Official Luthiers Forum!

Any suggestions for a good source of brace stock. I'd prefer adirondack spruce. A luthier freind of mine and I conducted an experiment. We dropped two pieces of brace wood - one sitka and one adi, and the difference was striking. The adi rang more than the sitka. Maybe it was that particular sitka... but it made me a believer in adi bracing...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

You could be right, but considering the variability of wood properties, sample size is a little small for any meaningful comparison.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Steve: Try David Smith at Smith Creek Mandolin and Tonewood for Red Spruce.
Tom

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

rsc3ralph@gmail.com
The Adi guy to go to!

Shane at highmountain has great bracing stock.
It's Lutz and is fantastic!

Or try www. RC tonewoods.com
Pete & Bob have great woods & great prices!


Mike

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Mike Collins

Old standard in fulton mo for adi.

+1 for Old Standard. Tops and bracewood, A-1 Adi.

I just received some Carpathian spruce brace wood from Eurotonewood...really nice stuff...

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MK5acoustics.com

For carpathian I use john preston, from old world spruce. Fast , reliable , honest, and vy reasonable.Which is more than I can say abt another alleged lutz supplier.

Huh? Apples and Oranges?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I just tried Alaskan Specialty Woods, so far I am liking what I see. Unfortunately they only have sitka spruce and cedar.

And as far as sound goes, I've tapped 4 German spruce soundboard and they all sound different. Some have more treble and rings more while others are bassier. You can't judge an entire specie based on one stick.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

For Adi brace stock I call Tom Thiel at Northwind tonewoods:
http://northwindtonewood.com/

He is the most knowledgeable person I have ever talked to concerning wood.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Stephen at Colonial Tonewoods. Just bought a bunch.....best quality I've seen so far. Super nice guy.

+1 for Colonial.

Thanks for the tips. I noticed that Colonial Tonwoods has two types; Medium grained and Fine Grained 15+ grains per inch...

- Is medium grained better (okay) for backs (or fine is better) and fine grain better for tops? ...Any comments?

- typically, and how many pieces @ 22" long X 2" wide X 1" thick is needed to brace a guitar (dreadnought or otherwise)?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Steve, I always counsel 3/4" x 4" x 22" per guitar, if you don't make too many mistakes. As for grain it is more about stiffness that grain count and that can be adjusted with how you carve your braces. All mentioned are good suppliers, can't go wrong with any of them.

Shane

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Canada