Source for tonewood

[Jeremy Osner]

So in 2018, I built my first two instruments, a gourd banjolele and a washtub cello. My New Year's resolution for 2019 is that I will build my first violin. Who has tonewood sources they'll recommend to me? Either online or in the vicinity of northern NJ; must sell retail.

[arglebargle]

Many, many good sources. You will want aged wood, which will exclude some suppliers. To get started I would get a nice set from International Violin (they are in Baltimore). 

Good wood, Ken is very accommodating, and it will be ready to use right away.

 

[Jeremy Osner]

Excellent, I was just now looking at their website! Thanks.

[jamesbuchanan]

Erm. Well... this is slightly awkward but:

https://www.amati.com/en/auction/1049-december

It comes from the workshop of a very good maker who is retiring. He paid c.E800 for each back alone.

Of course in the spirit of BBC neutrality other providers are also available etc.

[Jeremy Osner]

Not sure I understand why it's awkward -- are you involved with the sale? -- ah, now I see your name on the front page of the auction site.

[dand]

Quote

 

Old world (West Virginia) has good wood and John is a nice guy to deal with.

https://www.oldworldtonewood.com/

 

I have recently ordered 3 sets from this oufit in (of all places transylvania) 

The wood was super and it worked out to under 100 USD per set (back , neck , ribs and top).  The back and front and ribs will require resawing  (not a problem if you have access to a good sized bandsaw) or are good with a sharp handsaw. Only took about 10 days to arrive. tracking was provided..

https://www.goldentonewood.com/

[SingingTree Tonewood]

I have good deals on a bunch of wood, including a lot of 1 piece backs and wood up to 15 years old, at wicked good prices, up here in Maine. Glad to send pics.

I'm not a big dealer type company, just a fiddle restorer, who finds great red maple to saw, and sell a bit.

 

[jamesbuchanan]

14 hours ago, fiddlerjer said:

Not sure I understand why it's awkward -- are you involved with the sale? -- ah, now I see your name on the front page of the auction site.

Yes - sorry I should have made that clear. It's hard to balance out the general urge to self-promote against the fact it is rather tasteless and apt to get me a tap on the knuckles (and quite right too).

Still, it seemed relevant, and the wood is tasty.

Best wishes 

[Jeremy Osner]

4 hours ago, jamesbuchanan said:

Yes - sorry I should have made that clear.

As much my fault for being a newbie and not knowing the room... Thanks, I'll try bidding on some of these and see how it pans out.

[J Corry]

2 hours ago, fiddlerjer said:

Thanks, I'll try bidding on some of these and see how it pans out.

Great prices, and good wood. But watch the shipping. I was going to order a cello back or two and it was going to be £1000-£1300 for shipping to Canada. 

[jamesbuchanan]

2 minutes ago, J Corry said:

Great prices, and good wood. But watch the shipping. I was going to order a cello back or two and it was going to be £1000-£1300 for shipping to Canada. 

Good grief. Will double check with the office. That sounds far too high. Will ask them to look for providers other than DHL!

[SingingTree Tonewood]

12 hours ago, jamesbuchanan said:

Yes - sorry I should have made that clear. It's hard to balance out the general urge to self-promote against the fact it is rather tasteless and apt to get me a tap on the knuckles (and quite right too).

Still, it seemed relevant, and the wood is tasty.

 

It's all good. This section of MN is For people looking to sell luthier wood and bits.

 

[jamesbuchanan]

Language is such fun. All becomes clear - an issue of syntax on LiveChat and mis-understanding on our part. Sorry for utterly misquoting the price!

@J Corry So. Shipping a piece of wood (i.e. a cello back) to Canada is c. £150 - 200. Cheap as chips.

On the up-side we now know that returning three cellos to Canada (i.e. three cellos back to Canada) would cost £1,000. Which is still cheap, but not exactly relevant.

Total misreading on our side. Apologies. Should be roughly £150 - 200 shipping per cello back. 

Does that help? Sorry for the confusion, we had had an auction a couple of weeks before and the shipping dept. were in cello shipping mode.

Best wishes,

James

(p.s. @SingingTree Tonewood thank you for reassuring me on the spamming front.)

[J Corry]

Whoop,

it happens. 

However now in the case that I ever have to ship three cellos to or from Britain I'll have an idea of how much it should cost

Thanks for the help James. 

[jamesbuchanan]

2 hours ago, J Corry said:

Whoop,

it happens. 

However now in the case that I ever have to ship three cellos to or from Britain I'll have an idea of how much it should cost

Thanks for the help James. 

[kevin Prestwich]

I supply Engelmann Spruce that I cut myself in the mountains of central Idaho. It's pretty good stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/tonewoodviolin/

https://www.prestwichviolins.com/

https://www.instagram.com/45thparalleltonewood/?hl=en

 

[Michael_Molnar]

19 hours ago, kevin Prestwich said:

I supply Engelmann Spruce that I cut myself in the mountains of central Idaho. It's pretty good stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/tonewoodviolin/

https://www.prestwichviolins.com/

https://www.instagram.com/45thparalleltonewood/?hl=en

 

It's very good stuff.

[not telling]

Why pay retail? If you order from Tonewood Catalin out of Romania you can get beautiful, deeply flamed violin backs complete with neck and sides for $35. Shipping is expensive but you can share the cost with others and order in bulk. The discount is nuts. The wood is nuts. It arrived in a week. He accepted PayPal. I don't see much of a downside. 

[Jeremy Osner]

I ended up buying a back and rib blanks from Amati (still trying to figure out how to get them to take my credit card info), and a top from 45th Parallel. Still need a neck, I expect I will get that from International Violin. (I mean, is the tonewood quality of the wood key for a neck? I have lots of good hard maple without figure.)

[violinsRus]

8 hours ago, not telling said:

Why pay retail? If you order from Tonewood Catalin out of Romania you can get beautiful, deeply flamed violin backs complete with neck and sides for $35. Shipping is expensive but you can share the cost with others and order in bulk. The discount is nuts. The wood is nuts. It arrived in a week. He accepted PayPal. I don't see much of a downside. 

Agreed, I like their wood and the service is great.  I forget where I stumbled across them, but Carpathian Tonewood does deliver some very good wood.

[JacksonMaberry]

Is tonewood Catalin and Carpathian tonewood the same outfit?

[violinsRus]

3 minutes ago, JacksonMaberry said:

Is tonewood Catalin and Carpathian tonewood the same outfit?

nottelling will have to confirm, but if you google 'Tonewood Catalin Romania', you get Carpathian Tonewood, nobody else.  So I assumed it was what he/she was talking about!

[not telling]

Yeah, the same. $350 for 10 pcs of gourgeous A and A+ type backs, with ribs and highly flamed necks. We picked out a ton of 1-pc backs for viola too. The price felt illegal. It was the first time we dropped a ton of cash (to us) on wood, but it's amazing. Every piece is better than anything he had access to before (for less than what the neck alone would be elsewhere, whole sets!). I will have to make him use it all before we do this again. I can see the wood buying addiction beginning.

[JacksonMaberry]

14 minutes ago, not telling said:

Yeah, the same. $350 for 10 pcs just like this, with ribs and highly flamed necks. We picked out a ton of 1-pc backs for viola too. The price felt illegal. It was the first time we dropped a ton of cash (to us) on wood, but it's amazing. Every piece is better than anything he had access to before (for less than what the neck alone would be elsewhere, whole sets!). I will have to make him use it all before we do this again. I can see the wood buying addiction beginning.

The prices on their site aren't nearly that good. Do I need to email?

 

Edit - please disregard, I just don't know how to internet

[Jim Bress]

9 minutes ago, not telling said:

Yeah, the same. $350 for 10 pcs just like this, with ribs and highly flamed necks. We picked out a ton of 1-pc backs for viola too. The price felt illegal. It was the first time we dropped a ton of cash (to us) on wood, but it's amazing. Every piece is better than anything he had access to before (for less than what the neck alone would be elsewhere, whole sets!). I will have to make him use it all before we do this again. I can see the wood buying addiction beginning.

As I told my wife when I bought a bulk order of Chambers wood when he was going out of business, we are not spending any money we are just changing the investment vehicle.  If you bought the wood at a price that you can easily recover at least what you spent then the wood did not cost anything.   At least that's how my warped mind thinks.