Hey Guys,
Cool wood, cool story....
I work for a company that specializes in anti-submarine warfare sensors, things called sonobuoys. Many of our founding engineers used to work at a company called Sparton Electronics, who has produced huge quantities of sonobuoys over the last 6 decades or so. Well, in the early 2000's Sparton closed their R&D facility and condensed everything to their Florida location. What does this have to do with guitars....
Well, at their R&D facility, they had two huge California Redwood tanks, one being 18' diameter, 20' deep. These tanks were installed in the 50's, used extensively in underwater acoustic source and receive tests, pressure loaded during explosive source testing, etc...They saw the development of the sensors that eliminated much of the secrecy during the Cold War. These tanks were drained in the late 90's, and when Sparton closed this location the building went to auction and things were salvaged for scrap. One tank was removed prior to the some teenagers setting the building on fire, causing a catastrophic loss of everything else in the building (inlcuding the chestnut sub structure that was installed in the mid 19th century when the building was built and the reason why the buyer bought the building).
I have been tracking this redwood for years, every since I lost to chance to auction on the tank in 2007. I found it, and was able to get one board. Of the whole tank, there are only 3 boards that are wide enough for guitar tops. The lumber is clear, quartersawn within 5 degrees and less, and has about 24 - 30 grain lines per inch. It is beautifully silky, and overall just stunning. Some of it does have mineral stains though. You can see the variation in the sets in the pictures below.
I am strongly debating getting the the other two boards, because I feel like they just need to be turned into guitars so as to finish their careers in another, more pleasurable side of acoustics
Would this wood interest any of you?
Thanks!
Stephen
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on your find!