Anyone have a spruce/maple guitar?

[petermc61]

I'm an owner of 3 spruce/maple guitars with the fourth one by Michael Thames on the way. Needless to say I like them. They are can hold their own against the rosewood.

What makers and price points are the other three? Any preferences between them or observations of their respective strengths?

Regards

Petet

[Kenbobpdx]

In my experience, it's only been the last year, give or take, where players in general are taking more than a passing glance at many of the alternatives to Rosewood, in particular the Maples but also Cherry, Pear, Walnut....

At the handmade instrument show I saw some beautiful examples of steel strings in walnut and cherry. One of the most striking was made out of Oregon walnut. Gorgeous wood. Evidently Oregon walnut is a naturally occurring hybrid between a native walnut and walnuts brought into the region from the East coast. Worked up nicely for the guitar.

I would think it would be hard to get wide enough pieces of pear wood to make book matched backs, though. I just haven't seen many pear trees with sufficient girth. Nice wood though.

[Scot Tremblay]

I would think it would be hard to get wide enough pieces of pear wood to make book matched backs, though. I just haven't seen many pear trees with sufficient girth. Nice wood though.

I think that's probably very true. My pear trees in the back yard, are at least a hundred years old and big enough to maybe make lute ribs...one of the lutes with 31 ribs in the bowl.

I did pick up some nice flamed European Pear sets last summer that are plenty wide enough for full size classical two piece backs. But I'm told they are pretty rare as most places don't log fruit trees unless absolutely necessary or they came down due to natural reasons (wind, age...).

In my neighbourhood there are some very large Japanese Cherry and Plum trees that I'm waiting to come down. There will be some good two piece backs there...a little twisted maybe.

I've used some of the Oregon Walnut for a fair number of my instruments and I really like it. The shop smell great and it makes a nice sounding guitar to boot...but Maple is still king IMO.

[Kenbobpdx]

In my neighbourhood there are some very large Japanese Cherry and Plum trees that I'm waiting to come down. There will be some good two piece backs there...a little twisted maybe.

We took out a very old black cherry tree last year. The tree was probably part of a farmhouse orchard in the early 1900s before our house was built in 1921. Didn't think to keep any lengths as I really don't quite know which part of the tree would be best for instrument building. While the tree was not healthy the wood in the main trunk was very clean. And it definitely had the girth as the tree was between 60 and 70 feet tall. Not so hot for picking cherries, though.

There are a number of old fruit trees including cherry, pear, and plum trees in my block. Again, all part of what we think is an old farmhouse orchard. Other than our remaining cherry and a walnut most were old but fairly skinny.

[wechard]

All players have to do is talk to the luthiers and they will comply...in fact, there are makers right here on delcamp that are doing amazing work with maple...start bugging them and your wish will come true.

That's true. Right now my savings are in the 2k range, so the ideal thing would be if good factory classicals came in a wider range of woods, or if more luthiers had been using a wider variety in the past so that it would have filtered down into the used market. But I'm still on the fence about whether I should save for another year and commission something, and wood choice might be the thing that tips me in that direction.

[Bix]

Justin Leslie (Utah) is building a Birdseye/Spruce Romanillos style for me. 640mm/50mm. Delivery mid-July.

[cliffbryant]

I have a wonderful Spruce/Birdseye Maple guitar made by Randy Reynolds. It is very much in the Torres style (not a double top which is generally what he builds). It is a very light guitar, very responsive with a wonderful tone.