Spruce Veneer

[aeronaute]

I am in search of spruce veneer, 1.5mm thickness, for a mandocello project. I want to experiment with spruce lamination for tonewood - soundboard.

I can find thickness at 3mm but not 1.5mm. Can someone please recommend a source for spruce veneer?

Thank You
aeronaute

[j. condino]

These guys will cut it in any dimension you need:

https://bcveneer.com/processes/about-lumber/

These guys are always super helpful and they have some low tech innovative processes. Their customer service is always very helpful.

https://www.roarockit.com/veneer/

I get a lot of it for upright bass work, including new builds in my giant vacuum system. Give us a better idea of the mandocello project or call the shop to chat a bit; I do a lot of veneer work and am always interested in new ideas. Right now I'm sitting on a pile of giant 18" wide x 48" long flitch cut locally milled red spruce veneer awaiting a quartet of new upright basses!

[aeronaute]

I want to use my years of composite aerospace lamination experience and vintage aircraft wood repair and fabrication to explore laminated spruce tonewood - soundboard. The main adhesives: resorcinol, titebond and klass kote epoxy. I have extensive experience with all three of these adhesives with spruce, maple and balsa.

Any thoughts? Classical guitar luthiers are successful with lamination in soundboards. Why not archtop instruments also.

I’m dwelling in the skateboard laminate process with carving for tuning. And experiment with the three adhesives for tone variations.

[Marty Jacobson]

Cool, that should work. It's been proven many times over that the materials are not what matter, but the care and attention of the builder. I'm sure you'll come up with a successful design if you work at it long enough. I had never worked with carbon fiber before, but it only took me three lay-ups to get a soundboard that acted almost identically to my traditional graduated redwood builds. All three of those adhesives will work, and I doubt you'll hear a major difference between them if the clamping pressure for each is within manufacturer's spec.
Sounds like you're approaching this with more of an engineering mindset- try stuff, see what works- rather than the reproduction mindset. Often new builders ask "how thick should I make my soundboard", which is not a fair question, and if applied, won't guarantee success.
I've heard it said that nearly all the wood used by Antonio Stradivarius would have been rejected by mid-tier builders today due to being of poor quality.

[aeronaute]

Located spruce sheets in various thickness.

https://www.nationalbalsa.com/spruce_sheets_s/253.htm

[j. condino]

Making a bunch of test pieces with a range of both thickness and grain directions will give you the answer. Titebond will have some issues with creep over the long haul, but the main difference I've noticed is that it winds up much more pliable than the resourcinol or epoxy. Resourcinol is very temperature sensitive and pretty much will not cure properly under 70 degrees F. I have a giant roll of carbon fiber leftover from a commercial race car hull here in the shop if you'd like a bit to add to your experiments.

[aeronaute]

Making a bunch of test pieces with a range of both thickness and grain directions will give you the answer. Titebond will have some issues with creep over the long haul, but the main difference I've noticed is that it winds up much more pliable than the resourcinol or epoxy. Resourcinol is very temperature sensitive and pretty much will not cure properly under 70 degrees F. I have a giant roll of carbon fiber leftover from a commercial race car hull here in the shop if you'd like a bit to add to your experiments.

I have light weight e-glass (paper thin) for one sample of lamination, to stack between the spruce on bias. Curious about stability qualities.