Questions: Yellow Pine

by Bob Gramann

Originally published in American Lutherie #94, 2008

Scott Smith from the Internet asks:

Has anyone made a guitar using heart pine (long leaf southern yellow pine)? I have some that was cut over 250 years ago. Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars passed on it, so I thought I might attempt to build one myself. It is a fairly dense wood with very high pitch content.

Bob Gramann from Fredericksburg, Virginia responds:

I made a small guitar with a top of southern pine which was recovered from a submerged crib dam that was built in 1854 and destroyed in 2004. In order to get enough close-to-quartersawn wood for the top, I had to make a 4-piece top. The pine was not nearly as stiff as the spruce I usually use, so I left it a bit thicker. The back and sides of this guitar were made with white oak from the same crib dam. The oak had turned grey from its long submergence, and the pine was green. It was a sweet sounding guitar but not as sweet as the two of the same style and size that I made from Engelmann spruce and Indian rosewood. If it were not for the historical interest, I would not have made a guitar of these woods. It was sold at auction as part of a fund-raiser for Friends of the Rappahannock. ◆