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Have you seen the new section on Hibdon's website? They are calling it "figure so fine". Not a good thing for guys like me who drool over stunning sets like these. I hit the buy button on set 810. Sadly, I was the second guy to do so. So good score to the person who got that one.

But, Jerry hooked me up with set 817. It is a much simpler looking set, but the spider webbing in it is awesome.

Stay away from Hibdon's website unless you want your wallet to cry.

Anyone else scored any nice sets lately?

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
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http://ensorguitars.com

A client of mine has been on the lookout for some highly figured cocobolo and I just found this set in the same lot. I'm curious to see how stable it is. In general, Cocobolo is on par with Honduras Mahogany in that it is very stable with relatively small differential movement between quartered and flat sawn. If I use it, I'll lattice brace the back just to be sure since it is bound for Singapore. Amazing stuff.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Oh, I was so close to hitting buy on 811, but then I didn't, and then it was gone.

But then one of my dream sets has been African blackwood, and last week it occurred to me that I'd inevitably fill that void eventually, and maybe if I did, then I wouldn't be so desperate for lesser sets. So, I emailed Hibdon and they sent me a picture of this gorgeous 4 piece set (original photo didn't have sides, this is from when I got it home).

Way better than any 2 piece I've seen, and "only" $355 Straight quartered grain, almost pitch black, with sapwood. The seams should be totally invisible due to the grain and darkness, and it's wide enough for anything. The tap tone is unbelievable, even in these small pieces. I can't imagine what it will be like when I've got it all joined up. And the smell! I love it.

So now I have a money gauge for buying other sets. "$175? Hmm, for two of those I could have another blackwood set. I'll pass"

Oh, and another good one from a couple weeks ago is native olive from Tim at Australian Tonewoods.

It's gorgeous, and also smells awesome (like having a giant, perpetually fresh olive in your wood closet). Pretty good tap too, but nothing to compete with that blackwood.
Tim posted a few sets on the ANZLF shortly after that too. I've been tempted to buy another, as they're only $140 AUD, which is $125 USD But then it's a bunch for shipping, hence not having made up my mind to do it or not. I wish I'd known how great it would be and bought 2 to begin with.

I recently got some very nice stuff from Old Standard; a pile of red spruce guitar tops, and some mandolin wood. I'm really looking forward to building with that birds eye...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Dennis, how do you plan on bracing that 4 piece back? Do you do any extra compensation for the extra joined seams?

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
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http://ensorguitars.com

Probably not, as the joints won't have backstrips weakening them at all. I suppose I could put a few diamond reinforcements like some people do on tops, but my feeling is that it is unnecessary with a good joint. So basically, no special treatment. The exact bracing pattern will depend on what I decide to use it on, but probably a standard 4 bar ladder, or an asterisk lower bout with ladder braces at the waist and upper bout.

I never heard or read that before. I stay away from flatsawn coco.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I got that from here. http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/shrinkulator.htm I assume they got the data form the references listed at the bottom of the page.

This also fits with my experience of working with it but that's strictly intuitive. It seems as homogenous as any wood I've worked with.

If you have other data, I'd appreciate knowing about it.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I've built one guitar with flatsawn rosewood and it isn't for me. The flat areas seem multiple times more fragile and split prone.
Other than this, set 811 is just

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Build log

Just my experience, but I have had more trouble with coco cupping than any other wood. I probably have 35 sets or so of coco, none of it is flat sawn, but some is rift sawn. I have a lot of it under heavy weights trying to flatten it out. All my wood is stored at 45% RH, but without the wieghts, the cupping on the coco doesn't go away, no matter how long I wait.