Guitar Woods

[JDPens]

A guy at our church recently gave my brother a guitar. [8D] As a thank you, he wants to make him a pen. Oh yeah, the recipient is 19yo.

Does anyone have any suggestions as far as woods? Kit style? Design/Shape of the actual pen?

Here is the guitar:
http://www.jasmineguitars.com/img/models/ES45C.jpg

Does anyone know what Nato wood is? It seems to have a nice grain, on the side of the guitar, that is.

 

[C. Scott]

Josh,

I would suggest rosewood with a CA finish in cigar fittings and maybe a guitar pick laminated in the wood somewhere. BTW, I like your site and I'm glad to see young men taking up the art.

 

[jcollazo]

Well... Nato is Eastern Mahogany (the back and sides), the fretboard and bridge are Rosewood, and the top is Spruce.

Because Spruce would usually be to soft for a pen, I'd shoot for the rosewood (easiest to find). If you can find the Eastern Mahagony that would make a really nice pen. For the kit, a lot depends on the the person receiving it. Without knowing that, my opinion would be Comfort Grip (without the grip), Sierra, or Cigar.

 

[Dario]

If you don't have to stick with those materials...KOA will fit the bill nicely. Curly maple is also a good choice.

 

[GaryMGg]

Josh,
I don't have any answer other than maybe you could laminate some of the woods to emulate the guitar's parts in relative space.
I mostly responded to say it's awesome that you and you're brother are working together making pens and have a web-site for it.
- G -

 

[JDPens]

Dario, my brother said that he wanted to stick with a wood from the guitar. BTW, I received the blanks from the contest, they were fantastic, thanks! [:0]

jcollazo, thanks for the info on the Eastern Mahogany, do you or anyone else know where to get that? Even though Rosewood is more accessible, I think my brother really liked how the E. Mahogany looked.

C. Scott, How would you go about laminating a guitar pick into the pen? That's a great idea, but how in the world would you do that? Thanks for the compliments on our site.

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[Dario]

Josh,

Glad that the blanks made it safely.

I am sure others who actually made lamination w/ guitar pick will jump in a bit. If you want to search, there should be a lot of discussion on it here.

 

[BRobbins629]

I have some Sitka spruce (also used for violins) as well as some mahogany that I planned on using for my version of an intrument pen (wait a couple of months to see in SOYP). Have some extra if you want - just send me a pm. I did an experiment with the srpuce and I too thought it might be too soft for a pen, but with a CA finish, it is holding up. You might want to accent it with some ebony or rosewood. If you want to get a little fancy, and do some inlay - a few mother of pearl dots wouldn't hurt.

 

[DFM]

My wife just bought a Martin Koa with mother of pearl inlay. I made her a jr gent to match of koa and MOP inlay.

 

[JDPens]

I think my brother may be leaning in the direction of a Sierra or Atlas/P/P style pen.

After learning how soft spruce is, that's probably not a very good choice, as he can get carried away with his chisel. [}]

Once again, how do you do an inlay? What tools does it require? Does it require special tools?
I assume the mother of pearl dots would help the pen resemble the fretboard of a guitar.

BTW, all these ideas are fantastic, keep 'em coming! Thanks! []

 

[BRobbins629]

Spruce may be softer than some woods, but it is the material of choice for musical instrument tops, some of which have been around for hundreds of years and are still being played. I would think that guitar tops take similar abuse, so if your friend can be as careful with his pen as his guitar, I see no reason why it wouldn't last, especially with a good hard finish. It actually turns real well. I was surprised.

 

[C. Scott]

Josh,

The way I would laminate it would be to cut the blank (near the center or ends) and put a guitar pick between the two pieces and re-glue with thick CA. Drill, tube, mill, turn and finish as normally would. If you do some searching in the forum, you'll find plently of examples of pens with guitar pick material.

Inlays are a whole different animal. Do some searching on this site and you'll find plenty. []

 

[LostintheWoods]

Josh and Daniel, what the two of you are doing is absolutely GREAT!....and I'm thinking that if you contact Jasmine guitars and send them your URL, tell them what you're doing, and they probably might be able to provide you with a couple of chunks of wood suitable for pen blanks. You may have to settle for whatever wood they use for the neck, because I imagine the rest of the guitar is made up of veneer-like sheets. Another thought would be to contact the Martin guitar company, as well. Years ago, they had a small offshoot company called Woodworkers' Dream, where they sold lots of exotic woods, as well as guitar parts. Wish you both the best of luck in your endeavors!

 

[ilikewood]

If I remember right, Anthony Turchetta (PenWorks) has a brother that is a premier guitar maker. Might check with him.

 

[arjudy]

I made a euro style pen out of rosewood with a pickguard accent on the upper barrel for our music minister. He is a great guitar player. Check out his website at
www.rickjamesmusic.net

 

[arioux]

Hi,

Curly wood is very often used for instrument making, specially guitar and violin.

Curly maple, or curly koa, musical instrument grade shuld be fine.

Add a pickgard accent to make it more realistic.

Alfred

 

[kf4knf]

If you looking for wood from guitar makers check out Beartoothwoods.com. I know he has some figured walnut that is amazing!

 

[bob393]

Rosewood from the fingerboard or perhaps ebony if it's a better guitar. Maple mohogany or rosewood from the back and sides, spruce from the sound board but it's boaring. Or glue up some blanks to resemble the rosett or binding. If you could work abalony into the pen that would be really cool!!
Just my two cents!