Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello Everyone,

I'm wondering if those of you who have built with Lutz could give me your impressions of it as a tonewood.

Many thanks!

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Mmmm....wood.

Lutz has quickly moved to the top of my list of favorite tonewoods for tops. My experience with it is that it can be very stiff and light- not quiet as light as englemann though. When well quartered, it has beautiful silking. Tonally, I find it to produce a wonderful bit of overtones and to have plenty of headroom.

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

I am wondering about builder's experience with its tonal characteristics and potential for dynamic range. I've done a bit of research from the player's perspective and I'm curious if the sentiments here will be in line with these.

This would be a top on a 12-fret dread.

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Mmmm....wood.

I used to worry about its dynamic range, but now I don't. Seems to have a lot of headroom....

Warmer out of the box, with a broken in sound right away, lots more overtones than Sitka. Just seems to produce a lusher sounding guitar.

If you can imagine a mash-up of Sitka an Englemann, I would balance it slightly closer to Englemann than Sitka, with definite characteristics of both. Good fundamental, nice headroom, plenty of silky overtone content, even/silky appearance of Englemann.

Thanks for the info. This is pretty much what I expected to hear. I have a couple of sets on the way. I will pay close attention to the stiffness to weight ratio of each set as I need good headroom.

If you're interested, Big Hollow Guitars has an interesting video player's comparison of Lutz and Adi. Granted it is two particular guitars, but is interesting none the less.

http://www.bighollowguitars.com/choosin ... p-wood.php

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Mmmm....wood.

Ya Flipo...me guess thats true even for the ornamental spruce shrubs ...like dis one eh...

useless for looferin but hey.

Regarding all the babbling about "nice headroom, plenty of overtone content, silky meds..." well thats all nice and personal and subjective and probably, maybe, kinda some what true. Right!

But the main thing is , without no bout adout it, Lutz be de stiffest tone wood on dis planet.

Q ~ is an index of the internal frictional loss, or "damping' of wood.
A higher Q rating has a longer sustaining tap tone, and turns more
string energy into sound instead of heat.

Private independent studies have consistently shown Lutz to have the highest Q rating of all the various spruces on the planet. Well so me been led to believe. And oh yes me a believer alright....me believes in Santa Clause and the toof fairy and and and.....

All that translates to thinner tops and bracing = lighter instruments.

Me has enough Lutz in the shop to last me the rest of me life. But probably won't use much of it. Me has no problem with its sonic qualities at all...is just that me don't like tooling any of the spruces....me being of the cedar persuasion amongst others.

But thats ok...me gotts a Lutz/birch arch top parlour on the go and an all Lutz spruce arch top build on the list for next year. Go figure.


Blessings,
?adma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Lutz being a hybrid can produce wood that's either close to Sitka or White Spruce.
Or a great blend of both.
I think it's the best top wood ever.
Especially the ones that are more W.S. than Sitka.
Many thanks to Shane for going to all the trouble(work-expense-etc.)
for introducing this wonderful wood to the world.

Mikr

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Mike Collins

Thats it Flipo...me knew there was a catch to this building thing...Point of view...who wuda thunk that.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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My harp guitars need really stiff tops to support 20+ strings. I only use Lutz on all my builds.







Michael

Here's a Youtube video of a 12 fret dreadnaught I made with Lutz. It has great dynamic range and is extremely responsive to different picking styles.
This was filmed with just a single ribbon mike in the back of the room.
Try listening with a good set of headphones or nice speakers.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

It's a great wood for guitar tops, I've used a lot of it including some I got from Mike Collins. Thanks Mike! Build a couple with it, you won't be disappointed.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Guitars I have built with lutz spruce have had nice overtones but not as much headroom as adirondack or sitka. I suppose if I had left them a little thicker they might have had more. They are quite versatile though.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

On a different note, Michael that's a mighty fine looking Harp guitar, very very nice looking workmanship.

Steve

Hey..Thanks Steve. That is 3 Harp Guitars and a Tenor Uke for my wife (It does not have a Lutz top)

Michael

Wow, Michael! I think you could take the "semi" away from the word "pro"

Interesting videos.......but they can be misleading. To say the differences in tone are due to the different top woods assumes they would sound identical if he had used the same top wood. I've never heard/read of anyone that built identical guitars say they came out sounding identical. So how does one know if the difference are due to the different top woods or due to it being another guitar with it's own unique sound? Impossible to say with a sample size of 2. Also, when he says he built them identically......does he mean the same top thickness?.....the same longitudinal stiffness?.......the same resonant frequency?......or something else?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Interesting question.

Build a guitar, measure it's physical properties, record it, then retop it and do the same over. I bet if hide glue were used to attach the top, without binding, a number of tops could be tried out. Recording would allow a limited direct comparison.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Tooth pickers....
ya
that's what me gonna do with all me Lutz,

go in to the
hand made, one of a kind, custom tooth pick business.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Double post.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......