White Pine ~ Luthiery Laboratories

White Pine

White pine is the low-grade cheap stuff you find at most home centers. Although strong enough for most things, it is very soft and prone to surface damage. White pine is also prone to dark marks from pitch. These can turn up inside pieces that otherwise looked clean.

I have done a couple of projects using true 1" white pine as a core sandwiched between two pieces of finish-grade plywood. These worked out well, but since I discovered Radiata, I have discontinued all use of white pine.

Some white pine projects:

Woods etc

Here at Luthiery Labs, we're only interested in woods that are reasonably priced and locally available.

Wood Notes:

Since the gubment made rosewood illegal, ** despite the fact that there is no real definition of what rosewood is, alternative fretboard woods are going to become more mainstream in loothery. Bubinga is also illegal now, but that's no great loss.

** For a while, no longer

More: Woods etc ...

Audiovox Uke Bass

This bass is a 21" scale, with a piezo saddle mounted in an adjustable bridge. The soundhole is just for looks. The strings are metal-wound Kalas. The fretboard is cut out of the ugliest piece of wood I ever received. For such a small neck, I managed to cut around most of the ugly, and the result isn't half bad.

More: Audiovox Uke Bass ...

Rickenbacker 325 Bass 1

These were my first two tries at a 325 bass. Both are plywood over pine hollow-bodies. The one on the left - #1 - used an experimental neck mounting that I didn't like. The one on the right - #2 - suffered a router mishap. I took all the good parts and built the solid-body, and both of these spent years on the scrap heap.

More: Rickenbacker 325 Bass 1 ...

Rickenbacker 325 Bass 2

More: Rickenbacker 325 Bass 2 ...

Comments on White Pine

Questions or Inquiries?

Just want to say Hello? Sign the .

Submit a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Silvertone 1457 "Rescue" Guitar

This is a real Danelectro Silvertone 1452 from the 1960s. When I got it, it was a sad box of parts. Some hillbilly had stripped it, by rubbing it on the sidewalk, I think. The fretboard had delaminated, and the old repair had simply made the problem permanent. I repaired the neck and fixed all the other issues, replaced the lipstick tubes, which had split, and clear-coated the whole thing in modern poly. I was not able to fully repair the neck, there's just not enough wood left, so I don't keep it under tension. The pickguard is stained dark for contrast. I cleaned tarnish off the old metal bits with oven cleaner, and replaced all the corroded fasteners with shiny new stainless ones.

More: Silvertone 1457 "Rescue" Guitar ...