cherry as a solidbody tonewood

[m1n2h3]

I would like to get some opinions from the builders who have used cherry in a solidbody build. I have a beautiful large billet of cherry thats just begging to be used. I want get some opinions as to what I can expect and what suggestions you guys have for possible wood combinations using cherry.

Thanks
Matt
www.Haramisguitars.com

[Chris Rice]

We did an all-cherry slightly-chambered tele with humbuckers and a maple neck in about 1999. From what I remember, it was bright and snappy with a very quick attack and response and excellent sustain. Couldn't have been too tough to work with, at the time the only power tools we were using were a belt sander and a handheld router without templates.

[JKjr]

Well let's see...I'm not a builder and I have no firsthand experience with cherry, so this is the perfect thread for me to chime in on! Seriously though, pickup winder extraordinaire Jason Lollar used to build a line of cherry guitars that were quite well thought of...maybe give him a shout?

[Denyle_Guitars]

I used a lot of cherry in this one, as a core and neck material. I won't attempt to define the influence of the cherry on the overall sound but the end result was a decent sounding instrument and the wood was very easy to work with. The one caveat is that cherry sometimes moves a lot after being cut.

i

[Irreverent]

Cherry has a density similar to maple. I have actually discussed this very thing with a couple of very talented, highly respected builders, both of whom said it should work fine. As with any wood, however, the individual board should have an inherent resonance to begin with if it is going to result in a good guitar.

Peace.

[Terry McInturff]

As always, the utility of cherry depends entirely upon this: will it produce the sound that you are trying to build? In other words it may be appropriate for some projects while being completely wrong for others.

On balance, it is indeed a rather bright and snappy wood; dont expect much girth in the lower mids from cherry. In this way it does resemble hard maple.

Having said that, experience has taught me the folly of making broad generalisations about the tonal chracter of many woods, particularly the softer species.

[xjojox]

In general I love cherry for furniture and cabinetry, and it can obviously have a very rich look. In terms of tone and density, sounds like maybe a better fingerboard wood than a body tonewood, or could be nice for putting a cap on a darker-sounding wood like mahogany.

I've never seen a piece of highly figured cherry so I'm not sure in terms of aesthetics how it would work as a cap. Here's a picture of cherry with some light figuring:



I had a solid maple guitar once and Terry's comments are well taken. Bright and brash if used as a body wood (in general, as Terry notes there are always exceptions). If the tone is similar, an all solid cherry guitar might not work out well.


I've seen some nice fingerboards made of "Brazilian Cherry" but that's not really a cherry tree, it's Hymenaea Courbaril, also known as Jatobá or Guapinol. I digress...

[Route234]

Ive seen it used in necks as a laminate by Alembic (their Jerry Garcia model uses it in the neck) and I have seen it on some of the necks on Malinoski's guitars as well. Both use lesser known tone woods a lot. No personal experience with it though.

[m1n2h3]

Thanks for the info guys. At least now I can approach this with a little bit more knowledge. Ill probably do something that leans more towards the tele/strat side of town. Considering the weight, I will probably chamber it as well.

[m1n2h3]

Originally Posted by Route234

Ive seen it used in necks as a laminate by Alembic (their Jerry Garcia model uses it in the neck) and I have seen it on some of the necks on Malinoski's guitars as well. Both use lesser known tone woods a lot. No personal experience with it though.

The laminate option is something I didn't initially consider, but now that you mention it. This may be the way to go.

[Trebor Renkluaf]

Can't comment about it as a solid body wood but a few years back when shopping for a beginners guitar for my son I tried all the usual suspects: Yamaha, Ibanez, Aria, Takamine, Seagull, etc. We finally found one by Art and Luthierie (I had never heard of them before) that had Cherry Wood back/sides that absolutely killed all the others in it's price range.

[whaiyun]

Martin made one with Cherry back and sides. I think it was the SWOM-GT. Sustainable woods. Pretty cool!

[bullfrogblues]

I don't know how it sounds yet, but I acquired a decent piece of cherry and made this tele body. I trimmed the thickness to 1 1/2", but it's still going to be heavy at around 6# just the body. No stain, just nitro that is curing. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'll have it.

[m1n2h3]

Originally Posted by bullfrogblues

I don't know how it sounds yet, but I acquired a decent piece of cherry and made this tele body. I trimmed the thickness to 1 1/2", but it's still going to be heavy at around 6# just the body. No stain, just nitro that is curing. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'll have it.

That body looks great. I definitely want to hear a tone report when its finished.

[Souldriver]

if you guys are looking for pictures of nice figured cherry....
start:

End:






this is the most figure I could get before they charge me more for "figured" cherry.
the color will darken a bit with age but the amp is now off with someone else so I will not see that aspect of it.
I used a band saw to cut the wood and it went pretty smooth without much resistance. I also used an orbital sander and you can tell it was a bit dense from it not sanding too fast, but over all it smoothed out faster than maple and padauk ive worked with.
colors are said to sometimes not stain evenly and be blotchy but i did a natural tru-oil finish on mine and it went on pretty nice and even. the finish you see on there is a slight matte finish. imagine the flame if it were gloss.
tonaly? well the amp inside sounded pretty good.
but, hope this helps.