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  #31  
Old 12-10-2014, 01:29 PM
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Tone is King, and it certainly sounds like a fantastic wood tonally. However, I like a guitar to be aesthetically pleasing to me too, and to my taste, the appearance is a bit underwhelming. It's not the lack of figure or graining, just the color. Can it be stained darker?
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  #32  
Old 12-10-2014, 01:30 PM
PieterK PieterK is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Carruth View Post
OO darkens quite a lot with exposure to light and air. A friend of mine mistook an old plank of it for BRW once, and was disappointed.
The knife handle I mentioned earlier did indeed darken considerably. I can understand why some people might not prefer the color of the wood overall, but I like it. It's striking.

A friend of mine who occasionally builds long bows for his own use builds with OO. His first bow, from years ago, is still a fine, working bow.
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  #33  
Old 12-10-2014, 01:57 PM
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I just remembered I did a couple of videos with the Osage too....

Audix ADX51 on the guitar in a relatively intimate setting in the corner of a room....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFWR51dXVCc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmigrvvndZY
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  #34  
Old 12-10-2014, 08:35 PM
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Originally Posted by ruby50 View Post
Here is one that I finished on August. I, too, thought they were scrubby little trees from what I see here on the Eastern Shore of MD. Turns out they were planted for hedgerows. This OO came from Wisconsin where the trees grow very large. The fresh cut color is amazing and it's too bad you can't keep it. The tone is very clear and bright, but since it is a 3/4 size guitar it hard to say what part of the sound is due to what. It is called "Poor man's Brazilian Rosewood".

Ed

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby16...7649694134065/
Incredible looking guitar. None of this is helping with my obsession.
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  #35  
Old 12-10-2014, 09:04 PM
John Arnold John Arnold is offline
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Ted Davis cut some osage in the early-1980's and built several guitars with it. He wrote an article for the GAL which was entitled 'Appalachian Gold'. At that time, I was a proponent of black locust, which is similar (though it is a bit less hard and dense). Both woods have the best tap tone of any domestic hardwood I have cut.
I initially used locust and osage for bridgeplates and braces, but in the mid-1990's I built a few black locust guitars. Fresh-cut locust has a pale greenish-yellow hue, but it quickly ages to a golden brown. For the most part, I have stained the wood with walnut stain.
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  #36  
Old 12-11-2014, 08:31 PM
D. Ramsey D. Ramsey is offline
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Just got started building an Osage Orange Uke .....



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  #37  
Old 12-12-2014, 12:57 AM
jaybones jaybones is offline
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I know back in the pioneer days OO seeds were literally worth more than their weight in gold. OO was sought after by farmers since it grew quickly and could make a thick hedge (windbreak or "fence") in a relatively short time.

A bag a seeds (they're small and inside the fruit) was worth more than a corresponding bag of gold dust.

And when we were kids, we used to have fights with 'em too. Called them "monkey b@ll$".
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  #38  
Old 12-12-2014, 07:07 AM
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Originally Posted by jaybones View Post
And when we were kids, we used to have fights with 'em too. Called them "monkey b@ll$".
YES, us too, and that's what my Dad used to call them! How funny...thanks for that memory.
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  #39  
Old 12-12-2014, 04:31 PM
ruby50 ruby50 is offline
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I am from Northern Ohio and was Monkey Ba**s for us too - where are you all from?

Ed
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  #40  
Old 12-12-2014, 05:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ruby50 View Post
I am from Northern Ohio and was Monkey Ba**s for us too - where are you all from?

Ed
I'm a NE Ohio boy too...
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Martin 000-28EC
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"Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart."
-Andrés Segovia
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  #41  
Old 12-12-2014, 11:06 PM
brucefulton brucefulton is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drplayer View Post
Tone is King, and it certainly sounds like a fantastic wood tonally. However, I like a guitar to be aesthetically pleasing to me too, and to my taste, the appearance is a bit underwhelming. It's not the lack of figure or graining, just the color. Can it be stained darker?
Tone is a compromise. What would you pay for a guitar that sounded better than any other you have heard or played but that would not have the structural integrity to remain playable for more than, say, a year?
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  #42  
Old 12-12-2014, 11:50 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaybones View Post
And when we were kids, we used to have fights with 'em too. Called them "monkey b@ll$".
Oh, really? Seems to me that that would take some MIGHTY big monkeys to have "b@ll$" that size....

Clearly, my friends and I in the Kansas City suburbs lacked your vision and sense of grandeur!!


whm
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