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Other Stuff => Guitars => Topic started by: tubenit on May 11, 2026, 01:24:14 pm

Title: New guitar Black Dog Salvage wood
Post by: tubenit on May 11, 2026, 01:24:14 pm
I was in Roanoke, VA last Sept 2025 and saw a piece of wood that I thought was mahogany?  A few weeks ago, I decided to do something with it.  I hollowed out the sides much like one would do with a Tele Thinline but NO f-hole.


It was at Black Dog Salvage which is a super cool place to browse and look for old stuff to repurpose.   
Home of “Salvage Dawgs” – Celebrating 25 years of creativity, sustainability, and inspiring design. (https://blackdogsalvage.com/)

Well, it turned out to be Spanish Cedar and not mahogany.  Great tone wood and fairly lightweight.


I then laminated it with 100 yr old yellow pine from my church which is a converted hosiery mill in Belmont, NC.

Then topped that with some scrap flamed anigre veneer a friend gave me.  With 3 cans of gloss lacquer ........ maybe $55 sunk into the guitar body.

I used P-90's and they are super quiet at idle. Not noisey at all. 

I've built maybe 23 electric guitars, and 2 dreadnaughts and 2 bass guitars.  I'm thinking this is the 2nd best electric tonewise.  Very woody sounding with good mid tones and a dash of grind to it.


With respect, Tubenit
Title: Re: New guitar Black Dog Salvage wood
Post by: sluckey on May 11, 2026, 03:28:00 pm
Very nice! Spanish Cedar was/is commonly used as a secondary wood for Mahogany projects. Cheap, soft, and easy to machine. But it has a wicked odor that burns my nostrils. I used a lot of it back in the '80s when I was heavy into woodworking. I still have some in my shop, but no way would my COPD allow me to cut or route a piece today.
Title: Re: New guitar Black Dog Salvage wood
Post by: acheld on May 12, 2026, 10:17:07 am
Wow!  That's a beauty.

At a time when I knew next to nothing, but didn't know that, I found a piece of leopard wood, and hollowed it out similar to what you did.  And ended up on prednisone due to the toxic wood dust.  Beautiful wood, but very heavy.

I like the thin line technique.  I've only built 7 guitars, but have run out of space to keep them.   Some are really great, most not so much. 

Anyway, yours looks fantastic.
Title: Re: New guitar Black Dog Salvage wood
Post by: mresistor on May 12, 2026, 11:58:42 am
Very nice Jeff..    :icon_biggrin:
Title: Re: New guitar Black Dog Salvage wood
Post by: EL34 on May 13, 2026, 07:49:28 am
Nice Jeff!