An experiment that has been in queue for a couple of years.... a mostly Osage Orange guitar.
I found some inexpensive Osage Orange lumber, enough to make the back, sides, neck, fingerboard, and bridge. Paired it up with an inexpensive western red cedar top. Cheap bronze colored tuners to finish it off. This was not a spare-all-expenses experiment.
The goal here was to hear what Osage Orange sounds like, I didn't take much care to make it pretty. Eventually it will oxidize into a 100% uniform dark brown w/o much features.
Rumor has it that from a tone perspective Osage Orange is in the ballpark of Brazilian rosewood. I don't know what Brazilian sounds like, so I can't comment on that, but I can say this stuff rings like a bell -- tap tone is off the charts. Sustain for days, sparkly overtones abound.
To quote Han Solo, "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid." I have been playing this one a lot.
You can read about Osange Orange on the Tonewood Data Source database, click here and scroll down to the Osage Orange entry, and the Wood Database for all of its physical properties.
What I learned is that it is easy to burn when bending, and did get one tear out on the upper bout. If I use it again I'll thin down the sides a bit more. It would have been non-trivial to hide the crime, if I would have been concerned about aesthetics. Tear out + a bit of burning for your amusement:
Speaking of crimes, empirical evidence is that I didn't do a sufficient job gluing the bridge on the first try. Nothing a little sanding, more glue, and more clamps couldn't fix. This shot also shows what the neck attachment looks like. Neck angle is adjusted using shims, held together with barrel nuts and furniture screws... similar to a "normal" bolt-on neck, but shifted 90 degrees.
Oh, and it is heavy - 5.8 pounds. Hardwood neck and double laminated sides adds some mass.
