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I'm currently working on #2 and 3 and having a great time, but I have a question. If I plan a doing this over the longer term, does it make sense to start laying in some top wood so that it can season further? I've used sitka and adirondack. Should I wait until I've got a wider range of experience with different top woods before committing to 10 or 20 sets of one type?

And one more question. Do back and side sets benefit from the same aging or is it more important for top woods?

As always, thanks in advance.

Steve

I try to have at least 6 months stickered to acclimate to my shop before using...most of the time 1 year. After that it's just stacked till I use.
Don't know that I'd go hog wild and order 10-20 sets of anything, but it's good to stick away a few tops, backs and sides now and again. If you can resaw, flamed maple planks, and white oak (well, for me anyway), walnut, etc are good buys and will make a lot of cheap B & S. Might be a good idea to get ahead a little so you have a few sets, then you can slow down and pick and choose. Don't get caught up in the fancy stuff till you can build a dang good guitar. "A" grade tops make great guitars. Just make sure they are QS and little runout. Stiff as you can get.

Haans has given you great advice.

If you're worried about getting some tonewood stored, I think the problem will sove itself very quickly if you attend an ASIA or GAL symposium... coming back from those I always seem to have much more wood than I have pending projects... Of course, the wallet seems to be a bit lighter....

Steve;
Nothing goes down in price.
But the quality of really needed(well cut) guitar tops (especially tops)
Will only go up.
They're for sale now at $50-70+ for some Spruces.
$30 + for Cedar
If you discover that you really want to make guitars
for years to come-invest in the tops now.
Buy from a known dealer.

Back & sides can be any wood so they will be available for a long time .
My 2 cents!
Mike

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Mike Collins

You might consider buying a dozen tops that are from the same tree, or at least the same species. Usually you get a price break when you buy a dozen or more, and working with the same wood will give you a better idea of how it will work.
You don't have to buy the very best cosmetic grades, and personally I would rather work with an old "good" grade top than a fresh cut "best" grade top. If you buy a few dozen "fresh cut"now, you will have a few "old" ones to work with eventually.

I you see a nice top set it is hard to resist, the stack at my place is growing taller all the time. As stated above these things will not go down in price and the back and side woods from trees that are becoming endangered and hard to get might be a good investment, look at the price for Brazilian rosewood as an example.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Ideally your top wood should be 5 years old before you use it. The only way to be really sure of this it to have had it in your hot little hands for that long. Back and side woods should be considerably older as it takes longer for the resins to crystalize and for the wood itself to stop losing volume (they never do stop). Ebony is the worst of all, I try to use fifteen-year-old ebony. Now I know that this is a hopelessly inappropriate answer for the amateur luthier so the best thing is to do the best you can. Buy now for the reasons mentioned, buy when you see something great as it won't always be available, and if you are not sure of your critical judgement show the wood to a pro or go on a shopping trip with him/her. Part of the learning curve is finding out what you can use to make great guitars and you will inevitably buy some stuff in the meantime that will seem less than perfect later on. As for what species to buy you should plan to use what is in demand, there will always be time to experiment. If it is classicals you are building buy lots of European/Englemann and Indian Rosewood.


John Ray
Granada

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John Ray
Granada, Spain
blog: http://www.granadaexpert.com/johnray/

In my first couple years I tried to buy different tops from all the various vendors, until I found a couple folks I dealt with best. I measured and tried to asses these pieces as well as I could and in time I started to get an idea of what is better. At that point when receiving a particularly nice top I ask the seller to send me more from the same log.

My advice is that if you are serious about building, buy as much as you can.

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Build log

I see you are in Toronto. Unicorn woods who does primarily flooring now, still has a bunch of guitar tops "alpine spruce" & EIR backs/sides. I'm guessing it has been there for decades. I saw it 2 years ago & wanted to get one of the local experienced builders to check it out with me, but it hasn't happend. He is hard to reach on the phone & sometimes an appointment is requested.
Let me know if you check it out.
MM

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Mike McNerney

Steve: If you plan to keep at this for the long haul I think you should aquire as much good top wood as your pocket book can stand. A couple of reasons.Ten or twenty tops is not a very big number of tops to have on hand. Wood gets better as it ages.It most likely will only get more expensive.You get the experience of feeling, tapping more wood,very important in my mind. You can cherry pick your wood and sell the less desireable tops.As long as it is decent wood someone will be happy to get it. The species to me is not as important as the quality but at first I would try to aquire a few of all species and I think you should look for wood that will build at least a dread size guitar even if you now only build smaller ones.Your taste may change and larger tops are easier to sell.There are dealers who offer discounts on larger amounts of tops and at least one here on the OLF sponser list.Good luck and leave some for the rest of us.
Tom

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

As a wood hoarder myself, I think it is a good idea if you're in it for the long haul. Here are my tips.....
after buying from sooooo many suppliers......
- I'd stick to the sponsors here on this site - you really can't go wrong!
- buy in bulk once you know what you want. I tended to buy 2 or 3 set sat a time....after 50 sets, you realize the shipping, taxes, duty, brokerage fees really add up!
- ship USPS when buying from the US. Canada post is the end receiver of USPS and only charges $5 for handling fees to collect the taxes. I had a parcel mistakenly shipped to me by Fedex last month, I paid $70 CDN on an item that was $175 USD.
- be realistic - there is such a thing as too much wood sitting around - have a peek inside my garage if you don't believe me!
- lastly, watch that US/Can exchange rate - this is a good time to buy from the US. Three years ago, I think I paid 15% on the exchange rate alone.

Hope it helps,

Laurie

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Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Good info on how long to wait before using wood. Good deals to be had if you buy 10 or 12 at a time. Shane at High mountain tonewood sold me 10 tops that fell between 2A and 3A at a great price. I think Mike Collins put me onto that. I emailed Shane and asked if he had any deals. I think he marks his tops with harvest dates. I bought a few no. 3 tops to practice on for $5 and a couple turned out to be ok. I try to buy 6-12 a year this year it seems like it's all Adirondack. I look at wood as an investment when something nice comes along I buy it if I have the extra cash. As Corky said shows and the A.S.I.A symposium are a great place to buy wood. You can score great deals on tops that may have a small flaw that keeps it from going to the big companys. I have gotten several that way-two this weekend from Northwind Tonewood at Woodstock. Good luck!

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Mistakes are mandatory-learning from them is optional. http://www.opensourceluthiersupply.com