What is Gabriuva wood from Brazil?

[Ted Jay]

Can anyone tell me what kind of wood is on this guitar body?
Here is a quote from the flE-bay auction as to the type, but it means nothing to me.
The base wood is marupa, a Brazilian soft hardwood from the neotropics. The top wood is gabriuva.

It could possible be called by a different name in Brazil than it is here.

Maybe our fellow Creeker, Jim King in Peru, might be able to chime in with a translation, type of wood or family.

Can anyone phanthom a guess by looking at the picture?
Ted

[Vaughn McMillan]

Ya got me, Ted, but that's a pretty looking Tele body. I can't help but laugh at terms like "soft hardwood" and "neotropics". :)

- Vaughn

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ted......You might try PMing Jim King here. He is a dealer in woods native to that part of the world. He might know.

[Ted Jay]

Ya got me, Ted, but that's a pretty looking Tele body. I can't help but laugh at terms like "soft hardwood" and "neotropics". :)

- Vaughn
I recently won this body on flE-bay and just waiting for it to come in.

I also laughed at the words they used in the description.:confused:

[Jim King]

Ted: Marupa is indeed a soft white wood that grows like grass in the lowland Amazom. Name:Simarouba , Family:Simaroubaceae. It is normaly shipped to Mexico in large quantities and made into paint grade moldings and re-exported into the States.

Gabriuva is a Brazilian name and the only thing I can tell you is that the name is Mycrocarpus Frondosus. I beleive it is a brown wood but not even sure of that.

[Ted Jay]

Ted: Marupa is indeed a soft white wood that grows like grass in the lowland Amazom. Name:Simarouba , Family:Simaroubaceae. It is normaly shipped to Mexico in large quantities and made into paint grade moldings and re-exported into the States.

Gabriuva is a Brazilian name and the only thing I can tell you is that the name is Mycrocarpus Frondosus. I beleive it is a brown wood but not even sure of that.
Thanks Jim,
Some info is better than no info.
It will still make a good looking guitar though... and for the price I paid, I'm happy, ($84).

Ted

[Jim King]

Ted: You have opened a big question for me. We are collecting crotches and other special woods for musical instuments and are only considering the very dense woods. I was under the impression that musical woods had to be hard for tone. If I could collect softer woods with densities as pine or oak it would help me a lot. Can you give me some advice ??¿

[Glen Gunderson]

It really depends what kind of instrument you are making. For an electric guitar (especially if it is only a top cap as in the picture) both harder and softer woods are acceptable. Fender guitars, for example, used Alder for their guitars that had opaque colors for years with great results (they generally used Ash for any finish that showed the wood grain). In fact, many players prefer the tone from a body that is less dense. Many solid body builders seek out a lighter variety of Ash known as "swamp ash" for this very reason.

In terms of thin top caps, you can really use almost any wood you want as long as it is resiliant enough to not be easily dented and dinged from normal use. It is the base wood that that cap sits on that will contribute most to the tone.

[Vaughn McMillan]

It really depends what kind of instrument you are making. For an electric guitar (especially if it is only a top cap as in the picture) both harder and softer woods are acceptable. Fender guitars, for example, used Alder for their guitars that had opaque colors for years with great results (they generally used Ash for any finish that showed the wood grain). In fact, many players prefer the tone from a body that is less dense. Many solid body builders seek out a lighter variety of Ash known as "swamp ash" for this very reason.

In terms of thin top caps, you can really use almost any wood you want as long as it is resiliant enough to not be easily dented and dinged from normal use. It is the base wood that that cap sits on that will contribute most to the tone.
Jim, to expand on Glen's comments, many Gibson Les Paul guitars have mahogony as the primary wood for the body, with a top of maple or other harder wood. I have a BC Rich solid body electric that is solid koa (except for a couple of maple stripes running through the body). Neither mahogony or koa is extraordinarily dense. (As if I'm telling you something new. ;) )

- Vaughn

[Ted Jay]

Ted: You have opened a big question for me. We are collecting crotches and other special woods for musical instuments and are only considering the very dense woods. I was under the impression that musical woods had to be hard for tone. If I could collect softer woods with densities as pine or oak it would help me a lot. Can you give me some advice ??¿

There are many different types of wood being used for guitars nowadays. You could go to a site such as Warmoth and see many different speices of woods availiable on different styles of guitars such as solid, laminate and hollow body laminates. The list is practically endless. Take a look at this link to the Warmoth site of the different woods availible:
http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/options/options_bodywoods.cfm
Oh... if you happen to want to ship me any of that "exotic wood" for some laminate guitar bodies... feel free.:D
I have some spalted mapel out in the shop that I bought a while back that I need to bookmatch one of these days when I get a bandsaw, or I'll end up doing it by hand...
Later,
Ted

[Dan Forman]

Dense wood solid body guitars are HEAVY, and very uncomfortable to play by the end of the night. I used to have a solid maple Tele clone, and it was literally a pain in the neck. I think that one had a thinner tone as a result too. My current guitar, also Tele based, has an alder body with quilted maple cap, is much more pleasant to wear, and sounds better too.

Dan

[Sam Chambers]

Jim, to expand on Glen's comments, many Gibson Les Paul guitars have mahogony as the primary wood for the body, with a top of maple or other harder wood. According to legend, when Les and Gibson were designing the first Les Paul models, they decided that mahogany was too "dark" sounding, and maple was too "bright". (And if you ever play a Les Paul Studio - solid mahogany with no maple cap - you'll find that they were right!) So they experimented and came up with the idea of laminating the maple cap onto the mahogany body and found a happy medium.

[Sam Chambers]

Jim, to expand on Glen's comments, many Gibson Les Paul guitars have mahogony as the primary wood for the body, with a top of maple or other harder wood. According to legend, when Les and Gibson were designing the first Les Paul models, they decided that mahogany was too "dark" sounding, and maple was too "bright". (And if you ever play a Les Paul Studio - solid mahogany with no maple cap - you'll find that they were right!) So they experimented and came up with the idea of laminating the maple cap onto the mahogany body and found a happy medium.

[Vaughn McMillan]

According to legend, when Les and Gibson were designing the first Les Paul models, they decided that mahogany was too "dark" sounding, and maple was too "bright". (And if you ever play a Les Paul Studio - solid mahogany with no maple cap - you'll find that they were right!) So they experimented and came up with the idea of laminating the maple cap onto the mahogany body and found a happy medium.
Hadn't heard the legend, but it does make sense. (Especially if you've played the Les Paul Studio model.) And to parallel what Dan mentioned, a real Les Paul sure is heavy by the end of a 4-hour gig.

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

Dense wood solid body guitars are HEAVY, and very uncomfortable to play by the end of the night.

I gotta agree with that! I have a Kramer solid-body (aluminum horseshoe neck) and it weighs a ton. Fortunately, I'm a keyboard player and back when I was actually playing the guitar it was only for a few numbers as a second instrument...but practice was brutal.

[Sam Chambers]

And to parallel what Dan mentioned, a real Les Paul sure is heavy by the end of a 4-hour gig.Yeah, my back is reminding me of that fact right now, after a 3 hour rehearsal! But the sound makes it all worthwhile!

[Vaughn McMillan]

...But the sound makes it all worthwhile!
Very true, very true. I had a '67 Les Paul Custom that would make you walk with a limp, but you'd have a smile on your face anyway. I was playing 4-hour nights, 6 nights a week with mine (and an ES-335, which was nearly as heavy) before they were stolen. I replaced the two with a much lighter BC Rich, and my shoulder and neck thanked me. (And the Rich is no slouch in the sound department either...something about koa wood, I guess.)

Sorry for the threadjack, Ted. ;) You'll have to show us pics when you get the new guitar put together.

- Vaughn

[Ted Jay]

Very true, very true. I had a '67 Les Paul Custom that would make you walk with a limp, but you'd have a smile on your face anyway. I was playing 4-hour nights, 6 nights a week with mine (and an ES-335, which was nearly as heavy) before they were stolen. I replaced the two with a much lighter BC Rich, and my shoulder and neck thanked me. (And the Rich is no slouch in the sound department either...something about koa wood, I guess.)

Sorry for the threadjack, Ted. ;) You'll have to show us pics when you get the new guitar put together.

- Vaughn
What threadjack..... it's still about guitars. :D
Got the guitar the other day and it looks good. I'll have to drill the through holes for the strings, and the wiring, and I still haven't bought a neck for it. I'm slowly collecting the parts... slowly. :cool:

[Jim King]

Ted: This thread has opened my eyes and helped me a lot. What is your address . Please email me at jameskingpe@yahoo.es

Jim