Still a Sitka fan?

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by redir

Is that in the Hoh rainforest?

YEars ago I went hiking there and was drooling over some of the spruce boards that they had on the side of the trials that they were about to use for making a bridge.

That is at Lake Quinault in Washington, a little south of HOH I believe. My sister and her family live nearby and we stoped by on one of our trips.

[s2y]

I haven't owned cedar on a steel string. Probably will at some point.

I have used old growth redwood, Englemann, Sitka, Euro, and Adirondack. I like them all. I probably gravitate towards Adirondack on dreadnoughts for loud flat picking. Sitka for all around versatility. Englemann for more of a finger style guitar.

[Bill R]

Over the years I've had Martin, Taylor and Collings guitars all with Sitka tops, most of which I really liked. I also had a R Taylor with a Moon Spruce top which was very nice. The only guitar I didn't really like was a R Taylor in mahogany with a redwood top. Nice tone and very pretty, but no volume at all.

My Greven 000 has a Lutz spruce top, which John prefers, and sounds fantastic. My on-order Greven 0012-fret will also have a Lutz top, as John can do wonders with this wood. As others have stated, it totally depends on the specific piece of wood and the skill of the builder to bring out the best in it, whether it be Sitka, Adi, Engleman or Euro spruce...and, of course, the ears and personal taste of the player.

As I've said before, we are all very fortunate to have so many tone wood options available from which to choose.

Bill

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by s2y

I haven't owned cedar on a steel string. Probably will at some point.

I have used old growth redwood, Englemann, Sitka, Euro, and Adirondack. I like them all. I probably gravitate towards Adirondack on dreadnoughts for loud flat picking. Sitka for all around versatility. Englemann for more of a finger style guitar.

Well put. I’m about the same, really, except I do own some cedar-topped steel strings but haven’t owned any guitars with redwood tops. That’s probably due to never having come across a redwood-topped guitar that I both liked and could afford.

But all of the top woods in common use can be used to make great-sounding guitars. It’s foolish to pretend otherwise.


whm

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

...it still comes down to how an individual spruce top performs, nothing more, nothing less. The species chosen can serve as a rough guideline to what might be EXPECTED, but that’s as specific as it can get.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

This, in a nutshell.

[Ed66]

I have two guitars with sitka tops and each sounds fantastic. I also have several with cedar tops that sound as good but generally warmer. Although I don't have a great deal of experience with some of the less common tone woods, I'm generally a fan of well designed and built guitars as a good luthier can work with quite a variety of woods to get excellent sound.

[Hasbro]

sitka it is my favorite. This is a great experiment on only changing top wood:

Sitka
https://youtu.be/Aoa64lHzh_8
Euro
https://youtu.be/J1MNgy3AX2c
Cedar
https://youtu.be/U5pT6PsNLMg

[lowrider]

How many here think they could tell the different spruces apart by looking at them without a label or by blind listening?

I bet you'd be wrong at least half the time.

[Hasbro]

I probably would back and forth except for the cedar top

Originally Posted by lowrider

How many here think they could tell the different spruces apart by looking at them without a label or by blind listening?

I bet you'd be wrong at least half the time.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Haasome

That is at Lake Quinault in Washington, a little south of HOH I believe. My sister and her family live nearby and we stoped by on one of our trips.

One of the most beautiful spots on the planet. My wive lived on Whidbey Island for a bit.

[brianmay]

Martin felt it was appropriate to stick Sitka Spruce tops on my two 28 Series guitars.

I love them both. They look and sound great.

That's good enough for me.

[gitarro]

I think the issue with sitka is not so much about tone but more because it is much more commonly available in the United States than European spruce or adirondack spruce and generally the desirability of something tends to go down when it is in abundant supply. The guitar industry has been very blessed by having access to the huge sitka spruce forest in North America and as a result very high quality tops have been available at comparatively cheap prices. However those forests have been so heavily logged that the days of cheap sitka spruce maybe coming to an and although that is not the fault of the guitar industry but more of the construction industry.

Having said that, for whatever reason the best guitars I have played have been made with adirondack and european spruce tops.

[Neil K Walk]

Sitka works. If Jean Larrivee swears by it then I’m satisfied.

Btw, no love for Carpathian?

[vindibona1]

Yeah... I was a big fan when he played for the '63 Bears!

...oh... Ditka... not Sitka. Sorry.

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by Haasome

Not to derail the thread, but these are magnificent trees. Here’s a picture I took of an impressive Sitka tree.

..I love Quinalt and have visited that very tree....you’ll have trees like that when you get 12 feet of rain annually!!!..