What kind of wood ?

[Ron Wendler]

I'm going to build a 10 string PSG and wondered what wood is commonly used for a sturdy build? I would imagine it would be a factor in how the guitar would hold tune. Along with good tuning machines and the like.

[Per Berner]

Well, there must be a good reason why 99% of pedal steels are made from hard maple... Very strong, very stable, good looking and easy to finish (non-porous, so no filler needed).

[Tim Toberer]

I think stability is the most important factor. Some other woods to consider which may be harder to find Mesquite, Black Locust, Cherry, Ash, Mahogany or Walnut.

Good luck with your project, did you find a set of plans? There used to be a set from a guy who has posted here before, but I couldn't find his website anymore. They are called Redneck Steel Guitars.

[John Hyland]

Good luck with your project, did you find a set of plans? There used to be a set from a guy who has posted here before, but I couldn't find his website anymore. They are called Redneck Steel Guitars.

https://www.facebook.com/lavernwluehrs Is the Redneck Facebook site otherwise I know nothing about the guitars.

[Ron Wendler]

Thank you for the input. I did contact Tom Bradshaw and ordered a printer fretboard from him. I do have the Redneck PSG plans and found another on Youtube. I would have loved to build one out of black walnut but my source has dried up. There's a lot of trees around this area but few sawmills. I may just get some maple at Home depot. I started a build some time ago and used poplar from Home depot. It seemed to make a good build. I haven't gotten back to that build as I want to build a 10 string. I'm drawing out the pattern but at a dilemma on size. How wide ???? I like the size of a Sho-bud with the arm rest but haven't found measurements.

[Ricky Davis]

Australian Silky Oak is the S-10
Hawaiian KOA is the D-8
I've played 100 steels with all different kinds of wood...and these two are the best sounding
I've ever heard/played, in every way.
Ricky

[John Hyland]

As Ricky said silky oak (it isn’t an oak) makes a good guitar wood and looks spectacular. I have used silky oak on my pedal steel build but it is not comparable to solid wood designs as I have used a composite shell soundboard on an alum frame rather than a solid planks.

[Eddy Dunlap]

I think stability is the most important factor. Some other woods to consider which may be harder to find Mesquite, Black Locust, Cherry, Ash, Mahogany or Walnut.

George Gruhn turned me onto Black Locust here recently. Haven’t seen it much in the Luther world(never in the steel guitar world either) but he said it’s the best thing he’s worked with for tone. I tried a couple of his different acoustics he’s building, and the switch from mahogany and maple to that was louder and a more robust tone. Basically it’s like a better/warmer sounding maple, but way harder and stronger. The only thing I’m worried about is getting someone to cut some boards for me. (They’re REALLY hard on saw blades) would love to build a guitar out of quartersawn, roasted Black Locust in the future

[Tim Toberer]

I think stability is the most important factor. Some other woods to consider which may be harder to find Mesquite, Black Locust, Cherry, Ash, Mahogany or Walnut.

George Gruhn turned me onto Black Locust here recently. Haven’t seen it much in the Luther world(never in the steel guitar world either) but he said it’s the best thing he’s worked with for tone. I tried a couple of his different acoustics he’s building, and the switch from mahogany and maple to that was louder and a more robust tone. Basically it’s like a better/warmer sounding maple, but way harder and stronger. The only thing I’m worried about is getting someone to cut some boards for me. (They’re REALLY hard on saw blades) would love to build a guitar out of quartersawn, roasted Black Locust in the future

I made a few flutes out of Black Locust. I have heard it describes as North American Teak because it is so rot resistant. It isn't as pretty as the other woods I mentioned, but I do like the look of it after it ages a bit. It would work well for a steel guitar, maybe slightly heavier than maple. My favorite local hardwood is Osage Orange. It is very close to Rosewood is density and how it works. I think it is too heavy for a steel guitar, but It would probably make an interesting fretboard or something.

[J D Sauser]

I think on electric stringed instruments, hardness and stiffness are important. CAST aluminum and bakelite guitars from the 1930's still being rated as the best sounding instruments there were and are, brings a 3rd component into the mix: BRITTLENESS. It should not bend but break.
Bells are not made on a lathe from billet but from cast metal, which is hard, stiff and brittle to the point that it can break.

I have never been a big fan of Hard Rock Maple (which is what most PSG builders have and still are using, due to it's availability in the US and it's RELATIVE affordability). Yes, it is hard, but brittle, nope.

Tone woods aren't meant to look exciting. The more boring, the better... you want straight fibers. Anything curly just doesn't have that length-wise strength (against the string tension and the vibrations they generate)
We MAY want some "coloring" of tone from the material, but most of all, we do NOT want it to "eat" up frequencies... because what ever it eats up first, are the weakest frequencies... aka. Overtones, and when it does, our instrument sounds thinner, less lively.

I still think that early bakelite may have been the best material for TONE... except it was so brittle that often guitar bodies broke up during the manufacturing process and later under the least abuse.

Fender used Swamp Ash and Alter. Both woods which are much lighter yet more brittle than Hard Rock Maple. And some of their guitars and steel guitars, even with crude and cheaply assembled hardware, sounded phenomenal.
But both woods are vey difficult to find in TOP quality today and even back then, there were more fluctuations in quality than we find today with Hard Rock Maple.

I am currently collecting wood sample from the Caribbean. I even went to visit a wood mill near Valencia Spain two years ago, which exclusively dries, cuts and sells Paulownia wood which is extremely light for it's strength. They sell a LOT of it to the US to electric guitar builders.

But there is something else to keep in mind when it comes to PSG.
Most PSG have a U-shaped CABINET instead of the rectangular tone-board of a non-pedal steel guitar. Not just that, but most from the 1970's on up, are not just attached to the endplates alone, but strapped down their entire length on metal rails or even a complete frame. THAT affects tone a LOT... and I have tried it, by loosening some PSG's cabinet. After some re-tuning these guitars sound TOTALLY different.
I recently rebuilt and modded an 80's MSA S12. And I have modified among many other things the way the cabinet is attached to the frame... to only the ends. The guitar sound very different, much more "open".
I also feel that the front and often rear aprons typically found on PSG cabinets affect the way the wood can vibrate.

At the end of the day, if you don't want to experiment (and experiments include failures), Hard Rock Maple still seems the saver bet to go with.

... J-D.