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Does anyone have a reliable source for archtop spruce wedges/ or planks? I don't seem to have much luck with people returning phone calls, responding to emails, etc.

I know Stew Mac sells them, I'm not sure it gets more reliable than that...

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-Marcus
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Brent for sitka spruce, alaska specialty woods??? john preston carpathian spruce old world spruce and adirondack spruce , englemann spruce north ridge tonewoods, lutz spruce shane neifer

I've gotten some very good euro spruce at a good price from John Preston @ oldworldtonewood.com

Another high recommendation for Brent at alaskaspecialtywoods.com. A very fine, honest guy with great products, prices and service. Both of my orders arrived within a few days. The first time, he emailed me the day after delivery just to see if I liked what he sent me. And if you're interested in "green" forestry practices, almost all of Brent's sitka is harvested from standing deadwood, blow-downs, etc. Only his bearclaw stuff comes from other sources.

Check out the silking in this top from Brent. It was a beautifully sawn wedge, very tight grain, very "alive" sounding tap tone, wonderful to carve. I've got another acclimating in my shop right now.

Don't confuse this source with another company of a similar name.

Patrick

Brent? I'm a little surprised to hear that. I tried to order from Brent in November and it just fell into a black hole. I'd ordered from him before and was pleased so I don't know what's up. He seems like quite a nice guy too. I figured he was having some issues and just sort of wrote him off. Maybe I'll try again.

I ordered some spruce from StewMac. It's European. I really want Sitka but I needed some wood so I was willing to try it. I think I ordered 2 or 3 sets. I could only keep one. The book match on the other ones were so WAY off as to be unusable. There was one set I sent back that didn't even look book matched, to be honest. Their return policy is great but I just can't afford to pay shipping back and forth with nothing to show for it. In fairness, they did say that they'd be happy to hand pick wood for me if I give them my specs but I dunno....do I really have to mention that the set actually be bookmatched?

Shane @ High Mountain Tonewood or Sarah @ The Wood Well. Also John Preston @ Old World Tonewood.

Don Barnes at http://www.grandpasworkshop.com/ is also very good. Very reasonable and excellent products. I've gotten all of my archtop wood from him so can't speak for others.

I've never heard anything but glowing praise for Brent and his products, nor have I experienced anything else.

I ordered some Sitka and Maple from this fellow and it looked nice. Have not used it yet though. He was good to work with.

http://www.hvgb.net/~tonewood/archtopguitar.htm

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

does not appear to exist.

Oddly, the correct url for Alaska Specialty Woods is http://alaskawoods.com/

I have ordered from Brent and, while I didn't always quite agree with his grading, he was reliable and businesslike, and I never felt I paid too much for what I received. I was very happy with the bracewood he sent me, which was truly runout free. He sent one top that was lovely, except that saw cuts went so deep that the thickness was limited to .10 inch. When I pointed this out, he immediately replaced it.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

I've bought some Sitka and WRC tops, maple B&S sets and some brace wood from http://fine-woods.com/. The quality was better than described. They sell spruce archtop wood, but I don't have any experience with it. I think they would be happy to work with customers with specific needs. They also sell on eBay as well.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

You might try Old Standard Wood. They don't list arch top guitar billets but they do sell chello sized wood so an arch top set should not be a problem.

Great wood , great prices,great people to do business with.

cecil

My goof on that url. Sorry about that. I copied it from Brent's banner ad at MIMF, but not from the actual link. I'm happy to read another endorsement for Old Standard, too. They're only about an hour's drive from me and I do intend to make the road trip one of these days.
I spoke with them on the telephone and at that time they offered to meet me by appointment and let me pick out my own wood. That struck me as very good service.
Patrick

I tried him...called him on Friday to ask a couple of questions and buy all the spruce tops he had advertised. He hasn't called me back.

I spoke with Brent on Friday and sent him another email on Monday with what I need. I'm waiting to hear back. Hopefully it will work this time. I'll give it until tomorrow and then I'll just start working my way down the list I guess.

Hi John,

I have bought from Brent Cole over the years-He has always been a great resource-good price, great service and product.

Brent is set up so that you place the order online-Just go to the website and order it.

I spoke with him yesterday and we talked about the grading of his products and when we were done he didn't take the order, he said it is best just to order it online. I am getting the AAA wedges for $90.

Brad

I've seen arch top sets at Frazer Valley Fine Woods. I've never bought any archtop sets but they're steel string sets are top knotch and they're good to deal with. www.fine-woods.com I think his name is Ed (Poke?) They're out of Canada so the shipping prices can be a little high, but I've had good luck with them.

Actually, I called Brent yesterday and he said he's trying to cut me exactly what I want (which is going to save me some work) but realistically by the time he's done cutting, drying, shipping and then drying some more in my shop, I'm really quite some time out for something usable assuming everything goes well. That's fine but I'm trying to get something usable a bit quicker to hold me over. I've been going down the list trying others and have not received even one call back yet. I've really never seen anything like it.

FWIW, working with Shane was an absolute pleasure when I ordered a few Lutz tops from him. He just doesn't happen to have what I need, unfortunately.

I'm under the impression that Englemann for archtops is practically non-existent.

Interesting. I'm looking for Sitka, but did something happen to the Englemann supply or has it always just been like that? I've never really used Englemann for anything except I have some brace material here I've played with.

Engelmann trees are relatively small and tend to grow with spiral. As a result, it is very difficult to find trees suitable for archtop guitar.

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John

Hey Nelson, there's Mountain Voice Soundwoods. It looks like they deal with Engelmann exclusively and their prices for archtop billets look pretty low.

I built my two bass archtops with Engelmann tops. The wedges were 10 1/2" wide.

I think that part of the current Englemann shortage is the recession taking it's toll on the logging industry.
Larry Stamm said that there is a shortage of available logs in British Columbia where a lot of the Englemann is located.
Jason, I have bought some Englemann in the past from Gordon at Mountain Voice.