Best woods for damp maritime environment and large temperature changes?

[Cadmus]

What woods or combinations of woods + finishes will most stand up to HUGE temperature ranges and the moisture common in maritime environments at high and low latitude? 

I built many acoustics in my younger undergrad years. I would never put one on a sailboat for long.
For the several years I have been restoring a heavy displacement ocean going sailboat, almost done. I intend to keep a guitar on the boat for my sanity and to keep me awake on a watch. Never really jamming with anyone so no need for a full sized acoustic. I have never found a travel guitar that i liked. I am leaning towards building a small bodied electric, that will fit in a small hold, based around a Warmoth superwide neck.
A stored boat is stuffy.
All boats are wet.
Alaska is soggy and Freezing.
Mexico can be super hot and be really dry or really wet (a closed up boat in the hard in Sonora can get hot enough to melt a PVC dingy).
Mold... yep, a constant battle.

In your opinion, what woods are resilient in these settings?  What should be avoided?

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Before posting I searched this website for these keywords: Maritime, moist environment, dank, wet, temperature extremes, temperature fluctuations, humidity, hot, marine, sailboat, mold, pirate, naval, storage,  etc.

 

[ValeBliz]

Hard to tell on something challenging like a boat, but usually baked woods are very stable. I would choose something like roasted maple WITH a finish put on.

 

[TBurst Std]

I’d go with an acoustic made of composite such as an Emerald or (forgot the other names)

 

[TBurst Std]

Others, KLOS, Rainsong, Compsote Acoustics

 

[TBurst Std]

Another, Enya

 

[Cadmus]

  "I’d go with an acoustic made of composite such as.... "

Thanks for the list
If you know which of those carbon fiber brands had models with a nut width of 1 7/8" or 2" I am all ears.
I will surely consider these all. For sure. 

Indeed, a carbon fiber acoustic IS ideal. I would love that!!! But I would need to wait for a used one to popup. I wish not to have an expensive guitar, or an expensive anything, stored in this boat given where I may be traveling.
More importantly, the cabinetry produces rather small holds.  Many.  But all small. A stienberger would fit in most any of them. A parlor guitar in a gunny sack will not. So, most full sized composite guitars will get in the way.

Journey Instruments Carbon Fiber Collapsible has potential. The neck comes off. I have lusted for one since it was released but the neck is too narrow at 1 3/4".  Too expensive for a fish biologist's salary.  [EDIT: Nut is  1 7/8" on only the nylon version.  Steel string is 1 3/4"... i hate nylon]  Klos also is carbon and neck comes off but it is even more narrow. 

But if the goal is simply to record ideas and entertain only myself on a long overnight watch, a small electric is fine.

 

[Cadmus]

Hard to tell on something challenging like a boat, but usually baked woods are very stable. I would choose something like roasted maple WITH a finish put on.

By this should i assume you vote for roasted maple fretboard also? 

 

[Sadie-f]

How about a Martin Backpacker?

There's a variety of carbon fiber electric guitars out there also.

 

[Rick]

The sky will not fall.  I’ve taken and played a mahogany solid bodied guitar and an ovation celebrity to some of the most wet places on earth and to the driest. Never had a problem. Taken them across oceans.  My advice buy or build a solid body to your liking and see what happens.  Don’t think too hard.  You want recommendations?  Mahogany body with a clear warmoth applied finish.  Mahogany neck clear warmoth finish gloss, rosewood fretboard.  Go for it and enjoy your boat.

 

[ValeBliz]

I’d go with an acoustic made of composite such as an Emerald or (forgot the other names)

For an acoustic, 100% this. Lots of great sounding ones in carbon fiber.

Hard to tell on something challenging like a boat, but usually baked woods are very stable. I would choose something like roasted maple WITH a finish put on.

By this should i assume you vote for roasted maple fretboard also?

Yes, all roasted maple with a finish in both the fretboard and the neck is likely your safest bet.

 

[stratamania]

I think I would lean more towards a Warmoth neck Pau Ferro in modern construction (pau ferro or ebony fretboard). If it is a solid body perhaps a mahogany variant with a good finish on it.

 

[Cadmus]

Do you know how broke you all are making me???  ....getting this carbon fiber thing in my head?!?!?! 

As I listed reasons why carbon fiber acoustics would not fit on the boat and would not offer a 1 7/8" neck, i remembered that the Klos guitars use a bolt-on neck like an electric.  And I am on this website because Warmoth makes wide electric necks.  I have no excuse but to try.
 
Then the few dollars in my piggy bank spontaneously combusted as i slid down the slippery slope in that direction. 
The Klos heel pocket is too narrow for a tele-strat heel, so i will need to narrow a warmoth neck.  The scale is not compatible (Klos=24.75 but body edge is at fret 14, end of pocket maybe 18?) so I will need to move the bridge 1.4 to 2" to accommodate a tele-strat style neck.  Not that one can just move a bridge that is epoxied in place (belt sander).  Soundboard bracing will be in the wrong spot also, bummer. 
Fun challenge.  Really ri$ky. 
I hope it works. 
Thanks for the  :sign13: and encouragement. 

 

[Rick]

Just go for it, don't fret.

 

[DaveT]

What about using Teak?
They used it to build boats, for the decking etc so it ought to stand up to just about anything you and your boat will meet.
Make a wide-neck Steinberger then buy a nice small battery amp that you can replace easily when the salt and damp get too much for it.

Have  a look at the guitars Seasick Steve uses. Made of all sorts of bits and pieces...

 

[Cadmus]

Thanks DaveT!! (you posted Feb 8? where did that month go? sorry for the delay)
Well.... the guitar would match the boat if i did.  The boat is covered with teak. Part of the reason i fell in love with her.  It has been a long multiyear chore to recondition and refinish all that teak. (she IS looking really classy and salty and that makes it easier to keep at this project).
I suspect it would be a terrible fretboard just based on how it degrades when tools or chains are scratched across (90 deg) the grain.  Teak is very seaworthy because of the caustic oils in the wood. When saturated or tried too quickly, it will not crack at the ends like so many woods. impact resistant also. My bowsprit and rudder cheeks and other load bearing woods are mahogany or are teak and mahogany laminated together (each layer of 1").  My guess is teak is rot resistant but fails to stay straight over the years. 

Maybe it was the years of sanding (fine dust) developed into an allergy. I now find the oils in teak to be irritating.    Unless finished in thick poly, i think it would irritate a hand if one made a neck out of it. On other boats teak decks and teak finish felt SO luxurious. So maybe it is just rough teak that is irritating. 

But yes, for marine use, teak is best. Lasts a long time even unfinished.  Not an option Warmoth offers. Many say the dust is a health hazard, so good reason for Warmoth to avoid it. 

I have never in my years found guitar necks (or any instruments) of teak.  Have others? 

On a side note, Teak is hard to source sustainably.  If others have alternative marine wood ideas I would love to hear them.  Not the goal of this website, but you all have diverse knowledge of woods.  I always wondered if mesquite or  osage would be good marine wood to replace teak.  For me, guitars and boats BOTH inspire a sense of guilt as it relates to sustainable harvest of wood.

 

[Rick]

I've only seen teak used as an inlay when it comes to gits, so there must be a reason.
Teak is indeed a luxurious wood.  I made an end table out it,  matched it with one out of mahogany, back in the day when I could use my Dad's workshop. 

 

[Cadmus]

I might be wrong.  online, I am seeing teak praised as making good nunchucks. 
Not unlike a guitar neck (i assume).


[EDIT: although they DO make nice nunchuckus out of it, this was intended to be a joke as nunchucks are nothing like a guitar ]

 

[DaveT]

OK then.
Steinberger made of marine ply!
A cheap Chrome plated Dobro type thing?
A cheap fibreglass bowl-back Ovation type thing?

 

[DaveT]

For the fretboard use Richlite.
I have an aluminium neck Kramer bass that uses Richlite or something very similar. It has been fine for the last 45 years.

 

[Sadie-f]

The main reason teak is favored over other woods in marine use, is it's surface makes for good traction, and sure, it's ok being actively wet partly because of it's high oil content.

However, I don't think that's super desirable in a guitar. For simply minimizing expansion / contraction due to humidity, it's not materially better than mahogany. Since that's a standard of guitar construction anyway, why not use it?

If you want an acoustic, perhaps the Martin backpacker?