WENGE - the MOST UNDERRATED acoustic guitar tonewood?! - Millettia laurentii - Tommy's Tonewoods
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- čas přidán 8. 02. 2021
- I've been using wenge for years, a notorious timber known for its splinters and workability. It eats edge tools for breakfast! But, is it a rosewood killer? Wenge has a phenomenal tap response and produces an amazingly responsive acoustic guitar when paired with european spruce.
It often gets a raw deal in the aesthetics department and considered pretty bland to look at when quartersawn BUT when crown cut or 'flatsawn' the true character of this wood is revealed, the biggest win is that it remains stable in this grain orientation! - Hudba
Awesome! Love that wood and its tone.
I have a parlour guitar made with a red spruce top and wenge back and sides. It’s truly a little power house! Never expected to have so much power from a small bodied guitar. It’s one of my favourite recording tools!
Wow! I can hear it without headphones. Amazing.
Tony recommend that I give you a watch and a listen. Glad he did. I enjoyed the video.
Thanks for stopping by!
@@TomSandsGuitars would you choose wenge or santos rosewood?
Since I saw the Schecter Nick Johnston signature with a wenge neck I became obsessed with wenge necks!
Great video!
Thank you!
Tom, I always enjoy your content. I especially love Tommy's Tonewoods
I think it would be great if you post a lot of videos about Tonewoods in the future
And can you let me know your opinion if cedar and WENGE will match?
Beautiful tonewood
Its good stuff!
It is the straight, clean, no defect grain pattern that is appealing. Purple heart is another example of wood that can still be found that is perfectly straight and clean. Used to be that the perfectly straight grained quarter sawn wood was the most desirable. But the changing times goes to show that wood can be flat sawn or even rift sawn and still make a guitar that will stay together if worked properly.
Thanks for the info about 'wenge wood'. I believe I have a little wenge laying around which should be enough for building a few guitars. Most is quater sawn or neerly quarter sawn. It came from a 'gym bouncy box' that I trained on as a child. So, must be 60 years old. The question however is, would it be useful for guitar sides? It seems it is very difficult to bend. Any advice I would greatly appreciate.
Chris
Warwick bass guitars from the 90's. 👍
Thanks for the informative video! I read on the wood database that Wenge is not recommended for laminating. Is this so? I was thinking of using it as one of the stringers in a through neck electric guitar, does it come unlamented?
The grain pattern reminds me lot of a random pattern Damascus steel. Very cool!
Totally, i want to build some more guitars with crown cut boards. I have some available for sale if you're interested.
I just made a Martin style Om with that wood and it sounds amazing, it project like crazy paired with an European spruce it works very well
Sounds great!
The nicest sounding tenor ukulele I ever came across was Wenge back and sides with a Western red cedar top. I use it quite a bit too. Fretboards and binding, especially when cut slightly off the quarter. Hopefully, as with all these woods, they are replanting.
I have a solid shell djembe drum made from 12kg of wenge(lenke). It seems pretty quiet (for a djembe), but, when I played it with 4-5 other drummers you could hear it singing louder than any other. It's probably not just beacause of the wood, but I love the tone, dark and not a hint of same muddy darkness as mahagony. The tone is quite snappy and coherent.
Loving this series, Tom. What are you spraying the wood down with? Naphtha?
Its just alcohol 🙌
and thank you for watching!
I have a set of wenge... I’m saving it until my skills improve. The thought of bending it terrifies me. Also looks like edge sharpness on tools will be critical. Amazing tap tones though.
It bends pretty well actually, its the workability that'll make you sweat!
I've been interested in Wenge for a while. Way back in the 60s, my best friend had an old D-28 (not sure what year, probably from the 50s) - it had the most boring grain pattern - simple and straight - but it sounded awesome! I'll taking boring looks if it sounds good!
It definitely does!
I've built a few electrics with Wenge fingerboards. It's look is very dependent on the cut, get it right and there's a lovely brick red to black figure that's gorgeous when it has a finish on it. Very open pores, I find a filler matched to the darker tones works best to maintain that contrast. My next project will be a cyano fretless bass using it, should be interesting as I've had great success with the cyano process.
Marimba tackle. I’d never heard of the stuff until seeing a video of Rory Dowling using the stuff for necks. That pink border is sexy as hell alongside this stuff.
The pink works so well with the wenge!
How is the texture is it really smooth on the neck? Or does the grain slow your hand down
the pores are filled so its silky smooth
I am wondering how it might work on the Top, yes I know it may not turn out great but it could be interesting.
Why would you pick this over another neck wood like mahogany, koa, or maple? What kind effect does it have on the sound? Do you pick this for different bracing patterns?
It has a different feel to it, it shifts the balance of the guitar slightly, which can be helpful to some. I like it because of how stiff and stable it is. Having a guitar neck which resists becoming an oscillator can only be a good thing for retaining energy for sound production in the soundbox.
You can make wenge look more interesting by applying bleach to it. The bleach doesn't affect the colour of the darker grain but soaks into the lighter grain and turns it almost white which provides a nice contrast with the dark grain.
I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how this would affect the wood's tonal properties but it would be interesting to find out 🤔.
You’re right! I’ve experimented with this in the past. I’ve never come up with a way to bleaching a finished guitar.
Honestly, I love the look and color of Wenge, and I would love to make a Talharpa (bowed lyre) out of it, but it's hardness and the unknown resulting voice makes me very hesitant to try. It'd be heartbreaking to put so much effort and money into the instrument only for it to sound horrible in the end lmao. The sound of the wood in this video is amazing though, it's so beautiful.
Still, thanks for this video and the information provided. It's nice to know to be careful of splinters and potential tearouts, just in case in ever try to work with it.
would this be more stable then roasted maple as neck material?
I made a guitar with a wenge neck and the customer said it was one of the best guitars he ever heard, with ebony fingerboard.
Ever thought about wenge with a bit of sapwood? Mor of a creamy light brown color, only the demarcation is not very sharp....
I’ve seen this yes, it’s quite nice
@@TomSandsGuitars I’ve got some billets QS with sapwood. I want to cut them up to sets soon. I could send you a set at shipping costs (from the netherlands) see it as a way to thank you for such a nice youtube channel. From one wood hoarder to another. Send me a mail. My first and second name without space @ gmail.com
The large pieces remind me of a glockenspiel - the tap-tone is interesting - the first thought I had was “stable” - there were some mid tones with some depth and a shimmer of sparkle - perhaps a tad Metallic, which is where you hear the rosewood influence, I suspect:) Yeah - overall I think it will yield a stable housing for a spruce top or perhaps a sinker redwood - adding a pinch of glockenspiel-esc flavour, which is bound to be interesting... Nice one Tom - Bocote perhaps for tomorrow?? K.
Thanks for you comments as always kevin! I'm actually sure if I have any bocote in at the moment. I'll have to look for some sinker redwood as I know you're a fan. Would regular floating redwood work?
LOL... sure thing Tom... 👍
Are they the same between Wenge and African Blackwood?
The sound of the thicker pieces remind me of marimba keys.
I have a scalloped Wenge guitar neck with a Rosewood fretboard.
You can soak the wenge in bleach to remove the brown; then add dye to fill in where the brown was.
Do a video about Basswood..
It’s a cool effect!
Might be possible to this to Lacewood and get a very interesting result. 💡
@@18allthaway could do!
Hello
I'm a manufacturer of necks, we have a lot of wenge neck styles if you need them.
Is Wenge wood safe from termites
We have indonesian Wenge, and it safe from termites , white or cream from outer diameter Wood not safe from termites. I can say our Wood is same Wood to Wenge we call it Jior/in java it call Johar, if i listen the Wenge characters it very similar, I can feel them cos I'm a carpenter
I think that padauk is the most underrated
That’s a good call
Yes indeed. Many xylophones and marimbas use it.
Wenge is considered "bland" because of its "boringly" straight grain without "features." What about the virtues of such straight grain as ideal back wood? Surely a back that resonates evenly is good.
more underaterrad are cultivead eucaliptus ,strong , lightweight , sound better than mahogany and easy to work , beautiful with clear ! AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Cheap one
I’ve got some fumed eucalyptus which I’m desperate to try!
I hate the smell of wet horse. Its bad. I worked at a racetrack for a while, it is a reference I don't think many people would understand either lol.
Purple heart smells like old socks to me
Redheart smells like a cat box. Literally the worst wood I've ever smelled. Bloodwood smells like fine leather mixed with fruit. Zebrawood smells like the back end of a zoo. Brazilian tulipwood smells like a field of flowers. It's probably the most wonderful smelling wood I've ever played with. You won't ever see much of it, all I've ever found were turning blanks, and small ones at that, but it's just wonderful when you start turning it. Ziricote smells like dust. Old dust.
Sorry, I just know exactly where you're coming from. Sometimes I choose a wood for a project just because of how it will smell when I'm working on it. Wonder what I'm ever going to use that piece of redheart for? I dread that project.
It's a super dangerous wood. I used it for a fretboard on an electric guitar and have received many splinters. My advice is to use something else.
Really? How? Granted it’s known for its splinters but it really isn’t that bad.
your audio is out of sync 😅