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Well, I finally decided to man up and start buying wood for my first. I got a nice 2A sitka top and some nice 2A EIR back and sides coming from Allied Lutherie; nice enough to sound and look good but cheap enough to replace if needs be. I've heard nothing but good about Allied, but I would just like to know what to look for in the wood when I get it. Imperfections I mean. I know plenty about cracking, checking, knots, bird and insect damage, quartering and runout; anything else I should be aware of? I'll be sure to post some pics if I find anything questionable. Thanks fella's.

Hey Dan,

Allied is a great company. The woods you will get will be at least the grades you ordered. Todd has been dedicated to this work almost as long as anyone in the business (far longer than almost any of us!). You have covered off the things to be concerned about but with 2A sets I would expect some runout and they may be a bit off quarter. I don't think these will be significant from an acoustic perspective and the structure deficiencies (if any...there is debate on this topic) can be compensated in bracing. Have fun with the project!

Shane

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Canada

Just to add a bit of info re Todd ,he bought out Bill Lewis in Vancouver B.C. and took the inventory to the USA to start LMI,left LMI and then started Allied. As far as what to look for in your tops,tap tone and stiffness are key but take a while to get on to as you have to gather a feel for it by experiencing a significant number of tops. Start with the first ones you get and go from there trying every top you can get your hands on. Good luck.
Tom

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

You won't get anything really out of wack from Allied...and if you do simply call them...they'll make it right.....

Lemme just throw this at you though (and I'm not trying be anything but helpful here).

The wood is not what you need to be worrying about. If this is your first guitar - take the wood you get and just build it. There are soooooo many other things that will pop up and require a degree of attention from you that you are not yet aware you even have. My first guitar wasn't as 'fun' as it should have been cuz I was too busy being way too anal about sooooo many things that, quite frankly, my building chops just couldn't handle. You'll learn so much from just finishing your first guitar it's ridiculous. Worry about technique and tooling. The wood thing will take care of itself JUST because you'll handle it so much.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Here is something else that you will notice... It is a little weird, but it always happens (Here at least...) and isn't anything to worry about....

Everytime I get Any sort of tonewood shipped from Anywhere... The humidity is always way different -- either higher or lower.....

You open up the box and pull out this beautiful flat wood.... Spectacular stuff...

In your hands, it starts to curl up.... or you set it on he table... and it is already starting to cup....

It will be OK... It just needs a couple days to acclimate to your climate and it will flatten out fine agan..... Sticker it up in a neat pile somewhere indoors out of the way.... It will be just fine in a few days to a few weeks depending on the wood... Spruce moves fast, heavy, dense woods move slow....

Thanks

John

Figured woods can be particularily bad for this.. Especially maple. Maple often retains a bit of "cupping" permanently.. You just have to wrestle with it until you glue it up.

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