'Thermally modified' woods

[Soledad 326]

Hi, any buiders using or investigating the relatively new thermally modified hardwoods at all? I'm no luthier but build furniture and through that have come across TM (or heat treated) ash, maple and poplar - TM maple being used now by Veritas on their premium chisels for example. I've just collected a load of TM poplar (tulipwood) for a couple of things (some cabinet doors and a table top). I'm interested because the TM maple and ash could be interesting body woods (though might be over-bright) and colours are quite something. here's a pic of the Veritas chisel just for info- I doubt the poplar would be useful for instruments, but it comes out close to euro walnut and is consistent through a 2" board. Interesting stuff anyway. (I'll get some pics of the poplar once it's sized / planed).

[Passinwind 120]

My friend Marco Cortes (Marco Bass Guitars) has been messing around with torrefied wood for a few years in his bass builds. Here's a roasted ash neck on one of his Fender-ish models:

 

 

 

I had that bass here for a few weeks for a preamp install, it sounds and feels quite fab.

Edited February 18 by Passinwind

[itu 414]

Juha https://ruokangas.com/ uses thermo treated woods. He has several videos, here's just one:

 

[converse320 85]

1 hour ago, Passinwind said:

My friend Marco Cortes (Marco Bass Guitars) has been messing around with torrefied wood for a few years in his bass builds. Here's a roasted ash neck on one of his Fender-ish models:

 

 

 

I had that bass here for a few weeks for a preamp install, it sounds and feels quite fab.

Well we need to start using local timbers, and that neck looks great.    Wincing at the sight of that bass facedown on the concrete though.

[franzbassist 370]

Franz bass guitars in Germany use a lot of thermo-threated, locally-sourced woods.  The treatment makes for wonderfully light, resonant instruments!

Both my Franz 5s have thermo ash necks with walnut stringers.

This is the fretless

And this is the fretted, which also has a thermo ash body.

And the fretless also has a thermo maple top.

 

[Bass Culture 49]

Question from an ignoramus here - are 'torrefied', 'roasted' and 'thermally modified' all one and the same thing?

[Jabba_the_gut 894]

4 hours ago, Soledad said:

Hi, any buiders using or investigating the relatively new thermally modified hardwoods at all? I'm no luthier but build furniture and through that have come across TM (or heat treated) ash, maple and poplar - TM maple being used now by Veritas on their premium chisels for example. I've just collected a load of TM poplar (tulipwood) for a couple of things (some cabinet doors and a table top). I'm interested because the TM maple and ash could be interesting body woods (though might be over-bright) and colours are quite something. here's a pic of the Veritas chisel just for info- I doubt the poplar would be useful for instruments, but it comes out close to euro walnut and is consistent through a 2" board. Interesting stuff anyway. (I'll get some pics of the poplar once it's sized / planed).

This looks quite interesting - be interested to see the pictures of the planet wood. I recently ordered some modified wood that is supposed to look and work like ebony. I'll post on here when it arrives. Cheers

[Soledad 326]

4 hours ago, Bass Culture said:

Question from an ignoramus here - are 'torrefied', 'roasted' and 'thermally modified' all one and the same thing?

I'd say yes, pretty much. Most of the woods and processes I have come across seem to emanate from the U.S. (not all, most) and they tend to talk about 'heat-treated' or 'thermally modified' - the latter if you are a lumber merchant as it helps justify the high prices

Jabba - i will do some pics of the poplar I have - colour is quite a shock if you are familiar with unprocessed poplar (or tulipwood).

Pleased I asked this - some very fine examples of applications here. Could be some really nice alternatives to bubinga to be had. I don't like bubinga - it stinks when you work it (like zebrano) - it's the wood's way of telling you it was happier where it was, in the forest. And it appears several species are protected now anyway.

5 hours ago, franzbassist said:

Franz bass guitars in Germany

Very nice indeed - the ash takes on a very attractive honey tone - love both of those. The ash neck on the Marco is very distinctive, not the application I was expecting!

[Passinwind 120]

7 hours ago, converse320 said:

Well we need to start using local timbers, and that neck looks great.    Wincing at the sight of that bass facedown on the concrete though.

Marco takes a lot of flak for how he does those promo pics. He has little foam pads that he cut out specifically for that purpose, the basses are not scratched up from it at all. But yeah, it still makes me wince too, even though I've seen how the sausage is made!

[Passinwind 120]

6 hours ago, Bass Culture said:

Question from an ignoramus here - are 'torrefied', 'roasted' and 'thermally modified' all one and the same thing?

Ad-speak mostly, as someone else already inferred. Throw in "pyrolyzed" or "pyrolized" as well.

[Passinwind 120]

9 hours ago, Soledad said:

Pleased I asked this - some very fine examples of applications here. Could be some really nice alternatives to bubinga to be had. I don't like bubinga - it stinks when you work it (like zebrano) - it's the wood's way of telling you it was happier where it was, in the forest. And it appears several species are protected now anyway.

 

My friend Marco also uses dyed and stabilized wood quite a bit. One of my Marco Basses has a spalted maple fingerboard that looks a lot like ebony, for instance. That might just drive CITES inspectors mad, is that a plus or a minus?