Official Luthiers Forum!

I know this is probably a dumb question, but.... I just received two top sets, Engelman and Sitka spruce, both are rough sawn. They are both rough cut and around 5mm and 5.5mm. I bought these mainly to get some practice with thickness sanding, joining, etc... Should the tap tone be done after the pieces are sanded smooth (not necessarily thicknesses), or will it make that much of a difference? Thanks for the help.

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Stephen

You can start tapping at any time. The tone you hear and how it changes as you thin the plate are useful bits of info. But, "tap tuning," at least for me, doesn't really start until I'm carving braces.

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Aaron Craig

You can Kinda tell if the piece will be good by holding it about 3/4 or 2/3rds toward the end on a long edge and taping it, as one luthier showed me once. Of course the finer tuning comes later.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

When I first get tops I like to get a feeling for thier quality. Do this by flexing and tapping. Wood that is rough sawn,still wet,and less stiff will tend not to ring as well as wood of the opposite parameters.When comparing sets varying thickness and size can mislead one. What I tend to look for is wood that is stiff both cross and long grain,light in weight,is willing to ring and sustains.Handle all the wood you can and talk in person with someone who builds getting them to go over the wood with you. Holding at node points is important in order for the wood to ring. READ READ READ.Good luck.
Tom

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

Thanks for the help. Now I just need to save up and get a back and sides set...and all the other parts. Ha ha. Gotta start somewhere.

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Stephen

Just a hint looking for your first "good" sets.... You can often find amazing tone wood for much less than you would think if you are patient and willing to work with something that is cosmetically less desirable (at least by traditional standards). Look for sets with some uneven color or streaking or wider grain (doesn't = more flexible), but still ringing, and as previously mentioned, tap tap tap as much as you can.

Take a look at Robbie's latest tutorial on tonewood - it's a great 10 minutes on tonewood and what he looks for including tapping.

Corky beat me to it. Robbie's video is very informative and he does demonstrate tapping. He explains that he's just listening for a musical ring in the wood when he first selects it.

And Dana B, starting about 4 minutes in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O10hREMRufU

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David Malicky