Top Woods

I primarily use Red Spruce (AKA Adirondack Spruce) and Carpathian Spruce for my guitar tops. I have a good supply of Sitka Spruce, as well. Any of these are available at the base price. Italian Alpine Spruce and Lutz Spruce are usually in stock. Please inquire about my current stock of top woods.

Red Spruce: Red Spruce is a classic top for flat top guitars. It provides focus, punch and a wide dynamic range. It tends to give slightly more focused overtones, resulting in increased string-to-string clarity. The sets I stock tend to show more prominent grain lines. This has no effect on the tonal attributes…they are excellent tonewood. Sets which are very cosmetically clean are available as an upgrade, but are relatively expensive.

Carpathian Spruce: I use Carpathian Spruce harvested in Romania. This fine tonewood has many of the same tonal attributes as Red Spruce: focus, punch and wide dynamic range. It tends to provide slightly sweeter highs with a bit more warmth throughout the tonal spectrum. I have found Carpathian gives the widest dynamic range of any of the woods I use due to its high strength and low weight. The cosmetics are a bit cleaner than Red Spruce, with less prominent grain lines. Sets which are very cosmetically clean are available as an upgrade, and are less expensive than comparable Red Spruce.

Sitka Spruce: The most commonly used top wood in this day and age, Sitka is a great top wood. It tends to produce a warmer, less focused tone than either Red or Carpathian. Sitka is readily available in a wide range of cosmetic grades, including so-called bearclaw figure (a naturally occurring grain figure).

Red Spruce
Bridgeslotomy

Carpathian Spruce
Bridgeslotomy

Sitka Spruce with Heavy Bearclaw
Bridgeslotomy

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