[datzus1]

I just experienced an amazing few hours watching Randall Ray carve and sand the top and back braces on a 00 12 fret model I ordered in late 2023. They use spruce for the top bracing, and I've ordered Englemann over Ziricote. The grains on the top are incredibly fine. During the carving process, he tone tapped the top about four or five times, listening for the desired effects on the treble and bass tone bars and then scraping small slices where he wanted and tapping over and over until he was satisfied. He showed me how to hold the top with one hand and tap with the other, and the resulting tones were different, for me, very much a "Wow! I hear THAT." Once he finished rough carving with a chisel, he sanded with a small machine before completing the process by hand, using different grits of sandpaper, explaining that they now like to use mahogany for inside the back strip because they like its stability over sitka. In the middle of the top bracing process, he grinned and held up the top so the braces faced me. He put one extended hand directly over where the main braces cross, just below the soundhole and said, "John Arnold once said, 'Everything below this is about tone; everything above is about stability'". He also demonstrated the flexibility of the top from side to side and then from top to bottom, which surprised me because I'd never imagined that a top would bend like that... but it now makes so much sense to me for a top to vibrate like that and pump sound out through the sound hole. What a wonderful experience to observe an artisan and a friend work their magic and passion on and with wood that will soon become a guitar, one that we designed together, a labor of love and a work of art.

Enjoy the pics... Burr