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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Have you ever used swamp ash?  The "tone" from swamp ash is soooo different 
than other woods.  We don't have any out here but I would think you would 
out there (out there being east of the Mississippi <g>).  I love the "tone" 
as it is deeper, smoother, and holds a note differently.

Which of course will mean nothing to folks who don't play stringed 
instruments.

My great uncle made stringed instruments and made a cello out of a walnut 
burl.  It is now in a museum.  Wish I had it.  However, I do have the first 
violin he ever made.

The difference in handmade instruments is, hmmmm, best way to describe it 
would be to compare grocery store, hot house tomatoes to homegrown!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com>
> No, just tung oil.  Now that you mention it, there's not even any stain in
> the shop anywhere.  Black walnut wood really is almost black.  This harp 
> was
> made from an old, old tree that was dying of old age.  The cabinet maker 
> sawed it
> up on a bandsaw mill and to his dismay, it was full of sap pockets! 
> Almost
> unheard of in a walnut tree.  This meant it was largely spoiled as cabinet
> wood, but since the pieces I need in the luthier gig are relatively small 
> and
> irregular, I could make use of most of it by positioning my templates 
> around the
> offending pockets.  By the bye, the wood was kiln dried but I've had it in
> storage for 12 years now.  I'm gathering wood now to air dry to use five 
> or six
> years from now.
>
> The soundboard is birch.