice (sort of a classic tobaco burst) so I went ahead got some new parts and turned it into something more playable. Now after a few months I've been thinkin...I've got this decent neck, decent pickups, etc on this really crap piece of wood....hmmmm! LOL!

I have another one I did a while back...sort of a "double fat" tele that I had done out of ash. Now this guitar's got -fantastic- tone that'll rival any LP, but the ash was a bit pricey and more importantly, was a -serious- pain to work with. I have another project that I'm working on...the wife and I are building her a new bass (yea...she's a musician too!). This one we're doing out of poplar and so far the poplar is -a lot- easier to work with then the ash was. We went with the poplar on this one because my MIM Strat is poplar and it does have a really good sound.

I'm actually going to be doing a Strat later this year (when the money makes itself available) and that one is going to be my "Dream Strat" and I'll probably go ahead and order a decent alder body blank off the net for that project...I plan to sink $400-$500 into that project so it'll be worth getting a good alder blank for it.

This guitar on the other hand, I really don't want to sink that much money into...like I said doing a new body for it is really kind of an after-thought. I've thought about doing maple or even pine as I saw some really nice pieces (of pine) at the lumbar yard, but in either case, it's not really going to provide the sound I'm after for this guitar. I'm putting this guitar together primarily to learn slide blues and I really want that "classic" tele tone from it...which is why I'm leaning towards alder if I can find it (yea, I know I'm being aweful choosy for a guy that don't want to spend any money! LOL!) . I'll probably just end up using poplar again as it's cheap and readily available...I can glue up a 3 piece body for around $18 and I'm sure it will sound fine. I just really wanted to try working with the alder once before I start that Strat later this year....kind of get an idea of what I'm getting myself into.

Bright Blessings, Jim

Reply to
Lomi

Jim, I have an Ampeg "Big Stud" bass made out of plywood too. I am still surprised it sounds as good as it does.

Sounds like poplar is the way to go. Building your own axe is pretty cool stuff. I made a LP body with AAA flame that needs a neck bad... maybe someday...

A friend of a friend really got into making his DIY guitar look like a '63 strat. Added amber dye to lacquer on the maple neck to darken like

40 years of smoke, tricked out the paint cote to get checking, made custom decals circa '63, and even found genuine old parts at guitar shows as well as an original tweed case. He regularly fools so called Fender "know-it-alls". It's really a warmoth/stew mac DIY done lovingly perfect for about $500, and of course, it plays by itself. It will make the hair on your arms stand up when he runs it through a fulltone and an AC30. Good luck with your tele! SAM
Reply to
msschmenk

jim, try "american hardwoods". i think they're in columbia station, just south of route 82. if they don't have it, then perhaps they can point you in the right direction.

also, james lumber might be worth a shot.

Reply to
Greg Kimnach

Rockler, on Brookpark Road - near Ridge & 480.

They have it in-stock.

Dave

Reply to
Cox West

Cox & Greg, Thanks so much for the info...I'll be checking both of those places out in the next week or so!

Bright Blessings, Jim

Reply to
Jim Walczak

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