bugs and guitars

mellowgerman

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After having a small swarm of termites flying around in our apartment the other night and doing some corresponding research in an attempt to educate myself about them, i started wondering about the potential thread of wood-munchers to my instruments. The landlord is aware of the issue and is deciding what kind of action to take. From what our monthly pest control guy said, i guess pretty much all the beautiful old wood houses here in central Florida have issues with termites. Even tenting and treating the house usually only keeps them away for a year or so.
Regardless, has anyone ever heard of guitars or wood hardshell cases being at risk? I poked around the web a bit on the topic with very little results. I would imagine that hollowbodies and acoustics would be most at risk due to the exposed wood inside the body, where little light ends up reaching (or perhaps ported speaker cabinets as well)? Perhaps the wood in there would be too dry for them anyway? I store all my guitars upright in their hard cases, lined up leaning against my bedroom wall. The floor is painted over hardwood. Am i just "freakin out, man"? What do you guys think.

On a fascinating, loosely-related side note:
https://benedettoguitars.com/boutique/il-teredo/
 
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walrus

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Can't answer your termite question, but that Benedetto guitar is very cool!

walrus
 

adorshki

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Perhaps the wood in there would be too dry for them anyway? I store all my guitars upright in their hard cases, lined up leaning against my bedroom wall. The floor is painted over hardwood. Am i just "freakin out, man"? What do you guys think.
I thought they only fed on decaying wood but I was wrong.
From the "usual source":
"Depending on their feeding habits, termites are placed into two groups: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower termites predominately feed on wood. As wood is difficult to digest, termites prefer to consume fungus-infected wood because it is easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein."
Anyway I suspect guitars tend to remain immune simply because other more preferable stuff is readily available.
The dry-rot issue probably explains why they're so common in Florida, though.
 

sailingshoes72

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The IL TEREDO archtop guitar by Benedetto is a very interesting way to avoid having to cut F-holes into a soundboard.

I grew up in an older wood-frame house in South Florida (constructed in 1915). I remember as a kid that my father would contract with Orkin Exterminators to tent and fumigate the house every 5 years or so. We would have to move into a hotel or in with relatives for 3 or 4 days during the process.

As far as guitars go... I would recommend playing a lot of thrash-metal music on your archtops, at loud volumes; and bluegrass music on your your flattop guitars. Just scare the bejeezus out of the little critters! :eek:nthego:
 

Nuuska

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As far as guitars go... I would recommend playing a lot of thrash-metal music on your archtops, at loud volumes; and bluegrass music on your your flattop guitars. Just scare the bejeezus out of the little critters! :eek:nthego:

Hello

When I lived in Bloomington MN I bought a Disney Mickey Mouse telephone - connected it in place of our old black bakelite thing - only to discover, that every time I called there were these "whining cowboys" in the background. The impedance of this new telephone is so high, that it allowed the large AM-station to be received via telephone line.

A well known guitar player friend of mine commented it with words that I do not care to repeat :mask:

I had to put the bakelite phone back. Today Mickey stands on my window and is delighting kids who walk to nearby school.
 

dreadnut

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Love the Benedetto! The article says "bookmatched top" but I'm having a hard time seeing that; in fact aren't carved archtops one piece?

It also talks about using copper sheathing on old wooden ship hulls to discourage mollusks from attaching to them. More recently, the Navy and others have mixed hot pepper oil in with the hull paint to keep barnacles from clinging.
 

adorshki

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Love the Benedetto! The article says "bookmatched top" but I'm having a hard time seeing that; in fact aren't carved archtops one piece?
Yeah I'm thinking that's gotta be a typo, maybe just 'cause the term's used so much on high-end flat-tops.
And I can't see a seam or any correlation between the worm-holes that one would expect in book-matching, either:
ilteredo-full3.jpg


The back is definitely book-matched, though:

ilteredo-full2.jpg
 

sailingshoes72

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Fine acoustic arched top guitars are always two piece, book-matched spruce. Usually a builder will use two pieces of wedge shaped, quarter-sawn spruce to enhance the carved top. Check out the illustration here (and click on the smaller image):

https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2955B/lots/23

I think that the Benedetto guitar is probably two piece... look at the change in color tone under the "G" string. Almost looks like grain runout light refraction. It may not have been structurally sound to use book-matched pieces though.
 

adorshki

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Fine acoustic arched top guitars are always two piece, book-matched spruce. Usually a builder will use two pieces of wedge shaped, quarter-sawn spruce to enhance the carved top. Check out the illustration here (and click on the smaller image):

https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2955B/lots/23
Very interesting, thank you!
I wonder if that's actually been found to be stronger in the long run, or do you think it was a matter of being much easier to get a full size top from readily available blanks that way?

I think that the Benedetto guitar is probably two piece... look at the change in color tone under the "G" string. Almost looks like grain runout light refraction. It may not have been structurally sound to use book-matched pieces though.
The slight color shift looked to be repeated in other areas as well, so I didn't put much importance on it.
At the resolution on my screen it looks like the silking lines are continuous under the strings below the bridge, but not clear enough to be certain.
But that's just the main reason I suspected it was a one-piece.
Not married to the idea though, especially in light of your info.
 
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mellowgerman

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The IL TEREDO archtop guitar by Benedetto is a very interesting way to avoid having to cut F-holes into a soundboard.

I grew up in an older wood-frame house in South Florida (constructed in 1915). I remember as a kid that my father would contract with Orkin Exterminators to tent and fumigate the house every 5 years or so. We would have to move into a hotel or in with relatives for 3 or 4 days during the process.

As far as guitars go... I would recommend playing a lot of thrash-metal music on your archtops, at loud volumes; and bluegrass music on your your flattop guitars. Just scare the bejeezus out of the little critters! :eek:nthego:

Hey Bill, our house was built in the early 20's. I love the big windows, hardwood floors, and the natural sun light that comes in. But as I start thinking about eventually buying one myself, I may be more inclined to go the brick or cinder-block route. Especially since we have all those beautiful old, giant oak trees here... when the storms come through, I'd feel much safer if I wasn't in an old wood structure.

On your other point, I actually don't have any solid-body guitars (my old fretless Yamaha bass is my only solid body). But OF COURSE speed-metal is part of my daily routine on my archtops ;) Though hopefully that's not what conjured the winged beasts in the first place!!
 

sailingshoes72

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The slight color shift looked to be repeated in other areas as well, so I didn't put much importance on it.
At the resolution on my screen it looks like the silking lines are continuous under the strings below the bridge, but not clear enough to be certain.
But that's just the main reason I suspected it was a one-piece.
Not married to the idea though, especially in light of your info.

The thing that caught my eye was the long "mollusk hole" on the treble side that runs under the bridge. It looks like it stops suddenly at the mid-line. And the edge of the soundboard that attaches to the rims appears to be standard tonewood spruce with double purfling. That gives the top a cool-looking mosaic appearance.
 

sailingshoes72

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Very interesting, thank you!
I wonder if that's actually been found to be stronger in the long run, or do you think it was a matter of being much easier to get a full size top from readily available blanks that way?

I have always thought that the use of the two, wedge shaped pieces of spruce was because it facilitated the carving of the "bowl" of the instrument. It definitely was adapted from the centuries-old tradition of violin making!
 

adorshki

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The thing that caught my eye was the long "mollusk hole" on the treble side that runs under the bridge. It looks like it stops suddenly at the mid-line.
I noticed that too, but now that I look more closely, from the angle of the photo I don't think that's actually the centerline, it should actually be right where that dark streak coming from the tailpiece right next to the D string is.
But still not sure, just explaining what I see.
Wish we could have a bigger pic.
I'm still inclined to go with your original statement even though I don't think that particular feature of the mollusk hole is a good "proof".

And the edge of the soundboard that attaches to the rims appears to be standard tonewood spruce with double purfling. That gives the top a cool-looking mosaic appearance.
Yeah I noticed that too.
What really fascinates me is the use of the holes for soundholes.
And one's gotta wonder what the vibration patterns look like.
 

adorshki

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I have always thought that the use of the two, wedge shaped pieces of spruce was because it facilitated the carving of the "bowl" of the instrument. It definitely was adapted from the centuries-old tradition of violin making!

Yeah makes a lot of sense but I always thought violins were small enough to use single pieces.
But thinking about it, sure, why waste all that time and effort carving off thickness at the edges when you can reduce the job to just shaping the arch in the center with less work at the edges?.
 

dreadnut

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The back of my mandolin is a single piece of carved birdseye maple harvested deep from a swamp in northern Michigan.

HmttKzs.jpg
 

sailingshoes72

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The quilted maple on the back of that mandolin is beautiful! Was it a custom made instrument? How 'bout a photo of the front!

I remember reading that one of the reasons that Gibson used maple on their instruments was that there was a good supply of it available locally.

"At the time (1930's), Gibson had access to exceptional northern maple, usually red maple and sugar maple species that yielded a very hard and beautifully figured wood. Gibson regularly used slab-sawn or intermediate-sawn curly maple to create the superior backs and sides on numerous period instruments, including the arch-top L-5 guitar, the F-5 mandolin and the L-Century flat-top guitar"

"Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars" !994

Gibson also used curly maple for the back and sides of some J-45's during WW II because of war-time supply shortages of rosewood and mahogany. Bluegrass picker Russ Barenberg is well known for playing a 1945 Maple Gibson J-45.
 

dreadnut

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The luthier said it was birdseye, ss72. Here's a closer-up of the birdseye, the top, and the headstock. Mandolin #106 from a local luthier, Martin DeYoung, long since deceased. I bought this from him about 20 years ago. The spruce on the top is really old, extremely tight grain. It has a really high voice!

9q5d2Re.jpg


Ii3sO7p.jpg


0ATBXUB.jpg
 

sailingshoes72

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That is a beautiful instrument! Thanks for the photos. I like the colored purfling around the soundboard. :encouragement:
 
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