Official Luthiers Forum!

Folks, when it comes to buying spruce soundboards, would you prefer:

Joined or unjoined?
Thicknessed or unthicknessed?
What thickness?
Fresh cut or seasoned?


What would be your ideal senario? What would you like to know before buying?


nigel


http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/#/book/4568936095

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nigel

http://www.theluthierblog.com

Unjoined
Rough thicknesses to about 4mm
Seasoned. (or at least dry enough to use within a few weeks of arrival)

what he said, but maybe a bit thicker.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Not joined.
Either right off the saw or rough thicknessed as stated above, 3/16ths to 1/4th inch if right from the saw.
Seasoned is nice, especially if I need to use it right away, but I have a lot of spruce seasoning now so that is not a major issue.

Things I like to know before buying?
1) Grain count. While grain count is no indicator of stiffness, I prefer the look of tighter grain lines.
2) Species. Sitka, Engelmann, Lutz, Carpathian, Caucasian, etc. But this should be something obvious that you would want to know, right?
3) Actual dimensions, not "Dread Sized" or "OM" sized.
4) Was the wood harvested in a sustainable manner? Was it a blow down or was it cut? We need to be aware of the wood source if we hope to have good wood for many years to come. We don't want spruce or cedar ending up on the CITES list, do we?
5)

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PMoMC

Great. Any more? How seasoned is your minimum? Would you like to get your hands on stuff that is older? Four years - ten years? Same for backs and sides too?

nigel

http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/#/book/4568936095

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nigel

http://www.theluthierblog.com

One other "nice to know" is if the material has been processed from a split billet to reduce grain run out.

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Ian K.

Tony: I can't tell you how POed I get when folks advertize material as Dread or Om size. Thanks for posting that,maybe more people will use actual measurements...................!!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I only buy off ebay from people that I know. Finding a supplier that can fill your needs and be consistent is hard . Once you find one stay with him. RC Tonewoods and Colonial are great to deal with .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I buy them unjoined, because joining means extra service fees, and it costs more to ship (as well as being more fragile) due to its larger size. I prefer to do as much of the processing as possible myself, saves on processing cost that is further inflated by possible custom tax.

As for seasoning I always season them myself, because no matter how seasoned the wood is its never stable until I let it sit in my environment long enough...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

unjoined, 4-5 mm thick, rough thicknessed and and bigger than the intended guitar size, so you can get stuff from the off-cuts. if it´s available i´m willing to pay more for extra years of seasoning (many vendors do that IME). a big plus is good photos of the set you´re buying.

above all things, though, i want well quartered wood - not just in the center. and with the least amount of runout possible - but i suppose that´s what we all want...

cheers,
miguel.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

+2 on the sizes. I like to know actual dimensions. I always prefer seasoned though I tend to keep them for a year or more. But still it's nice to be seasoned because it's a more stable. Good photo's are a plus. At least 1/8th inch thick and not joined.

On the subject of seasoning, my spruce and cedar that will not be used any time soon, i.e. more than 12 months till I use it, is stored in my garage so it freezes in the winter and bakes in the summer.
Anyone see a problem with that? It has all remained flat and stable. I don't feel that simply keeping it in a climate controlled environment actually "seasons" it since it is not exposed to the seasons, get it? But that is my opinion. Probably should have started another thread for that.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

The most useful aspect of seasoning wood is that it relieves internal stresses, making it more stable. This is more of an issue with hardwoods. Spruce and cedar generally don't develop internal stresses, but there is certainly no harm in storing wood that way. I have done it since 1982.
For rough sawn tops, the minimum thickness I shoot for is 0.170" (4.3 mm). I can supply much information about the red spruce tops I have cut, but the most critical is which particular tree they came from.

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John

Why on earth would anybody buy a top that had already been joined by a third party?

And furthermore, does any supplier actually offer pre-joined tops for sale?

LMI don't, and Stewmac don't ... and for good reason, it would be commercial suicide ...

Unjoined and face to face so I can touch it first. The only place I still buy from without seeing it first is from Florinett and Shane. (would from Northwind, but its easy (and enjoyable!) to see Tom in person). Ideal thickness is .15+

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

[quote="Tony_in_NYC"]On the subject of seasoning, my spruce and cedar that will not be used any time soon, i.e. more than 12 months till I use it, is stored in my garage so it freezes in the winter and bakes in the summer.
Anyone see a problem with that?
Tony: Lots of folks advocate for that kind of storage as it puts the wood through a series of expanding and contracting phases that wood stored in a constant RH would not be exposed to. Thus seasoning as compared to drying which happens in a relatively short time.
Tom

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I'm doing something right? Cool!


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and you have Tapatalk, how cool is that! (j/k)

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