Sycamore

[Dale Penrose]

I recently bought a sycamore board, quartersawn, looks nice. Having never worked with this wood before, does anyone have tips, experience with it?

[Bob Gramann]

It's beautiful and the guitars I have built with it sound a lot better than you would expect from tapping on the wood. I find that getting the surface smooth for finishing is difficult--the beautiful grain pattern is alternately soft and hard and leaves pits that need to be filled during the finishing process. Also, the wood expands and contracts with moisture a bit more than some of the standard woods. That makes less of a difference in a small guitar than a large one where a humid spell can make some strange action changes. Overall, you will enjoy it. And, it can make some striking binding.

[Dale Penrose]

Didn't think of using it for binding. Will be resawing it later this week, so by spring, should be ready to try.

[Joel Nowland]

A great wood for many uses. bends super easy. I have used it for back & sides, necks, bridge plates, side bracing, linings, cross-grain patches for side sound holes and where electronics are side mounted.

A great wood when you need light and tough.