If you have ever been to our shop in Austin, Texas you will notice a tightly stacked pile of small wood pieces under our stairs. To most people including the rest of our staff this is a pile of scrap wood that Travis just won’t throw out. I have been accused on several occasions of being a hoarder, a term I deny. Hoarders are people who cannot throw out trash. These pieces of wood are rather a treasure of exotic wood species that I have collected over years of instrument making. I prefer to call myself a wood monger. As a lifelong woodworker and instrument builder for most of my adult life, I find it fascinating that a tree can create such ornate beauty as they grow. This is why I just cannot bring myself to throw away even the smallest pieces.
Finally, after years of dusting off walnut burl and flamed maple to make a case that we should be making instruments out of exotics, I am very excited about being able to work with some exciting species. We are starting with a few core exotic wood species and look forward to your feedback.
Curly Maple – An extremely hard wood from the maple tree, our supply comes from North America. Of all the hardwood, Maple is the most widely used material for instruments such as guitars and violins. It is extremely stable meaning that it is closed grain and remains very straight under most environmental conditions. Curly maple is an end grain effect that is cut just right so that even though the wood is perfectly straight and smooth it looks wavy or quilted. The wood takes on an iridescent effect as the wood takes on drastic changes in density. Most of the book matched highly figured guitar tops are curly maple. For this reason we have chosen Curly maple so that you may enjoy it’s figuring on you midi controller just as a guitarist can look on his prized guitar.
Birdseye maple – A rare phenomenon indeed, birdseye figuring occurs in several species but especially in maple. It isn’t really known how it gets this look . Research has discounted the theory that it is caused by pecking birds deforming the wood grain. However, no one has figured out what exactly produces the effect. Birdsey is highly sought after and is only found in small parts of few lumber that is harvested. Birdseye is rated by the frequency of the eye’s. Material with a very high concentration of birdseye is usually cut very thin into laminate. We will be searching for some high frequency stock and may try laminating to get some truly spectacular examples of this wood.
Purpleheart – It has always amazed me that a tree can grow purple! Purpleheart comes from a flowering tree in south and central America. The tricky part of purpleheart is that it’s color evolves when exposed to UV light. When sanded and cut fresh it is a very light purple. As it is exposed to UV light it gets darker and darker. We plan to use a UV protective clear coat that should keep the color in the medium range. Purpleheart is extremely hard, dense, and stable grained. It makes an excellent instrument wood.
Wenge – Truly exotic, Wenge is from the Congo. It has been widely used in very high end custom instrument builds particularly in bass guitars. As a bass player I have always admired Alembic’s use of the species. Wenge is stunning in its contrast and used it the most high end wood inlay and furniture pieces. As a woodworker, I have a love hate relationship with the wood. It is amazing when finished but the wood is difficult to work with. It splinters into razor sharp needles that are septic. That is the wood has an irritating oil in it that causes inflammation when it goes into the skin and is hard to dig out. Also the dust is quite fine and pungent to the point that we wear respirators while working with it. But I love the stuff. As an end user there isn’t anything to worry about, as we’ve done all the hard work and it has five coats of clear coat protecting the wood. The things we do to make you beautiful instruments!
Lacewood – Referred to as Australian lacewood and South american lacewood. This species produces a bizarre spotted grain that is a result of very very densely compacted grain. By the time lacewood is finely sanded and sprayed, the spots and grain has a 3D depth to it. These pieces are almost a conversation piece and the structure is almost a puzzle piece that is a wonder how it could be created by nature. Highly decorative and solid, Lacewood really makes a Livid controller stand out and just screams high end.
Zebrawood – Probably the most contrast you will find in a wood grain, zebrawood is striking. Dark brown stripes in a light caramel background is like someone got chocolate in my peanut butter! This is a very rare wood from Africa. Most of the supply we have access to is old stock as not much is being imported anymore. Zebrawood is a very distinctive choice of wood and is used by some of the best high end guitar and bass makers.
Exotic woods are available on all of our controllers, exclusivly at shop.lividinstruments.com
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news by Travis
You may have seen our post last month regarding the custom code we did for Bruce Murphy. Bruce wanted to match his Moog Voyager’s design by having a black body by finishing his end caps off with a white wash. We liked it so much we decided to make a limited edition Block, dubbed the Winter Edition. This special edition block has a white aluminum body, white LEDs, and hand finished white washed mahogany end caps. We’re offering the Winter Edition block for only $379. As we’ve only made a small run of them they will sell out quickly. We will of course be offering customization on an ongoing basis, but the Winter Edition will save you over $150 on a block. Only available while supplies last at shop.lividinstruments.com
