Howdy Folks!
I'm new to this news group...it was recommended to me by a guitar builder at
Wholenote.com. I'm trying to find someplace or someone in the Cleveland Oh.
area that would be willing to sell some pieces of alder for a reasonable
price...I'm looking to build a guitar body (or two) and I'd like to make it
out of 2-3 pieces, if not 1 piece. I've checked around my area for
suppliers, but am not having much luck (and place like Home Depot and Lowes
are absolutly no help). I did a search on this newsgroup, but with 200
thousand + posts...not much luck there either! LOL!

I have found a number of guitar body "blanks" here and there on the web, but
they seem to go for around $50 and up (plus shipping) which is much more
then I want to pay for this particular guitar body...again looking for cheap
here :-)

As for some specifics, again I'm looking for 2-3 pieces...either 2 pieces
around 2" thick x 6" wide x 20" long -or- 3 pieces with 1 piece being 1"
thick x 12" wide x 20" long and the other 2 pieces being 1" thick x 6" wide
x 20" long. If anyone has a slab that is 2" thick x 12" wide x 20" long,
that would work great too!

I can get poplar and ash around here and have worked with both and both make
fine instruments, but I really want to start working with alder. Later this
year I'm going to build a nicer guitar and I'll be willing to pay a little
more for a good piece, but this guitar I'm working on now is just sort of a
basic project, so again I don't want to spend too much on it. I found a
couple of guys "out west" that can get alder cheap, but the shipping cost
negates the price, so it's not worth it.

If anyone in the Cleveland area (within say 50 miles) has something like
this they'd be willing to part with for cheap, or if anyone knows of a place
that could supply the same, please contact me directly at
as I'm not sure I'll be able to find this post again!
LOL!

Many Thanks!
Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

www.grizzly.com

lots of stuff focused on guitar making, bodies, necks, electrical , etc


"Lomi" wrote in message
...
Howdy Folks!
I'm new to this news group...it was recommended to me by a guitar builder
at
Wholenote.com. I'm trying to find someplace or someone in the Cleveland
Oh.
area that would be willing to sell some pieces of alder for a reasonable
price...I'm looking to build a guitar body (or two) and I'd like to make
it
out of 2-3 pieces, if not 1 piece. I've checked around my area for
suppliers, but am not having much luck (and place like Home Depot and
Lowes
are absolutly no help). I did a search on this newsgroup, but with 200
thousand + posts...not much luck there either! LOL!

I have found a number of guitar body "blanks" here and there on the web,
but
they seem to go for around $50 and up (plus shipping) which is much more
then I want to pay for this particular guitar body...again looking for
cheap
here :-)

As for some specifics, again I'm looking for 2-3 pieces...either 2 pieces
around 2" thick x 6" wide x 20" long -or- 3 pieces with 1 piece being 1"
thick x 12" wide x 20" long and the other 2 pieces being 1" thick x 6"
wide
x 20" long. If anyone has a slab that is 2" thick x 12" wide x 20" long,
that would work great too!

I can get poplar and ash around here and have worked with both and both
make
fine instruments, but I really want to start working with alder. Later
this
year I'm going to build a nicer guitar and I'll be willing to pay a little
more for a good piece, but this guitar I'm working on now is just sort of
a
basic project, so again I don't want to spend too much on it. I found a
couple of guys "out west" that can get alder cheap, but the shipping cost
negates the price, so it's not worth it.

If anyone in the Cleveland area (within say 50 miles) has something like
this they'd be willing to part with for cheap, or if anyone knows of a
place
that could supply the same, please contact me directly at
as I'm not sure I'll be able to find this post
again!
LOL!

Many Thanks!
Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

I'm in Ohio as well, and have rarely seen Alder around. But the guy who
makes guitars on DIY channel's (handmade music?) uses red spruce from West
Virginia for his guitar bodies. Red spruce may be easier to find, and
cheaper. Just my $.02 --dave


"bellsouth" wrote in message
.. .
www.grizzly.com

lots of stuff focused on guitar making, bodies, necks, electrical , etc


"Lomi" wrote in message
...
Howdy Folks!
I'm new to this news group...it was recommended to me by a guitar builder
at
Wholenote.com. I'm trying to find someplace or someone in the Cleveland
Oh.
area that would be willing to sell some pieces of alder for a reasonable
price...I'm looking to build a guitar body (or two) and I'd like to make
it
out of 2-3 pieces, if not 1 piece. I've checked around my area for
suppliers, but am not having much luck (and place like Home Depot and
Lowes
are absolutly no help). I did a search on this newsgroup, but with 200
thousand + posts...not much luck there either! LOL!

I have found a number of guitar body "blanks" here and there on the web,
but
they seem to go for around $50 and up (plus shipping) which is much more
then I want to pay for this particular guitar body...again looking for
cheap
here :-)

As for some specifics, again I'm looking for 2-3 pieces...either 2 pieces
around 2" thick x 6" wide x 20" long -or- 3 pieces with 1 piece being 1"
thick x 12" wide x 20" long and the other 2 pieces being 1" thick x 6"
wide
x 20" long. If anyone has a slab that is 2" thick x 12" wide x 20" long,
that would work great too!

I can get poplar and ash around here and have worked with both and both
make
fine instruments, but I really want to start working with alder. Later
this
year I'm going to build a nicer guitar and I'll be willing to pay a
little
more for a good piece, but this guitar I'm working on now is just sort
of
a
basic project, so again I don't want to spend too much on it. I found a
couple of guys "out west" that can get alder cheap, but the shipping cost
negates the price, so it's not worth it.

If anyone in the Cleveland area (within say 50 miles) has something like
this they'd be willing to part with for cheap, or if anyone knows of a
place
that could supply the same, please contact me directly at
as I'm not sure I'll be able to find this post
again!
LOL!

Many Thanks!
Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

Fellow buckeye,
I don't think alder is common to Ohio so I doubt you will find any.
Based on your post, I'm assuming you're building a bolt-on-body Fender
style. Although not typical of a Fender, I suggest try using local
soft maple which is common, available, and similar to alder. As a
drummer and guitar player, I believe the maple is more "bright" than
alder due to a higher spcefic gravity. I also think 8/4 soft maple
will be easy to find cheap.
Sam

Hey Sam,
Nice to see a fellow guitar player who knows what I'm talkin about! Yea,
you hit the nail on the head...looking to build a tele body at the moment.
This "project" actually started out last year...I have a "Rhythmline" tele
clone that I had gotten years ago. The body on this guitar isn't even a
good laminate...it's -really- cheapo plywood, however it made for a good
piece to practice refinishing on. Quite by accident, the finish actually
turned out pretty nice (sort of a classic tobaco burst) so I went ahead got
some new parts and turned it into something more playable. Now after a few
months I've been thinkin...I've got this decent neck, decent pickups, etc on
this really crap piece of wood....hmmmm! LOL!

I have another one I did a while back...sort of a "double fat" tele that I
had done out of ash. Now this guitar's got -fantastic- tone that'll rival
any LP, but the ash was a bit pricey and more importantly, was a -serious-
pain to work with. I have another project that I'm working on...the wife
and I are building her a new bass (yea...she's a musician too!). This one
we're doing out of poplar and so far the poplar is -a lot- easier to work
with then the ash was. We went with the poplar on this one because my MIM
Strat is poplar and it does have a really good sound.

I'm actually going to be doing a Strat later this year (when the money makes
itself available) and that one is going to be my "Dream Strat" and I'll
probably go ahead and order a decent alder body blank off the net for that
project...I plan to sink $400-$500 into that project so it'll be worth
getting a good alder blank for it.

This guitar on the other hand, I really don't want to sink that much money
into...like I said doing a new body for it is really kind of an
after-thought. I've thought about doing maple or even pine as I saw some
really nice pieces (of pine) at the lumbar yard, but in either case, it's
not really going to provide the sound I'm after for this guitar. I'm
putting this guitar together primarily to learn slide blues and I really
want that "classic" tele tone from it...which is why I'm leaning towards
alder if I can find it (yea, I know I'm being aweful choosy for a guy that
don't want to spend any money! LOL!) . I'll probably just end up using
poplar again as it's cheap and readily available...I can glue up a 3 piece
body for around $18 and I'm sure it will sound fine. I just really wanted
to try working with the alder once before I start that Strat later this
year....kind of get an idea of what I'm getting myself into.

Bright Blessings,
Jim



wrote in message
oups.com...

Fellow buckeye,
I don't think alder is common to Ohio so I doubt you will find any.
Based on your post, I'm assuming you're building a bolt-on-body Fender
style. Although not typical of a Fender, I suggest try using local
soft maple which is common, available, and similar to alder. As a
drummer and guitar player, I believe the maple is more "bright" than
alder due to a higher spcefic gravity. I also think 8/4 soft maple
will be easy to find cheap.
Sam

Lomi wrote:
Hey Sam,
Nice to see a fellow guitar player who knows what I'm talkin about!
Yea,
you hit the nail on the head...looking to build a tele body at the
moment.
This "project" actually started out last year...I have a "Rhythmline"
tele
clone that I had gotten years ago. The body on this guitar isn't
even a
good laminate...it's -really- cheapo plywood, however it made for a
good
piece to practice refinishing on. Quite by accident, the finish
actually
turned out pretty nice (sort of a classic tobaco burst) so I went
ahead got
some new parts and turned it into something more playable. Now after
a few
months I've been thinkin...I've got this decent neck, decent pickups,
etc on
this really crap piece of wood....hmmmm! LOL!

I have another one I did a while back...sort of a "double fat" tele
that I
had done out of ash. Now this guitar's got -fantastic- tone that'll
rival
any LP, but the ash was a bit pricey and more importantly, was a
-serious-
pain to work with. I have another project that I'm working on...the
wife
and I are building her a new bass (yea...she's a musician too!).
This one
we're doing out of poplar and so far the poplar is -a lot- easier to
work
with then the ash was. We went with the poplar on this one because
my MIM
Strat is poplar and it does have a really good sound.

I'm actually going to be doing a Strat later this year (when the
money makes
itself available) and that one is going to be my "Dream Strat" and
I'll
probably go ahead and order a decent alder body blank off the net for
that
project...I plan to sink $400-$500 into that project so it'll be
worth
getting a good alder blank for it.

This guitar on the other hand, I really don't want to sink that much
money
into...like I said doing a new body for it is really kind of an
after-thought. I've thought about doing maple or even pine as I saw
some
really nice pieces (of pine) at the lumbar yard, but in either case,
it's
not really going to provide the sound I'm after for this guitar. I'm
putting this guitar together primarily to learn slide blues and I
really
want that "classic" tele tone from it...which is why I'm leaning
towards
alder if I can find it (yea, I know I'm being aweful choosy for a guy
that
don't want to spend any money! LOL!) . I'll probably just end up
using
poplar again as it's cheap and readily available...I can glue up a 3
piece
body for around $18 and I'm sure it will sound fine. I just really
wanted
to try working with the alder once before I start that Strat later
this
year....kind of get an idea of what I'm getting myself into.

Bright Blessings,
Jim


Jim,
I have an Ampeg "Big Stud" bass made out of plywood too. I am still
surprised it sounds as good as it does.

Sounds like poplar is the way to go. Building your own axe is pretty
cool stuff. I made a LP body with AAA flame that needs a neck bad...
maybe someday...

A friend of a friend really got into making his DIY guitar look like a
'63 strat. Added amber dye to lacquer on the maple neck to darken like
40 years of smoke, tricked out the paint cote to get checking, made
custom decals circa '63, and even found genuine old parts at guitar
shows as well as an original tweed case. He regularly fools so called
Fender "know-it-alls". It's really a warmoth/stew mac DIY done
lovingly perfect for about $500, and of course, it plays by itself. It
will make the hair on your arms stand up when he runs it through a
fulltone and an AC30.
Good luck with your tele!
SAM

jim, try "american hardwoods". i think they're in columbia station, just
south of route 82. if they don't have it, then perhaps they can point you in
the right direction.

also, james lumber might be worth a shot.

Rockler, on Brookpark Road - near Ridge & 480.

They have it in-stock.

Dave


"Lomi" wrote in message
...
Howdy Folks!
I'm new to this news group...it was recommended to me by a guitar builder
at
Wholenote.com. I'm trying to find someplace or someone in the Cleveland
Oh.
area that would be willing to sell some pieces of alder for a reasonable
price...I'm looking to build a guitar body (or two) and I'd like to make
it
out of 2-3 pieces, if not 1 piece. I've checked around my area for
suppliers, but am not having much luck (and place like Home Depot and
Lowes
are absolutly no help). I did a search on this newsgroup, but with 200
thousand + posts...not much luck there either! LOL!

I have found a number of guitar body "blanks" here and there on the web,
but
they seem to go for around $50 and up (plus shipping) which is much more
then I want to pay for this particular guitar body...again looking for
cheap
here :-)

As for some specifics, again I'm looking for 2-3 pieces...either 2 pieces
around 2" thick x 6" wide x 20" long -or- 3 pieces with 1 piece being 1"
thick x 12" wide x 20" long and the other 2 pieces being 1" thick x 6"
wide
x 20" long. If anyone has a slab that is 2" thick x 12" wide x 20" long,
that would work great too!

I can get poplar and ash around here and have worked with both and both
make
fine instruments, but I really want to start working with alder. Later
this
year I'm going to build a nicer guitar and I'll be willing to pay a little
more for a good piece, but this guitar I'm working on now is just sort of
a
basic project, so again I don't want to spend too much on it. I found a
couple of guys "out west" that can get alder cheap, but the shipping cost
negates the price, so it's not worth it.

If anyone in the Cleveland area (within say 50 miles) has something like
this they'd be willing to part with for cheap, or if anyone knows of a
place
that could supply the same, please contact me directly at
as I'm not sure I'll be able to find this post
again!
LOL!

Many Thanks!
Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

Cox & Greg,
Thanks so much for the info...I'll be checking both of those places
out in the next week or so!

Bright Blessings,
Jim