I'm starting out 2022 in a new home and a new studio here in the Green Mountains. The shop is up and running and I've already sent my first guitar build here out for finish.
Time to start a new build! About two years ago I bought this board:
It is torrified curly Hard Maple and it is quartersawn. This is the only board I have ever seen like this before and since that was wide enough for backs and shows such strong figure for quartersawn Maple (which usually show curl best when flat sawn). And it is torrified.
I was able to get two guitar back and side sets along with neck wood and misc sizes for headstock or rosettes etc.
This was the first guitar I made:
So I know how this back and side set sounds. With it being torrified it has picked up a nice sustaining tap tone. You might say it still has the clarity of Maple with some of the charm of rosewood.
Hard Maple is also known as Sugar Maple which is where Maple syrup comes from. So after it is roasted in the torrification process it smells like granola when you work it (being a northeasterner, granola is kind of on par with manna from heaven).
We're working out which top to match up on this guitar and have it down to either Western Red Cedar or Swiss Moon Spruce. We'll likely incorporate stone inlays in the rosette like what I did on my last guitar but without the abalone:
Here is the cedar top I'm recommending:
If we go with this top I think a Green Turquoise rosette made from these stones would look wonderful:
The other option is a set of alpine Swiss Moon Spruce which I think would look great with Blue Turquoise:
Either top will work great with this Maple set.
Like the first guitar I made with this wood this will also be my Piña model.
And we're off in 2022!
M