Has anybody seen anything like this before?

[crash]

Solid spalted maple body?!?!?  Over on Ebay.  I would think that, being spalted maple, and having "rotten" streaks would compromise the integrity of the body.  I would almost expect it to fall apart.  Looks cool though.

 

[dmraco]

I would stay away.  Your initial impression is correct.  I just used a 1/4 inch cap of spalt on a build and the stuff is soft.  I used and epoxy to stabilize the wood but it only can go so deep.  The mounts for the Floyd and neck take a fair amount of stress and I doubt would hold.  It is very cool looking but not too practicle.

 

[Scuffcakes]

I wonder if you covered every exposed inch  of wood with CA if it would help stabilize the wood?  Then just go over it with a whole bunch of clear catalyzed urethane for a finish that should survive just about anything up to and including light nuclear warfare.

 

[line6man]

I believe I have seen a spalted Maple Strat body on eBay from one of the lower-quality sellers. I would also stay away. Spalted Maple is simply too soft to be worth making a body out of. It makes a nice laminate top, but that's as far as I would go.

 

[line6man]

I wonder if you covered every exposed inch  of wood with CA if it would help stabilize the wood?  Then just go over it with a whole bunch of clear catalyzed urethane for a finish that should survive just about anything up to and including light nuclear warfare.

You can stabilize/acrylize spalted Maple, but I'm not sure about pieces that large. When stabilized, the wood basically becomes a heavy piece of acrylic.

 

[dmraco]

I wonder if you covered every exposed inch  of wood with CA if it would help stabilize the wood?  Then just go over it with a whole bunch of clear catalyzed urethane for a finish that should survive just about anything up to and including light nuclear warfare.

I used epoxy on my lam top, but it only provides a coating.  Go too deep and the wood is still soft.

 

[swarfrat]

I know body contribution is debated, but in addition to steuctural integrity, its liable to be an acoustic  sponge. Whether you feel bodies should be resonant and thunky or rigid  and not rob energy from the string (basically the two opposing views) what it should not do is absorb/dampen all vibration.

If you want to soak it in thinned  isocyanate, you might as well get a wood grain veneer and put it on a Dan Armstrong.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

For all the reasons it wouldn't be smart to have an entire body made of it, is it any softer than an all basswood body?

 

[dmraco]

For all the reasons it wouldn't be smart to have an entire body made of it, is it any softer than an all basswood body?

Each piece can vary.  It is not only softer, but can be very brittle in places in places of rot.  Remember, the spalted areas are actually rotten wood, caused by fungus I believe.  Have you ever come across a dead piece of wood on the ground that just disintegrates when stepped on....its like that.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Wow!  I knew the stuff was soft, but dang!  Why would anyone want to make anything out of it?  I'd adopt the Nigel Tufnel approach of, "don't touch it, don't even look at it."

 

[Cagey]

Wow!  I knew the stuff was soft, but dang!  Why would anyone want to make anything out of it?

Because it's attractive, in a natural sort of way. But, nobody makes entire pieces out of it. It's too friable. It's generally only used for tops, if you can get a slice off in one piece. Making a whole body like that one, you'd never know when a whole horn might get knocked off or the body split in some weird place from an inadvertent bump. That's assuming it could take the stress of machining and assembly in the first place.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Anything thicker than a drop top lam, I'd stay away from, just a corkboard on a guitar face if anything thicker.

 

[crash]

I had no intention of buying it.  I sometimes like to put items like that on my watch list just to see what they go for. 

It looks like nobody bought it.