Official Luthiers Forum!

LMI claims you can expose their lower grade tops to sunlight and the color inconsistencies will disappear. has anyone tried this? what kind of results have you had?

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

I don't know about redwood,
but I got a bearclaw spruce top that had red streaks in it,
and after a few years, as a git top, and under finish, it looks very even yellow.
Hope that helps.
Wood color does change with time, sun, etc.
Purple heart, and padooook turn muddy brown.
Someone said, "oh, thats red fir", on a floor that had a dresser on it,
sorry, no such thing as red fir.
I think it's all douglas, or hem.

I don't know for Redwood, but I've made some test with some white woods... maple and ash. A teacher of mine, who's a cello luthier, told me about this. When its instrument are final sanded (really, really smooth) and ready to get stained and varnished, he exposes it to sunlight for few days, 'till he get a nice warm oxydation. He says that this oxydation gives more deepness and warmness to the stain after. There's always a quicker method to do this oxydation. It's called ammoniacisation (I translate it, I don't know if the word exist in english.) You hang the instrument in a sort of tent with a litle cap of ammoniac on the bottom. It have to be hermetic to get better result and for security. Let it over night, check out the results, and reapt if it's not enough.

I've made tests with both method, and it works pretty well. Ammoniac is quicker, but I'd say I would go with the nice natural sunlight.

Francis

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Dark mineral steaks won't fade much, but the colour will generally darken & even out.
I have seen very stripey Cedar tops look like master grade after a year under finish.

I've put "stripey Cedar tops" in my wifes tanning bed with great results. I've got a stack of Redwood but it's all evenly colored.

_________________
I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Another vote for dave maize. I have used his master grade redwood. It was awesome stuff, and a fraction of the cost of most dealers.

_________________
--Kyle Burner--

thanks guys for all of the responses. so no love for the LMI redwood tops? they are discounted 25% right now and the 3+ price is pretty good, i thought. supposedly, the grading is solely cosmetic. so a AA top could be a great buy. that would be 3 tops for about $120 bucks delivered. maybe i just buy 2 higher grade tops fom elsewhere. any thoughts?

_________________
sweat the small stuff.