Fooled me. My only dish on Poplar is tear out. You have to make sure the bit is spinning in the right direction as you rout the curves otherwise big chunks will fly off.
Hi Matt...🙂...First-time viewer and only here because a student had questions about this piece of "Leary Wood" (???🤣🤣🤣???) you then said was Poplar... So, to some of your queries...Yes, I knew it was Yellow Poplar (not really Poplar at all rather a Magnolia), and test the heartwood is always commonly purple and brown in color but oxidizes quickly to darker tones and colors... As a traditional "green" woodworker my Luthier work is limited to supporting those like yourself with wood and advice over the decades as well as a view simple Banjo, Dalsimer, relate Appalachian instruments... Cost (if purchase properly) should never be above $1/BF and only Air Dried (if not worked green?) in the traditional context and market for those that learn to purchase lumber/timber directly... Tulip Magnolia or Tulip Tree - Liriodendron tulipifera - (aka what is erroneously called "Poplar" and not one at all) is a marvelous tonal wood...!!! Great for all types of work and great wood to learn on... Thanks for a great video...
Poplar rings like a bell. A lot of the late 80's & early 90's Jacksons were made of it and most every one I ever played had great resonance and sustain. New shop looks roomy, looking forward to new stuff from there.
yes, I have a RRV prototype from 1988-89 that has poplar wings (with an alder veneer on the top and back to hide the neck seam) and the maple neck through. Sounds great! I also have a 1983 Kramer Pacer with a poplar body that is candy red. sounds excellent, and it looks amazing. It's all in the craftsmanship and wood selection. There's some muddy sounding mahogany out there, let me tell ya (if it really is even mahogany of any kind), and don't get me started on basswood (I hate it, it has to be the softest hardwood out there, and it smells like cat pee when you cut into it!). At least none of it is as toxic as cocobolo and rosewood!
@@edgyswordsmanmanga4051 Only to a few of us with allergies or chronic bronchitis (I really shouldn't be huffing ANY sawdust or Urethane.), but Cocoebola...anyways, yeah, Basswood's almost exclusively what they use, even on some high grade Ibanez, like the JEM and Universe models. They stopped using Sen Ash in the early 80's (basically a relative of Bamboo)
My first introduction to Poplar was when I was working in a factory in KY. We were using if for packing material in steel product. We loved it for its strength and lightness. Fast forward to now, I remember its good tonality and notable and outstanding grain like the one in your video. Because of its high density, yet light weight, it would do quite well as a body wood for a solid body or even a semi hollow, like a Tele. Good stuff, and much less expensive than the usual tone woods that even I like as well.
I built a Jazzmaster-Like-Object out of poplar -- I even left it 'green' as part of the design (it will naturally brown over time). It machines as nicely as maple and has comparable strength. No problems. Matt, when you use that board, make sure to locate a UV resistant clear coating to keep the popping colors popping.
Thing is - most poplar goes to paint grade cabinets, furniture and trim, and for those apps what shops want is uniform light color so it paints reliably. The dark stuff is rejected. We buy a lot of poplar and can sometimes get it S2S cabinet grade 4/4 to 8/4 (20% waste) for $1.50/BF. So $4 is no bargain for a chunk of wood that would be scrap for Merilat or WoodMode.
Yea and they call gum poplar. Ive at one time had alot 9f it. But the polar I had was a light yellow to light greenish beige. My AP mechanic got me straight on that gum. Poplar has a grain tho. That purple is suspect gum to me.
Every time I'm in Lowe's I will check their craft board bin for that exact wood. They come in 1/4" by various widths and could be used for a very cool "Butcher block" looking top. One piece I snagged had the coloring of Purpleheart.
Yup. The pure purple stuff they charge a premium for, the streaky stuff goes at a discount. None of it is over $3 a bf here in Ohio Amish country. It's pretty plentiful here.
That is Black Poplar MATT. It is more dense than matchstick poplar. But beware of using the areas of wood which have white banding on it, that is the outer or Cambrian layer that soaks up stain and paint like blotting paper, it is also quite soft compared to the darker bits.
I’m asking a guys to build me a guitar body, he said the only wood he have now is poplar, that’s why I’m here trying to have an info about the wood, now I’m more confident that it will be good, thanks my friend for the video very assuring and helpful.
Grabbed a piece of poplar at a place called Brazos forest products. Looks very similar to yours. It defied all logic in my head, but I resawed it and used it as a carved top. It didnt have that spiffy "tap tone". It was actually quite dead sounding.
At least you gave it a shot my friend, you can't hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. We have made a few guitars that sounded great with poplar but sometimes you foul out. Sorry for all the baseball references
Matt after 35+yrs of carpentry & woodworking, I have Never seen a piece of poplar look like that its usually greenish yellow That is Way cool you found that. Again congrats on the new shop..
So my first words were "Dude that's Poplar." Bruh, I have got some poplar that you will LOVE! first off- the tree was planted by Thomas Jefferson, on his Poplar Forest estate near Bedford, VA, so #coolpoints for history. But it's got the purples and blacks and pinks and greens and crotch figure... One slab already became a coffee table, and another probably will as well... but at least one is on its way to becoming a guitar- MAYBE for next year's GGBO.
From what I know once the guitar is plugged in and running through an amp you can throw your expensive tone woods out the window as they apply predominantly to acoustic instruments. Poplar happens to be a great wood to make a guitar out of as well as basswood that is also not too expensive.
@stratisfied of course that is not correct. The wood affects the quality of the string vibration (resonance) and the vibration is picked up by the circuitry. Better woods can result in better note sustain, better evenness of frequency response. It is the tone woods that provide frequency feedback to the strings, giving that guitar its quality of tone. Sure you can get a tone out of the back of an old wardrobe, but it will sound exactly like that.
Dude you can make a guitar out of petrified turds and will sound good. Tone woods apply to acoustic instruments. Once you plug in its almost all the same and the wood means very little. Carbon fiber guitars sound and resonate well as do epoxy and other materials that are not wood that are used for a guitar. Theres a video of a guy making a guitar out of concrete and sounds like a normal guitar.
@@Stratisfied22 Hilarious. You don't know what you're talking about. I just watched the concrete video, and it sounds like a cheap electric guitar. Big deal. It's also a processed sound. Tell the ghost of James Jamerson whether his 52 p bass sounds as good as a concrete bass.
It colours like popla...never mind, ha, ha, ha!! I used to work in a sawmill, my ex uncle in law was a finish carpenter an used that for the trim in his house, lots of purples greens blue, beautiful. it is fast growing too, I used to cut my own wood from private property and if you search the forest there is plenty of it, again fast-growing stuff and there are many kinds of it.
LOL, you had me for awhile! And yes, I been using poplar, basswood and pine for my beginner bodies so I don't break the bank learning and making those occasional mistake(s)!
All Poplar does look like that when it is Tulip. That's what it is. We've all heard of Poplar and use it. It is related to and quite similar to American Basswood. Almost all Carvins made for 15 years were yellow poplar. For one reason, it comes off the cnc smooth as Basswood and Poplar are noted as carving woods. Might be the only complaint with it is that it doesn't always hold a bridge stud on a floating Floyd that gets pulled sharp often. $4 per board foot is an outrage tho. You can get kiln dried direct from mills for $1.75 in 8/4
we used to use it a lot, easy to work with with , lightweight etc.. a bit boring to look at but easier than ash to work with and great bright sound...only on bodies tho?.. new shop looks g8
I get a lot of pallets made of poplar from one of our vendors at work. I’ve used it to make some furniture. Sometimes it will be streaky brown, or purple. The purple in it will usually turn brown over time. It’s a great wood. I think my classic vibe Jaguar is made of poplar and it sounds great. In the 90’s when I bought my first Mexican strat I think it was also made from poplar
This is pretty relevant with current fires. I dread the impacts on the cost and availability of wood. Its already up considerably since you made the video and now ridiculous acreage burning. When it’s contained, a harvest of salvage will be on a major scale, but we are talking decades to replenish the timber. It’s pretty fucked.
a lot of guitar companies used poplar in the 80s an early 90s was pretty common not as much anymore i guess u will see a few here an there on namm videos but u use to see it a lot more.. i have peavey usa falcons made with poplar body flame maple tops. they have some nice wood grain, an yes they sprayed a lot of solid colors as well that prob didn't look as good but didn't hurt the sound or playing of the guitar and u don't no what it looks like anyway with solid colors. there isn't anything wrong with poplar in my opinion. thanks for vids love the new shop congratulations excited for ya's
@@TexasToastGuitars Okoume is becoming popular. Suhr uses it on their single cut and Fender has some Okoume models. However, it can also be found on some Asian imports so I'm assuming it's inexpensive compared to mahogany. Seeing it more and more
Congratulations on the new shop! My first few guitars were made from poplar. They played and sounded great. “Tone Wood” is a marketing ploy. Music Man uses basswood in their painted bodies. Keep it up guys!
Thanks for watching my friend, I love to hear people talk about tone woods. If they can hear it I'm happy to charge them for it. We call it second cool, it certainly doesn't offer any first cool in terms of capability
Troool haha. Very purple heart looking there, Poplar is deffinatley a cheap wood same as soft pine. I just get aggravated when big companies use it with veneers and charge over £1000...
So I am confused, because back in the day when I worked at a lumberyard, poplar was considered to be a soft wood like spruce, pine, and Douglas fir. The term 'hardwood' was reserved for maple, birch, ash, alder, oak, and mahogany. Is the nomenclature different in the guitar building world?
Guitar building wood is the same as all other wood in terms of how it is sold. Hardwood is sold by volume in random widths and lengths. Now, you can find stuff sold in other ways but for the most part lumber sellers don't exactly care about what the wood will be used for. Guitar parts suppliers claim to and, who knows, maybe they do hahaha
@@TexasToastGuitars - so is red and white oak considered too brittle for building guitars? I am unwware of any in existence by known guitar manufacturers.
Wood like that is generally called "rainbow poplar" or "green poplar". The coloration isn't rare it's mineral dependent. Sawmills tend to use just the standard yellow wood as uniform color is more popular (pun intended) for use. The greenish and browns in the wood are generally considered flaws. However if one wished for the colors to be present they could by making sure the soil had the appropriate minerals.
@@TexasToastGuitars i cant find a double cut melodymaker body so Im gonna trace my lpjr and fold the pattern over and cut that out itll be close enough to im tryin.
I have fingerboard blanks made from French Lilac. My first bolt neck guitar body was laminated poplar mostly because at the time I could not find alder. My second bolt neck body was butternut. That one had really nice tone.
Is it the same as tulipwood ? The first hardwood i ever worked with was tulipwood and i remember it smelled so good and was easy to work with, gorgeous grain and my local woodstore is full of it !
@@tchiksguitars tough to say because it is also called tulipwood in some parts of the US, but there is also a real tulipwood from AUS (I think) that is different.
@@TexasToastGuitars cool. I've got a Blackhawk Convertible with both cylinders. I was thinking maybe 460 s&W/454 casull/45LC. The .460 is really a rifle cartridge. I think even Jeff Cooper would have agreed with that.
HA! I knew it was rainbow poplar the second you picked it up! Dr. Leary would be pleased tho ;) The coloration comes from mineral contamination in the soil - in NE Ohio it's an extremely common wood, so it's really cheap (like $1.50 / BF). I don't have any pics but it's not uncommon to find it in "full guitar face width" - so I've got some great pieces that are 14" wide, with colors from yellow to green to purple. Clear poplar is nice wood! It's just a bit soft for "real guitars" - but def a good source for making cheapies, jigs, etc.... It's great to see you guys wasting no time getting into the new shop. I hope that financially it doesn't put a strain in you for long. Kevin is a dick for sure, but sometimes a kick in the ass is good for moving forward, so who knows, hopefully in the long haul the actually did you a favor by launching Texas Toast into their next growth phase. Continued success to you my dudes.
Actually my little brother lives in Ohio he can drive it back here. I'm in Wisconsin, and it going to be getting cold any minute now. We have a lot of Pine trees as well as Oak trees too. Lol, not quite the same. Thank again for the laugh.
My next project when it warms up is a body out of cypress pine. Awesome looking timber but it has a tendency to crack so not too sure how it's going to go. It's been sitting around in the shed way too long. I've also got a thick piece of western red cedar, but just haven't worked out what I'll do with it as it's pretty soft
Poplar will darken when it sits in the sun. I had some for guitars and it sat in the sun and darkened up to a beautiful golden brown. UV lights would probably do the same thing.
I noticed Poplar sounds just like alder wood in certain cases and tone also sounds good and similar under the conditions of being cracked or cut into two separate pieces of wood making up parts of a whole guitar.i get a the jaco sound from a black leary poplar body jazz bass I dropped 1 time.
At first, I thought, "Okay, there is a wood out there I've never heard of called Black Leary." But as you kept talking, I kept looking at the wood thinking, "that streaking in the wood looks a lot like poplar." Then you said it was poplar. The first electric guitar I ever rebuilt was a Fender Duo Sonic and it had a poplar body. Nothing wrong with poplar at all.
Poplar's scientific name is Liriodendron tulipifera so we made up Black Liri. We figured if Gibson could do it with white limba, calling it Korina we could too
Hands up Brotherman "You got me!" and I've been on this planet a lot longer than you and I work on the theory the "Every days a school day! and I thought I was about to learn something new 😂 😉. Love the new shop Matt!
Yes I thought it was an excotic hard wood. Just poplar. great. The joke is I have bought a MIM stratocaster in the early 90's and this beast served me since then. He survived bars, beer, sweat and rockandroll. We both are retired now but I still play this old lady. Just ordinary great "tonewood" (if tonewood excist. lol)
You got me...lol I love your PRS imitation. I saw you do once before and it had to do with the same and that's why I like it so much. I don't put much stock in the wood makes the sound. I maybe believe the difference in how dense a piece of wood is affects the tone to a point but that's it To me the wood choices people make has everything to do with how the guitar looks or will look and that's about it. Thank you, Jeff
I am looking at that "black leary" and thinking that "black leary" looks a lot like poplar. I made a strum stick with a poplar neck and sassafras fretboard. it is pretty cool. Be Well DZ
Absolutely correct! Jackson Guitars used poplar for all their paint grade guitars when i worked there in the mid 80's. Fender used it in their lower grade guitars Poor man's alder!
@@TexasToastGuitars , I bet the Titebond sticks best to that poplar! Maple has issues with the "laminating" not sticking over the whole surface, sometimes. That is why the CH manufacturers don't use Maple to laminate spalted, curly and quilted top laminate to (but think they can call it Maple, because it's mostly "white" wood).
@@aandc2005 I did. I was head of warranty repair. When I'd get burned out from too much phone I'd go to the wood shop and beg him to put me to work. He was happy to have me in there. I loved all the guys that worked there. Grover was the problem.
For My very first neck build I used a nice looking piece of poplar from Home Depot. It has all those colors and it looks cool and is so nice to work on. So far no twisting of anything crazy.
That's poplar. Lived in Hickory NC for 10 years in the 80s-90s and worked at a bunch furniture factories and saw 100s of pallets of 5/4 poplar. That stuff can be really freaky
It's still used by lots of companies for their bodies. Typically on the lower priced models, but none the less: There are a lot of fender around with a poplar body.
Cool lookin' shop. Tim Sway did a tone test on several different types of woods recently. And, we both think poplar won. Black Leary? Wasn't he a pirate or somethin'?
You're almost at 24k I should probably buy some hardwood and learn how to work with it instead of jer... Pleasuring myself with laminates and exotics. Thanks for this advice!
The best sounding electric guitar I've ever heard had a Tele body made of Poplar, with a neck and fingerboard both made of Maple. I think the neck/fingerboard might have been a single piece of wood. Beautiful balanced tone, clear sounding, and sustain for days. That may be the perfect combination of woods.
I've worked with a virtual shit ton of poplar in my day, so I could tell....it is a pretty cool chunk tho. What moisture level are you aiming for in your guitar woods? Here in the humid south, I have a feeling that it's something that I'm going to have to pay close attention to.
Gonna make a poplar Tele-ish, looking forward to working with poplar. But I'm up in the air about what neck and fretboard wood to use. I'd like a bit of a thicker tone, maybe more LP-ish. So mahogany and rosewood seem to make the most sense....if tonewoods are a thing lol
Usually poplar is light and soft wood. This piece looks and sounds more like a piece of walnut and it might be about as dense. Never seen such kind of poplar so far.
Thanks for video! Poplar is really great to work with, but I have never seen it colored this way. Maybe here in Europe it's even more difficult to find green like-yours-one. I wanna make an LP style guitar and I'm thinking to use poplar, but my friend says it a bad idea to use in instead on mahogany =D
I’ve been making electric and pedal steel guitars for years and many had poplar in them (not the steels). I would glue a figured piece of wood on top. They all sounded great! I even made one out of 2x4s. Keep up the great work. Cool shop!
This is rare *Swirld Zebralung* poplar 😆 Btw. I got foold ! Was paying more attention to the new shop...haha. The color will change with time to more brownish. This floor needs a great snack corner somewhere in the shop. I'm so happy for you with the new place. Special thanks to K****n who made this happen. As one of the "Old Times Subscribers" i'm also very happy you're going for the 10k 😀
Thanks for watching my friend Chris is already planning a space for treats and a coffee robot. Kevin will always be a miserable man. I almost feel sorry for him... almost. What a knob hahaha
Knew, what it was, trees that have that color have some sort of issue going on with the heart wood, love poplar it's great but tulip poplar doesn't have the best shock resistance....
Hi Matt, im new to your channel, awesome work your doin man. I was wondering how much of that dark poplar you would be interested in? We got a woods full of it. And some rock maple too. A good variety of hardwoods actually. I really enjoy the educational videos so far. Keep up the good work! Have a good day! Maybe I can send you some good finds this winter for maybe a custom build. If you have plenty of storage, we can cut just about any size ya want and maybe ship an order or two.
I've used poplar on two bodies. Great wood. Everyone swore it was alder.
Fooled me. My only dish on Poplar is tear out. You have to make sure the bit is spinning in the right direction as you rout the curves otherwise big chunks will fly off.
I hear that, lots of fuzzies too. Now that we have a new shop space I hope to see you sometime
Hi Matt...🙂...First-time viewer and only here because a student had questions about this piece of "Leary Wood" (???🤣🤣🤣???) you then said was Poplar...
So, to some of your queries...Yes, I knew it was Yellow Poplar (not really Poplar at all rather a Magnolia), and test the heartwood is always commonly purple and brown in color but oxidizes quickly to darker tones and colors...
As a traditional "green" woodworker my Luthier work is limited to supporting those like yourself with wood and advice over the decades as well as a view simple Banjo, Dalsimer, relate Appalachian instruments...
Cost (if purchase properly) should never be above $1/BF and only Air Dried (if not worked green?) in the traditional context and market for those that learn to purchase lumber/timber directly...
Tulip Magnolia or Tulip Tree - Liriodendron tulipifera - (aka what is erroneously called "Poplar" and not one at all) is a marvelous tonal wood...!!! Great for all types of work and great wood to learn on...
Thanks for a great video...
Poplar rings like a bell. A lot of the late 80's & early 90's Jacksons were made of it and most every one I ever played had great resonance and sustain. New shop looks roomy, looking forward to new stuff from there.
Thanks John, we are loving the new shop
yes, I have a RRV prototype from 1988-89 that has poplar wings (with an alder veneer on the top and back to hide the neck seam) and the maple neck through. Sounds great! I also have a 1983 Kramer Pacer with a poplar body that is candy red. sounds excellent, and it looks amazing. It's all in the craftsmanship and wood selection. There's some muddy sounding mahogany out there, let me tell ya (if it really is even mahogany of any kind), and don't get me started on basswood (I hate it, it has to be the softest hardwood out there, and it smells like cat pee when you cut into it!). At least none of it is as toxic as cocobolo and rosewood!
@@Bob_at_OZDiggzguitars rosewood is toxic? Also, I think some lower-tier Ibanez are/were made of basswood, though Im not sure.
@@edgyswordsmanmanga4051 Only to a few of us with allergies or chronic bronchitis (I really shouldn't be huffing ANY sawdust or Urethane.), but Cocoebola...anyways, yeah, Basswood's almost exclusively what they use, even on some high grade Ibanez, like the JEM and Universe models. They stopped using Sen Ash in the early 80's (basically a relative of Bamboo)
@@Bob_at_OZDiggzguitars aside from how difficult it is to work with, why would you say basswood is bad for guitars?
I just got a 2" thick slab of figured poplar crotch And man it really is an amazing looking peice.
My first introduction to Poplar was when I was working in a factory in KY. We were using if for packing material in steel product. We loved it for its strength and lightness. Fast forward to now, I remember its good tonality and notable and outstanding grain like the one in your video. Because of its high density, yet light weight, it would do quite well as a body wood for a solid body or even a semi hollow, like a Tele. Good stuff, and much less expensive than the usual tone woods that even I like as well.
I built a Jazzmaster-Like-Object out of poplar -- I even left it 'green' as part of the design (it will naturally brown over time). It machines as nicely as maple and has comparable strength. No problems.
Matt, when you use that board, make sure to locate a UV resistant clear coating to keep the popping colors popping.
Thanks for watching my friend, I'm not sure what I will do with that board... I might just leave it a board
Matt.. you`re pretty good at Knuckling the Wood Stick there... I`ve been Knuckling my Wood for Years.
HAHAHAHA you got to stay in practice
Thing is - most poplar goes to paint grade cabinets, furniture and trim, and for those apps what shops want is uniform light color so it paints reliably. The dark stuff is rejected. We buy a lot of poplar and can sometimes get it S2S cabinet grade 4/4 to 8/4 (20% waste) for $1.50/BF. So $4 is no bargain for a chunk of wood that would be scrap for Merilat or WoodMode.
I’ve used it a few times. I like it. Works easy, is cheap, lightweight and sounds just fine.
Thanks for watching my friend we use poplar a lot, it is a great student wood to get in there and get your hands dirty
Yea and they call gum poplar. Ive at one time had alot 9f it. But the polar I had was a light yellow to light greenish beige. My AP mechanic got me straight on that gum. Poplar has a grain tho. That purple is suspect gum to me.
That's the way it goes I guess
Congrat for the new shop!!!! Best fucking whish
Thanks for watching my friend
I have a telly body and maple neck neck humbucker , I like it had it some years now. Also two strat bodies, I can't complain.
It's good stuff
Every time I'm in Lowe's I will check their craft board bin for that exact wood. They come in 1/4" by various widths and could be used for a very cool "Butcher block" looking top. One piece I snagged had the coloring of Purpleheart.
Can you do a review on Paulownia wood. Which one you prefer Paulownia or Poplar.
At this stage of the game I like poplar because it is really easy to get and I like the way it machines. Basswood is good to go too
thats Rainbow Poplar. been usin that for the last 10 years. its just yellow poplar that got mineral & sediment staining on the yellow.
Yup. The pure purple stuff they charge a premium for, the streaky stuff goes at a discount. None of it is over $3 a bf here in Ohio Amish country. It's pretty plentiful here.
Yeah but do you tap on it like Paul Reed Smith?
@@TexasToastGuitars No, you ding it on the floor and see if it rings like a steel pipe. :)
@@TexasToastGuitars hell no. i leave that to them city folk. us country boys already knows how to & what can survive.
@@jimfromoh8944 We have found that steel pipes ring the most like a steel pipe
New shop Rocks Matt. Congrats
Thanks Jon we are really loving it
That is Black Poplar MATT. It is more dense than matchstick poplar. But beware of using the areas of wood which have white banding on it, that is the outer or Cambrian layer that soaks up stain and paint like blotting paper, it is also quite soft compared to the darker bits.
“Any pants can be sweat pants if you run long enough.”
Cool piece of wood. One thing about poplar is that the purple will fade to brown over time.
It's a bummer that all those cool woods purple and orange woods do that
Texas Toast Guitars Might be worth finishing with a higher end clear than Omni to protect from UV
We switched clears a while ago, you must have missed that one
Texas Toast Guitars Sure did, what’s the video called?
I’m asking a guys to build me a guitar body, he said the only wood he have now is poplar, that’s why I’m here trying to have an info about the wood, now I’m more confident that it will be good, thanks my friend for the video very assuring and helpful.
That is awesome!
Grabbed a piece of poplar at a place called Brazos forest products. Looks very similar to yours. It defied all logic in my head, but I resawed it and used it as a carved top. It didnt have that spiffy "tap tone". It was actually quite dead sounding.
At least you gave it a shot my friend, you can't hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. We have made a few guitars that sounded great with poplar but sometimes you foul out. Sorry for all the baseball references
Matt after 35+yrs of carpentry & woodworking, I have Never seen a piece of poplar look like that its usually greenish yellow That is Way cool you found that. Again congrats on the new shop..
I haven't seen any poplar with that much brown. There are people who tell me it's all over the place but not in my neck of the woods hahaha
So my first words were "Dude that's Poplar."
Bruh, I have got some poplar that you will LOVE! first off- the tree was planted by Thomas Jefferson, on his Poplar Forest estate near Bedford, VA, so #coolpoints for history. But it's got the purples and blacks and pinks and greens and crotch figure... One slab already became a coffee table, and another probably will as well... but at least one is on its way to becoming a guitar- MAYBE for next year's GGBO.
Sounds pretty cool
From what I know once the guitar is plugged in and running through an amp you can throw your expensive tone woods out the window as they apply predominantly to acoustic instruments. Poplar happens to be a great wood to make a guitar out of as well as basswood that is also not too expensive.
We love poplar, if it wasn't green people would use it all the time
You're very correct
@stratisfied of course that is not correct. The wood affects the quality of the string vibration (resonance) and the vibration is picked up by the circuitry. Better woods can result in better note sustain, better evenness of frequency response. It is the tone woods that provide frequency feedback to the strings, giving that guitar its quality of tone. Sure you can get a tone out of the back of an old wardrobe, but it will sound exactly like that.
Dude you can make a guitar out of petrified turds and will sound good. Tone woods apply to acoustic instruments. Once you plug in its almost all the same and the wood means very little. Carbon fiber guitars sound and resonate well as do epoxy and other materials that are not wood that are used for a guitar. Theres a video of a guy making a guitar out of concrete and sounds like a normal guitar.
@@Stratisfied22 Hilarious. You don't know what you're talking about. I just watched the concrete video, and it sounds like a cheap electric guitar. Big deal. It's also a processed sound. Tell the ghost of James Jamerson whether his 52 p bass sounds as good as a concrete bass.
It colours like popla...never mind, ha, ha, ha!! I used to work in a sawmill, my ex uncle in law was a finish carpenter an used that for the trim in his house, lots of purples greens blue, beautiful. it is fast growing too, I used to cut my own wood from private property and if you search the forest there is plenty of it, again fast-growing stuff and there are many kinds of it.
Thanks for watching my friend, we love polar and use it for many things. Of course, we still use the more common guitar woods too.
@@TexasToastGuitars good video had me kinda confuzzled, ha, ha, ha! love what you all are doing down there!
I've used this on 2 builds already and also bought my blanks from my local Paxton! Love it! Cheap! The grain and coloration are amazing!
It is pretty neat stuff Jon, glad you are enjoying it too
LOL, you had me for awhile! And yes, I been using poplar, basswood and pine for my beginner bodies so I don't break the bank learning and making those occasional mistake(s)!
I was a furniture maker, and we used to get Poplar that was almost all black , not as dense colour wise as ebony but close ,
All Poplar does look like that when it is Tulip. That's what it is. We've all heard of Poplar and use it. It is related to and quite similar to American Basswood. Almost all Carvins made for 15 years were yellow poplar. For one reason, it comes off the cnc smooth as Basswood and Poplar are noted as carving woods. Might be the only complaint with it is that it doesn't always hold a bridge stud on a floating Floyd that gets pulled sharp often. $4 per board foot is an outrage tho. You can get kiln dried direct from mills for $1.75 in 8/4
OUTRAGUS!
I guess in Colorado they have to import it?
we used to use it a lot, easy to work with with , lightweight etc.. a bit boring to look at but easier than ash to work with and great bright sound...only on bodies tho?.. new shop looks g8
Thanks for watching my friend we are loving the new space
I get a lot of pallets made of poplar from one of our vendors at work. I’ve used it to make some furniture. Sometimes it will be streaky brown, or purple. The purple in it will usually turn brown over time. It’s a great wood.
I think my classic vibe Jaguar is made of poplar and it sounds great.
In the 90’s when I bought my first Mexican strat I think it was also made from poplar
I think a good follow up to the Les Ply would be an MDFocaster covered in an inject figured male top. Lol
This is pretty relevant with current fires. I dread the impacts on the cost and availability of wood. Its already up considerably since you made the video and now ridiculous acreage burning. When it’s contained, a harvest of salvage will be on a major scale, but we are talking decades to replenish the timber. It’s pretty fucked.
I don't see that happening :)
a lot of guitar companies used poplar in the 80s an early 90s was pretty common not as much anymore i guess u will see a few here an there on namm videos but u use to see it a lot more.. i have peavey usa falcons made with poplar body flame maple tops. they have some nice wood grain, an yes they sprayed a lot of solid colors as well that prob didn't look as good but didn't hurt the sound or playing of the guitar and u don't no what it looks like anyway with solid colors. there isn't anything wrong with poplar in my opinion. thanks for vids love the new shop congratulations excited for ya's
Thanks for watching my friend, we use poplar for a lot of stuff, it is a great student wood too
Had a 80s Peavey Nitro that had a Poplar body, sounded so good.
Poplar is a highly underrated guitar wood
poplar is a great but every poplar body i've had weighed a ton. What is your opinion of Okoume?
I'm not really familiar
@@TexasToastGuitars Okoume is becoming popular. Suhr uses it on their single cut and Fender has some Okoume models. However, it can also be found on some Asian imports so I'm assuming it's inexpensive compared to mahogany. Seeing it more and more
Poplar makes a great neck too! Try it. Has a nice vocal quality.
The Dan Electro guitars originally had poplar necks. I might use that hunk for a neck one day
Looks like Kevin’s douchiness was a blessing in disguise - cool looking new shop, enjoy
Thanks for watching my friend, Kevin is still a miserable little man and I almost feel sorry for him... almost hahahaha
Squier Classic vibe the 70s Model Is Made the body of Poplar .
I like poplar
...357 Magnum shirt, use of the phrase, "Second Cool"....this dude is a Nut'n Fancy watcher!
I've used poplar for cigar box guitar necks and it works great! New shop looks nice. Congratulations!👍😎🎸🎶
Thanks for watching my friend
@@TexasToastGuitars yep!☺
I came across a black Leary tree when I was out hunting snipe...lol
HAHAHA nice
Congratulations on the new shop! My first few guitars were made from poplar. They played and sounded great. “Tone Wood” is a marketing ploy. Music Man uses basswood in their painted bodies. Keep it up guys!
Thanks for watching my friend, I love to hear people talk about tone woods. If they can hear it I'm happy to charge them for it. We call it second cool, it certainly doesn't offer any first cool in terms of capability
Troool haha.
Very purple heart looking there,
Poplar is deffinatley a cheap wood same as soft pine.
I just get aggravated when big companies use it with veneers and charge over £1000...
Great point!
We did our 1810 guitars with it
That's cool man
So I am confused, because back in the day when I worked at a lumberyard, poplar was considered to be a soft wood like spruce, pine, and Douglas fir. The term 'hardwood' was reserved for maple, birch, ash, alder, oak, and mahogany. Is the nomenclature different in the guitar building world?
Guitar building wood is the same as all other wood in terms of how it is sold. Hardwood is sold by volume in random widths and lengths. Now, you can find stuff sold in other ways but for the most part lumber sellers don't exactly care about what the wood will be used for. Guitar parts suppliers claim to and, who knows, maybe they do hahaha
@@TexasToastGuitars - so is red and white oak considered too brittle for building guitars? I am unwware of any in existence by known guitar manufacturers.
Wood like that is generally called "rainbow poplar" or "green poplar". The coloration isn't rare it's mineral dependent. Sawmills tend to use just the standard yellow wood as uniform color is more popular (pun intended) for use. The greenish and browns in the wood are generally considered flaws. However if one wished for the colors to be present they could by making sure the soil had the appropriate minerals.
I think it's pretty neat
I got here lookin for pecan wood for a guitar body
Beats me man
@@TexasToastGuitars i cant find a double cut melodymaker body so Im gonna trace my lpjr and fold the pattern over and cut that out itll be close enough to im tryin.
I have fingerboard blanks made from French Lilac. My first bolt neck guitar body was laminated poplar mostly because at the time I could not find alder. My second bolt neck body was butternut. That one had really nice tone.
I haven't worked with butternut in a while but I remember really liking it
I know poplar like this as "Tulip Poplar." I commonly use it for soundboards on my kantele (harp from Finland) because the colors.
Is it the same as tulipwood ? The first hardwood i ever worked with was tulipwood and i remember it smelled so good and was easy to work with, gorgeous grain and my local woodstore is full of it !
@@tchiksguitars tough to say because it is also called tulipwood in some parts of the US, but there is also a real tulipwood from AUS (I think) that is different.
What cartridges are on that shirt?
It is supposed to be 357 Magnum and 9mm Luger
@@TexasToastGuitars cool. I've got a Blackhawk Convertible with both cylinders.
I was thinking maybe 460 s&W/454 casull/45LC. The .460 is really a rifle cartridge. I think even Jeff Cooper would have agreed with that.
WOW Matt …. Love the look of the new shop ….. Congratulations man !!!!
Thanks my friend, BTW I got your package this afternoon looking forward to chilling it down and tossing one back. Thanks for your support
@@TexasToastGuitars …. awesome … hope you enjoy them !!!
I love my poplar Strat & my Blueshawk. I have a couple more guitars but those two are my favorites. They just sound awesome.
HA! I knew it was rainbow poplar the second you picked it up! Dr. Leary would be pleased tho ;) The coloration comes from mineral contamination in the soil - in NE Ohio it's an extremely common wood, so it's really cheap (like $1.50 / BF). I don't have any pics but it's not uncommon to find it in "full guitar face width" - so I've got some great pieces that are 14" wide, with colors from yellow to green to purple. Clear poplar is nice wood! It's just a bit soft for "real guitars" - but def a good source for making cheapies, jigs, etc....
It's great to see you guys wasting no time getting into the new shop. I hope that financially it doesn't put a strain in you for long. Kevin is a dick for sure, but sometimes a kick in the ass is good for moving forward, so who knows, hopefully in the long haul the actually did you a favor by launching Texas Toast into their next growth phase.
Continued success to you my dudes.
Thanks Don, Sed it to me and I'll make real guitars with it all day baby!
Kevin is a dick but we are moving past his bullshit.
That was an awesome reply regarding the wood. I loved it. If you can get it that cheap I'll send a truck out soon.
Actually my little brother lives in Ohio he can drive it back here. I'm in Wisconsin, and it going to be getting cold any minute now.
We have a lot of Pine trees as well as Oak trees too. Lol, not quite the same.
Thank again for the laugh.
just add a u in the middle and it may take off in , well, ubiquitousness.
We will see
My next project when it warms up is a body out of cypress pine. Awesome looking timber but it has a tendency to crack so not too sure how it's going to go. It's been sitting around in the shed way too long. I've also got a thick piece of western red cedar, but just haven't worked out what I'll do with it as it's pretty soft
Sounds cool to me Peter
Poplar will darken when it sits in the sun. I had some for guitars and it sat in the sun and darkened up to a beautiful golden brown. UV lights would probably do the same thing.
Totally
Ive always thought poplar would make an awesome body or neck! Its really lightweight and affordable, not to mention it stains/dyes easy.
I noticed Poplar sounds just like alder wood in certain cases and tone also sounds good and similar under the conditions of being cracked or cut into two separate pieces of wood making up parts of a whole guitar.i get a the jaco sound from a black leary poplar body jazz bass I dropped 1 time.
At first, I thought, "Okay, there is a wood out there I've never heard of called Black Leary." But as you kept talking, I kept looking at the wood thinking, "that streaking in the wood looks a lot like poplar." Then you said it was poplar. The first electric guitar I ever rebuilt was a Fender Duo Sonic and it had a poplar body. Nothing wrong with poplar at all.
Poplar's scientific name is Liriodendron tulipifera so we made up Black Liri. We figured if Gibson could do it with white limba, calling it Korina we could too
@@TexasToastGuitars Makes perfect sense. Tulip Poplars are very common here in Kentucky/Indiana.
Hands up Brotherman "You got me!" and I've been on this planet a lot longer than you and I work on the theory the "Every days a school day! and I thought I was about to learn something new 😂 😉. Love the new shop Matt!
Thanks for watching my friend we thought that if Gibson could make up a name for a wood we could too
Yes I thought it was an excotic hard wood. Just poplar. great. The joke is I have bought a MIM stratocaster in the early 90's and this beast served me since then. He survived bars, beer, sweat and rockandroll. We both are retired now but I still play this old lady. Just ordinary great "tonewood" (if tonewood excist. lol)
You got me...lol
I love your PRS imitation. I saw you do once before and it had to do with the same and that's why I like it so much.
I don't put much stock in the wood makes the sound. I maybe believe the difference in how dense a piece of wood is affects the tone to a point but that's it
To me the wood choices people make has everything to do with how the guitar looks or will look and that's about it.
Thank you,
Jeff
Thanks for watching Jeff
I am looking at that "black leary" and thinking that "black leary" looks a lot like poplar. I made a strum stick with a poplar neck and sassafras fretboard. it is pretty cool.
Be Well
DZ
No flys on you Dn
Poplar is a good wood, but years ago everybody was bitching about it being total shit!
I don't listen to those people
"If Mrs. Texas Toast is watching i didn't spend much" (knock on wood . . .)
For old country tones nothing and I mean NOTHING beats a Poplar body tele, with GFS Retrotron Liverpool HB pickups!
Almost started writing down the name😂😂😂! Glad you’re in a great mood with all that work.
I won't bullshit you for too long John hahaha
We are loving the new space and are exhausted every night but looking forward to the next day
Absolutely correct! Jackson Guitars used poplar for all their paint grade guitars when i worked there in the mid 80's. Fender used it in their lower grade guitars Poor man's alder!
I love poplar, we use it for fabric tops unless someone specs something more expensive
@@TexasToastGuitars , I bet the Titebond sticks best to that poplar! Maple has issues with the "laminating" not sticking over the whole surface, sometimes. That is why the CH manufacturers don't use Maple to laminate spalted, curly and quilted top laminate to (but think they can call it Maple, because it's mostly "white" wood).
Jackson makes great guitars! One of very favorite guitar companies! The USA customs are so danm nice!!! I'd like to own a Jackson nebula someday :)
You must have work with mike shannon during that period..?
@@aandc2005 I did. I was head of warranty repair. When I'd get burned out from too much phone I'd go to the wood shop and beg him to put me to work. He was happy to have me in there. I loved all the guys that worked there. Grover was the problem.
Congratulations on the new shop. I hope it really helps you take Texas Toast to another level.
Thanks for watching my friend we are really enjoying the new space. Can't wait to move in my beloved pin router
Serious question-isn’t poplar on the softer side of hardwoods? I can’t imagine a guitar neck coming from that.
For My very first neck build I used a nice looking piece of poplar from Home Depot. It has all those colors and it looks cool and is so nice to work on. So far no twisting of anything crazy.
You are I good company my friend. The Dan Electros all had poplar necks too
That's poplar. Lived in Hickory NC for 10 years in the 80s-90s and worked at a bunch furniture factories and saw 100s of pallets of 5/4 poplar.
That stuff can be really freaky
Can't fool you
@@TexasToastGuitars It has been tried.
It smells a certain way when its cut and the dust is certain too.
I like the way zebra wood smells
It's still used by lots of companies for their bodies. Typically on the lower priced models, but none the less: There are a lot of fender around with a poplar body.
Thanks for watching my friend I know Gibson used poplar on the Blueshawk and I hear that Jackson used poplar for guitars for a long time too
Yeah he got me.
Cool lookin' shop. Tim Sway did a tone test on several different types of woods recently. And, we both think poplar won.
Black Leary? Wasn't he a pirate or somethin'?
Yes! We figured that if Gibson could call White Limba "Korina" we could make up our own name too hahaha
My sons and I built three Tele Deluxes out of Poplar...great bang for the buck!!
You got that right Darren, thanks for watching my friend
Some say EVH's 5150 guitar was made of Poplar.
I love poplar, it is a great wood
You're almost at 24k
I should probably buy some hardwood and learn how to work with it instead of jer... Pleasuring myself with laminates and exotics.
Thanks for this advice!
Thanks for watching Artur. The channel continues to grow and it's really exciting
Poplar is awesome guitar wood, I’ve used it many times
We love poplar and use it for fabric tops all the time... unless someone specs something different
It more wood looked like that, it would be really poplar.
I think so too
@@TexasToastGuitars Bro, I just dropped a really sick dad joke on you. "Really POPLAR"
@@patricklennox9572 Oh I got it :)
The best sounding electric guitar I've ever heard had a Tele body made of Poplar, with a neck and fingerboard both made of Maple. I think the neck/fingerboard might have been a single piece of wood. Beautiful balanced tone, clear sounding, and sustain for days. That may be the perfect combination of woods.
I really like poplar, it is an underrated lumber
I've worked with a virtual shit ton of poplar in my day, so I could tell....it is a pretty cool chunk tho. What moisture level are you aiming for in your guitar woods? Here in the humid south, I have a feeling that it's something that I'm going to have to pay close attention to.
We do not have a moisture meter, it is REALLY dry here in Colorado,
In a strange way the jerk who caused you headaches led you to a cool new spot. Best of luck with the new shop. Love the videos.
Thanks Brian, the world is full of jerks... Once you have something cool you have to fight to keep it.
Congrats on the new shop 👍
Thanks Todd
Gonna make a poplar Tele-ish, looking forward to working with poplar. But I'm up in the air about what neck and fretboard wood to use. I'd like a bit of a thicker tone, maybe more LP-ish. So mahogany and rosewood seem to make the most sense....if tonewoods are a thing lol
I love mahogany, it is a great wood to work with, give it a shot
Love the shop, brotendo!
Thanks Scott, we love it here
Usually poplar is light and soft wood. This piece looks and sounds more like a piece of walnut and it might be about as dense. Never seen such kind of poplar so far.
Thanks for video! Poplar is really great to work with, but I have never seen it colored this way. Maybe here in Europe it's even more difficult to find green like-yours-one. I wanna make an LP style guitar and I'm thinking to use poplar, but my friend says it a bad idea to use in instead on mahogany =D
Poplar won't let you down but Mahogany would be my choice too
@@TexasToastGuitars Thanks for anwer! Mahogany is great wood, but I'd like to use local wood. Let it be my whim =)
I’ve been making electric and pedal steel guitars for years and many had poplar in them (not the steels). I would glue a figured piece of wood on top. They all sounded great! I even made one out of 2x4s. Keep up the great work. Cool shop!
Thanks for watching my friend, glad you are enjoying the videos
This is rare *Swirld Zebralung* poplar 😆
Btw. I got foold ! Was paying more attention to the new shop...haha.
The color will change with time to more brownish.
This floor needs a great snack corner somewhere in the shop.
I'm so happy for you with the new place. Special thanks to K****n who made this happen.
As one of the "Old Times Subscribers" i'm also very happy you're going for the 10k 😀
Thanks for watching my friend Chris is already planning a space for treats and a coffee robot.
Kevin will always be a miserable man. I almost feel sorry for him... almost. What a knob hahaha
i have fender and sier, and cort short scale made popular wood.verry similar tone
Congrats on the new shop matt👍🎸
Thanks my friend, we are loving it
U got me at the start lol I have no idea outside maple and rosewood
Thanks Vincent
Knew, what it was, trees that have that color have some sort of issue going on with the heart wood, love poplar it's great but tulip poplar doesn't have the best shock resistance....
Congrats on the new shop bro! Hey, You got me with that nice piece of Black Leary... Lol, 😂😂😂 That is a nice piece of pop, it PoPs!!
Thanks my friend, Black Liri makes me laugh
To a prosperous new year sir. Thank you for the information. I just won a bid on a star guitar body.
Aaaaall we are saaaayiiiiiing, is give poplar a chaaance!
Well, I wouldn't say it like that but... yes
Matt, you gotta make us a video of movin that pin router!
I'll see if I can get Mrs Texas Toast to work the camera
@@TexasToastGuitars Better yet: you work the camera.. she moves the router!
@@neckjig1 Why am I laughing so hard at this?
Hi Matt, im new to your channel, awesome work your doin man. I was wondering how much of that dark poplar you would be interested in? We got a woods full of it. And some rock maple too. A good variety of hardwoods actually. I really enjoy the educational videos so far. Keep up the good work! Have a good day! Maybe I can send you some good finds this winter for maybe a custom build. If you have plenty of storage, we can cut just about any size ya want and maybe ship an order or two.
We use poplar regularly but I don't keep much of it on hand. We don't have a ton of space for woods that aren't mahogany, maple or rosewood
I
We could open a reto diner hahaha