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That looks real fine Steve, let me know if you ever want someone to take it off your hands.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Redwoods especially, and to some extent western redcedar, are prone to what we call “shake”, due to the shock experienced during felling. Shake occurs for other reasons and the worst will be rejected in the mill, but small cracks from felling shake can extend a long way through the log. So, really hard to see and it is indeed a gamble. Fortunately, these fine cracks are invisible, once glued. Felling shake occurs in spruces and pines as well, but to a much lesser extent (due at least in part to the generally smaller size of the trees).


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Thanks Colin!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

There is a lot of variance. Much more than sitka spruce, for example. I shoot for .3" of deflection. That equated to .130" with some tops from one vender, and .085" or so with the two LS tops I've worked with. I lost one LS to over-thinning, and the other wound up around .078" all said and done.

Speak of the Devil...Mr. Morelli and the boss were resawing redwood tops from 50 year-old dimensional 2x clear heart VG billets last weekend, and started two Reynolds Woodsong-pattern OM-sized instruments earlier this week after building up the molds and forms...redwood over highly figured bay laurel and redwood over curly mahogany. The tops look to me to be very similar to what we see out of David Maize's salvaged stock, which tends to be both stiff (on the order of the Lucky Strike tops we have worked with) and quite nice to handle.

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We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Tim

Shake is similar to shiver, as in "shiver me timbers". There are 100 meanings to these old phrases, but one I heard was that a solid coniferous mast could shiver under stress when a piece would come (flying) off similar to those we see that came off a top in the posts above. Another shiver is when a mast would separate along a growth ring so that it would now be in two pieces - one that looked like a soda straw and one that was a plug that filled the center. Strength was reduced significantly but you might not know it.

Ed

Thanks Ed, that's very reassuring…..

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I like redwood a lot, both for tone and looks. To me the sound comes in right between western red cedar and sitka. I love it, but it does tend to crack for no good reason. It is kind of like that uncle that can be hard to deal with at times, but what can you do? He is part of the family.

I've built three guitars using flamed redwood also. It has never been a problem, unless you count the extra work to finish sand without sanding ripples in. All three of those tops came from the same billet so it could be just an anomaly of that piece of wood.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I'd love to buy a piece of redwood that was confirmed as a stellar set, just to know what my expectations should be...

I like to buy my Redwood tops and flamed Walnut B&S's from Vince at Pacific Coast Woods, a sponsor here. It is very nice stuff. For redwood, I have bought old growth, salvaged and sinker from him. It is all very good wood. And check out his walnut, it will knock your socks off.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Dave Maize AAA or master will do the trick.

But part of the fun of redwood is how varied it is. I have some sets that are ridiculously light, and others that are more spruce-like. The Maize sets I've gotten are on the lighter end of the scale, but you could ask if he has any good higher density sets if you want to try both.

Can't argue with that.