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So I am currently collecting materials to build my dream guitar, a fully custom D-45, and I thought I might post this to see where I could find the top wood for it. What I am looking for is a quartersawn, straight grained, no runout, old growth, uniform color, billet split, piece of Adirondack Red Spruce. To put it short, I am looking for the perfect piece of Adirondack Spruce. If anyone has ever heard of John Arnold and his Smokies Adi Spruce, I am looking for stuff like that, even better if possible. As for the progress on this guitar in general, I already have the old growth jet black Madagascar Ebony fingerboard blank, and I am currently saving up money for the back and sides, and the mammoth ivory billet for the binding, nut, bridge pins, etc.

Check out the suppliers in the links above. A few months back I got some split billet Adi from A.Hix above and while it was not master grade it's some pretty nice stuff.

You could always ask John to see if he has any left.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yep... John is still around. Also check The Hampton Brothers... They have been cutting Red Spruce with John Arnold...

Hamptons may be a better bet. Here's a link to their ebay store.

http://stores.ebay.com/Hampton-Brothers-Guitars?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

These guys have never disappointed me.
http://www.adirondackspruce.com/guitar-wood/

Quite familiar with the late Ted Davis, John's partner. I used to use his red spruce (what you call adi). Used to get fallen trees, maybe 1-2/year. Don't know what the Hamptons do as far as cutting fresh or taking fallen.
Old Standard wood probably has the best, but you will pay through the nose for it.

http://www.adirondackspruce.com/

Switched to a cutter many years ago in Rhode Island and was totally satisfied with his red spruce, but I used A or B grade. Triple A, no runout, tight grain, quartered for a dread-knot is almost guaranteed to cost you a small fortune.
Just out of curiosity, how many guitars have you built? Mammoth ivory binding?!?

I got a Master Grade for a dread from Old Standard years ago for a commission that has been put on the back burner. Thankfully he paid for it upfront. It is REALLY nice. I haven't talked to him in quite a while, but if he ends up wanting to cancel that, it might be for sale! I bought about 10 tops from them and they were all super stiff and rang like a bell. Just cosmetically different.

I have bought mainly from Old Standard and have been pleased.

How many instruments have you built?

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

I am currently working on my second guitar, but my dream guitar on the other hand, is a long term project, I am talking 10+ years. I decided to start collecting the material for it now considering high quality tonewoods have gotten rarer and rarer, and will only continue to get rarer. All in all, the materials for this will cost me a bit less than a boring East Indian Rosewood Martin made D-45. As for the mammoth ivory binding, I was able to track someone down who has Mammoth ivory in lengths long enough to have a continuous strip from bottom centerline to top centerline, ie, 2 strips on the top, 2 on the back. It will perhaps be the most expensive part of this instrument but Mammoth ivory isn't hard to bend, in fact, I have read that it is easier to bend than Elephant ivory, something I would never use for obvious ethical reasons, not even pre ban stuff.

Try David Smith. He has had some fantastic Red Spruce in the past.

Smith Creek Mandolin and Tonewood
David Smith
46 Summer St.
Westerly, RI 02891
401-787-6302
email: dave@smithcreekmandolin.com

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Good to hear and thanks for caring!

Old Standard is my 'go to'. I don't mind paying for that kind of quality.
Usually exceeds my expectations

Hampton Brothers, I have the luxury of dropping in and.......digging and thumpin my way through the pile

old standard in fulton mo , got some adi brace stock , suitable for making smaller instruments

Ya spilled the beans, Don.
I always liked his WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) on the website. He also does beautiful CNC work for archtop and mandolin plates. He always did right by me.

Lately Allied has had some ridiculously tight grain Adi, some of the nicest I’ve seen. Could be a little silkier but I’m not complaining. What are you using for the B&S?

And he's a good guy. Lives like 30 minutes from me. He has some great wood...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Back and sides are going to be Bois De Rose.

"It will perhaps be the most expensive part of this instrument but Mammoth ivory isn't hard to bend, in fact, I have read that it is easier to bend than Elephant ivory, "

I've softened mammoth ivory with phosphoric acid. You can bend it over a form and re-harden it with decrepitated (heated) table salt .
I used the inner dentin parts of the tusk to make a pickguard and will try my hand at making binding at some point in the future The dentin from the tusk I have is a dark mottled tortoise color. I have read that you can also splice short pieces together to make up binding, which is what I will attempt to do.

We have very similar taste other than the shape of this guitar to be . My dream guitar build is also going to be Boise de Rose and Adirondack Spruce. It will be tastefully decked out in abalone and in the shape of a SJ or OM. Probably OM since that is my original design and I've been very happy with it. That's a ways off though, I'm finishing off a bunch of others first. Good luck!

Also is this your first build?

I understand the wisdom in getting materials now for a far off project since you expect the prices to rise in the next 10 years. I just wanted to add some food for thought. Before I made my first guitar, I had a very specific idea of what I wanted my "dream guitar" to be once I built up the chops to pull it off. The more exposure I get to hand/custom made instruments the more my tastes evolve. If I sat down to lay out my "dream guitar" today, it would be nothing like what I thought I wanted. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that I no longer have an ideal guitar in my head; there are just too many flavors to enjoy. But I don't see myself ever making the guitar I thought I wanted back then.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Ditto

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Thrice