Pine top?

[banjomanva]

saw a mandolin listed on ebay...it was called a 'surf city'. #it isn't bad looking overall but the manufacturer states it has a solid PINE top.....i am not a mandolin builder, but it seems that pine would sound horrible....anybody ever play a mando with a pine top?

surf city on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/Surf-City-F-style-Mandolin_W0QQitemZ7342919166QQcategoryZ10179QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem)

[John Flynn]

Peter Coombe, a builder from Australia who posts regularly here, swears by Australian "King Billy Pine" as a great tone wood, although I am sure what is used in that Surf City mandolin is something quite different. I just mention it to say that there is probably no wood that should be ruled out on its name alone. If the pine is solid, it might be better than some more traditional tone woods laminated.

[arbarnhart]

King Billy Pine is Tasmanian Redwood. There are some guitar builders that like select pieces of Eastern white pine very much. There was a discussion in the builder's forum not long ago about alternatives. It seems that not bucking tradition is a big factor because a lot of buyers want a red spruce F like Monroe's.

[Spruce]

Among violin makers in England during a good part of the 20th century, "spruce" was referred to as "pine"...

The Surf City, at casual glance, looks to be made in India...
(Correct me if I'm wrong).

Indian English is obviously heavily influenced by the British.....

I'm guessing the "pine" is indeed spruce....

[Bill Snyder]

The first mandolin I built is a flat top with a pine soundboard and its ok. #I would be more suspect of the quality of construction rather than the pine top on the Surf City mandolin.

[peter.coombe]

"King Billy Pine is Tasmanian Redwood."

Mmm, that is stretching things a bit, although I guess one could say that King Billy is about as close to Redwood as any of the native Aussie species get. King Billy Pine is a species unique to Tasmania, Australia. The wood is similar to Redwood, but it is still quite different from Redwood. Although I have never used Redwood in a mandolin, I do have some Redwood, and it is not difficult to tell the difference. I have also played mandolins made with Redwood tops, and they don't sound quite like a King Billy top, which has quite a unique sound.

[arbarnhart]

I got that info on the web, somewhere like here (http://home.hiwaay.net/~redwood/rwfamily.html). On more careful reading, it does say that bald cypress is part of the family too and I certainly wouldn't call that redwood.

Also, here (http://www.tasmaniasouth.com/tassouth/didyouknow.html) it says:
The only relatives to the giant redwood tree growing in the Southern Hemisphere, the King Billy and pencil pines are also found only in Tasmania.

[frankblackcat]

This is where "English" names for trees/timber get confusing. #Redwood could mean the giant redwoods as in Sequoia and Sequoiadendron being the two Redwood species found in North America, but could also include Metasequoia as in the species found in China. #In terms of timber, in the UK at least redwood could include pines and larches as opposed to white woods being spruces. #From experience, it seems to me the term redwood is a pretty broad brush term that gets used differently depending on age of the person and from what aspect you're looking at the timber.

"King Billy Pine" is not a true pine (Pinus species) but an Arthrotaxis spp which is closely related to the Cryptomaria species (Japanese Red Cedar) and both of which are related to the Sequoia family mentioned already. #Again, botanically this whole group of families are described as Redwoods.

I'm not sure that any of that is remotely interesting or relevent and probably just confuses it all some more.