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I went to the local lumber yard and rummaged through their WRC and found a nicely quartered piece with a good tight grain to it. 2x material. I'm going to make some tops. Yes I am a poor builder that is trying to save a buck. I'm sure some of you guys can relate. The issue is the color of the board has a lot of variation. It it not a a consistent color across the board. It goes from light creamy color to medium brown. I wonder what the options are to bring the top to a more even color? Maybe there isn't an issue. Thought I would toss it out and see what you all have to say.

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Mark Ewing
Columbus Ohio
"Trees are an important and precious thing. We should build good things with them. Building good guitars with heart are the best use for them." K. Yairi.

If the color variations bothers you, you can always burst it or paint it. Look at Hesh's avatar to see his black topped guitar. Me, I like the variations.

What ever you do though, be very careful with the top. WRC is delicate and loves to dent.

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Aoibeann

I like wood to be wood and let it look like wood. I wouldn't do anything to it.

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What Rod said.

Chuck

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The important question is how stiff it is and how the runout is. There are some of us who do not just tolerate color variation but seek it out. Some of my best WRC tops are very streaky.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

+1

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I've been told by a WRC seller that hanging the finish-sanded but not finished guitar in direct sunlight for a few days will even out the color, but haven't tried it myself.
Like Rod, I just go with what the wood 'is' and don't worry too much about the cosmetics. Then again, I'm not trying to sell guitars, either, so can 'go against the flow' if I want to.

Cheers
John

Color variation is cool in my mind too - take a look at sinker Redwood and look at all the color variation there.

Nice thing about building your own guitars (one of many...) is that no stinkin factory can tell us what we should like and why.

Good for you Mark!

I wondered about the sun thing. I plan on doing the Somogyi .280 deflection with 5lbs on the strength. Tell me more about run out. How would I be able to tell on a piece of wood that has already been dimensioned?
I agree with the natural wood color. Here's a pic of the first one I built. Top was a 5$ piece of scrap WRC from a local lumber yard. I am starting 3&4 with this wood.

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Mark Ewing
Columbus Ohio
"Trees are an important and precious thing. We should build good things with them. Building good guitars with heart are the best use for them." K. Yairi.

Mark, that looks great! I love the look of that top.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Yeah, if you can get a good bookmatch out of some widely varied WRC it really pops! I am partial to multi-colored WRC tops, and also get them from the local big box store often. Probably helps being in the PacificNW...cheaper and easier to find I think.

Regarding runout...
On most boards, you can see runout as an angled series of lines on the thin edge of the board.
If you are cutting tops from milled lumber, you are more than likely to have some runout unless the log had very little taper & / or twist... And the sawyer was better than average.
Cedar usually grows pretty straight & you may be lucky.
The easiest way to find the extent of runout is to split off a piece (split with a long knife, you don't mind hammering on) at right angles to the grain) as if you were trying to make a top. You can do this with a short piece, so you don't wreck some potential top material.
I figure that 1/8" to 1/4" runout over 24" is acceptable. After that, you usually start to see a noticeable colour shift at the centre line & stiffness & silk can be affected.
Hope this is helpful... Dan

Oh yeah... You asked about colour variations.
In my experience, Cedar darkens & evens out in colour with exposure to light. Dark streaks are there forever, but the light coloured wood will often darken up fairly quickly... even under most finishes.
If you want to check it out, leave a piece in the sun for a few days. If it's wet, seal the ends or it is likely to split.

Colour changes in WRC can be quite ummm exotic and pritty...

But since there is no accounting for taste, then get a spray bomb from the Uncle Wally store, cheap, dozens of colours to choose from.

Even up the colour eh. Ya right. Thats sort a like a Tammy Fay thing eh.

Icu

Padma

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Thanks Rod. The driving decision for the orientation (lighter color in the middle) on the top was the density of the grain. Tighter grain in the light wood. I thing I read somewhere that the tighter grain is best placed in the center. It made since.

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Mark Ewing
Columbus Ohio
"Trees are an important and precious thing. We should build good things with them. Building good guitars with heart are the best use for them." K. Yairi.

Hi Mark,
I like color variation a lot. I don't know exactly what your board looks like, but here's an image of the 'colorful cedar' guitar I'm currently working on. I liked it so much that I ordered a few more of those soundboards from Shane.



cheers, Christian

Another vote for leaving "as is". Lots of great guitars with appealing variation in the natural color of the top.

I bought a plank of WRC a month ago that was just about perfect - perfectly quartered, with very little apparent runout. Looking forward to cutting some tops from it. Letting it acclimate for awhile first.

As for runout, I seem to recall a tutorial that Chris Paulick provided on bracewood and runout. I think Chris took a bit of scrap and used a penknife to see if the grain was at an angle to the orientation of the wood. Take a look at his bracewwod toot.

When I buy lumber for tops, I've seen runout as characterized by one of the following:
1) if it's rough cut, the runout will be visibible in a rough, "fuzzy" appearance on the face of the wood (where the ends of the grain are ending on the face)
2) if sanded, or smooth, runout can change the light reflection of the wood. Book-matched tops with a bit of runout show one side darker and the other lighter, as the grain is running in different directions.
3) Knots that cause runout in localized areas can create a swirly appearance to the irridescence of the wood. Hard to describe but very characteristic.

I assume the wood is well-quartered?

Christian, that is a really nice looking guitar there. Tigar Myrtle for the b&s?

That is going to scream under finish. I really want to see pictures when your done that baby!

Oh, love the spaulted maple wedge and rosette too. That rosette looks rather familiar (on cedar too)

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I will see if I can get a picture. One of the other issues id the board is right at 7.625 inches. I need 15 for the OM I am making. Is it unheard of to add a small wing to each edge if it doesn't quite make it to 15 when I fit the top?

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Mark Ewing
Columbus Ohio
"Trees are an important and precious thing. We should build good things with them. Building good guitars with heart are the best use for them." K. Yairi.

Sure you can add wings on the lower bout. Just take the off cuts from the waste area and join them to the lower bout. Same wood, same grain line and you're only looking for an inch at the most.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

If is is just a 'not quite' situation, don't forget that you will be routing for binding (probably) so that can give you a (very) little bit of leeway.
Wings are pretty common. In the Bob Benedetto archtop video, he's using a plate with about 1" wings on each side.
If you do them carefully (orienting the grain properly) they are just about invisible.

Cheers
John