Ghost Gum, any good for guitars?

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Cam
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Ghost Gum, any good for guitars?

Post by Cam » Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:23 pm

A big Ghost Gum tree which has been dead for a few years is in the process of being chopped down and if I want any I can have some of the wood. Is the wood any good for guitars or should I just leave it be?
Previously known as "guitarcam" :D

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xray
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Post by xray » Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:18 pm

I had the same thing happen when i lived at port mac, and when i asked my woodturning supplies man he told me that it is very unstable during drying process and cracks badly in humid conditions. However if i had my time again i would slit the timber down into quarters like michaels thread, and see how much figure the timber has and try it anyway and you may be lucky. The oil and water content of this species changes very quickly and makes warping and shrinkage really noticable especially in the first few months of storage. hope this helps.

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Localele
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Post by Localele » Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:56 pm

It is a bit hard to generalise about timbers without knowing what the actual tree is. One of my books has about 20 species listed as Ghost Gums and they range from small to moderately large trees up to 35m tall.My thoughts are to use gum trees to build your shed and more commonly used timbers to build instruments.
Cheers from Micheal.

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