MartinD_GibsonA
Mar-11-2004, 6:28am
Got a call from my builder last night. He wanted me to come over and look at some tops for a new guitar. I'm really excited about this instrument since I got to pick my own back/side woods and all the appointments (backstrip, binding, rosette, etc). Anyway, he had ordered some Adirondack Spruce for me but said he wasn't very happy with it and wanted me to have a look before he started on it. He was right. The grain is kinda wide is some spots, and some of the lines are fairly dark. He's got some really pretty Sitka Spruce that he can use that would be much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. However, I've always heard that most people consider Adirondack to be superior to Sitka in tonal quality, and in tap-testing the two tops we picked out, the Adirondack seems deeper and more resonant to me. So my dilemma is, do I go for the prettier Sitka -- knowing full well that (probably) over half the guitars made today use it and many of them sound great -- or do I go for the less attractive but perhaps better-sounding Adirondack? If it were *your* instrument, what would you do? OF course, there's always option 3 ... ask the builder to choose whichever he thinks works best. Thanks for your thoughts.
Don Smith
Don Smith