Esquire-esque

[fender3x]

I have never seen Southern Silky Oak. Not something we get here. (By contrast, I am from the US's Pacific Northwest where Douglas Fir is the most common wood you can find.) From what I read, SSO sounds like a great wood for guitar building. Hard, good looking, and not too heavy. Should actually be pretty comparable to DF in weight. The wood database says it's native to Australia and expensive in the US. How's its availability and price in Australia? Given what I read, I am surprised I haven't seen folks use it in scratch builds.

[EsquireEsque]

I have never seen Southern Silky Oak. Not something we get here. (By contrast, I am from the US's Pacific Northwest where Douglas Fir is the most common wood you can find.) From what I read, SSO sounds like a great wood for guitar building. Hard, good looking, and not too heavy. Should actually be pretty comparable to DF in weight. The wood database says it's native to Australia and expensive in the US. How's its availability and price in Australia? Given what I read, I am surprised I haven't seen folks use it in scratch builds.

It's not a widely used wood these days - Northern Silky Oak was once used in furniture manufacturing and I believe also in indoor construction many years ago... It's not "rare" but mostly available in the Eastern States from what I understand.

It's used a bit in Acoustic instruments - apparently it's a fantastic "tone wood" (most Australian hardwoods are, but are extremely heavy) but the vast majority of Australian guitars are made overseas - and there's not much SSO in China!
You can buy blanks of it - but it's much more expensive than a blank from China.

I had some a little while ago which I now wish I'd kept for making a guitar.... although as a result I'm using something else to do my "practice" on.