Bleached Spruce

[Pura Vida]

Does anyone know how common it is for guitar makers to bleach their spruce tops during production? I've seen color toner and tint, but always thought that natural tops were just that... natural. Am I being naive?

[Wade Hampton]

I suppose it’s possible that some manufacturers might do that if they were going for a very specific cosmetic appearance, but it’s certainly not a common practice; in fact I’ve never heard of any guitar company doing that.


whm

[Pura Vida]

Thanks, Wade. I hadn't heard of it either. But earlier today, I was chatting with someone from an unnamed guitar company, asking a number of different questions about their guitars. One of my questions was about their tops and whether the natural color was affected by their finish or any tint or aging toner. And their response was (paraphrasing): "well, we don't bleach our tops like the other companies do."

This caught me by surprise b/c I've never heard of that or read about it. When I pressed, they said it's not advertised, but an extremely common practice. I figured it was a good question to ask here, since there are so many knowledgeable folks and quite a few experienced guitar makers, as well.

[Osage]

Never heard of anyone doing this.

[Simon Fay]

Well, I bleach all my tops. I let them simmer in a few inches of bleach and wash them in my washing machine to give them a beautiful, pale color.

To clarify, nobody bleaches their tops - the fellow you spoke to was misinformed.

[Drak]

Being a hobbyist electric builder for ~25 years, I've always got wood bleach in the house and know how and when to use it.
I've used it to bleach figured maple tops and some other things many times over the years.

There are woods that 'take' to bleaching well and ones that do not.
Spruce would be in the 'do not' catagory.
As Simon said, no one would bleach Spruce.

[The Bard Rocks]

I wonder if they try it to reduce the visual effect of runout?

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

Thanks, Wade. I hadn't heard of it either. But earlier today, I was chatting with someone from an unnamed guitar company, asking a number of different questions about their guitars. One of my questions was about their tops and whether the natural color was affected by their finish or any tint or aging toner. And their response was (paraphrasing): "well, we don't bleach our tops like the other companies do."

This caught me by surprise b/c I've never heard of that or read about it. When I pressed, they said it's not advertised, but an extremely common practice. I figured it was a good question to ask here, since there are so many knowledgeable folks and quite a few experienced guitar makers, as well.

Nah, that person was speaking out of an orifice other than the proper one, let’s put it that way. I would guess that it was a traveling sales rep for the company who fed you that misinformation rather than anyone involved with the actual process of building the guitars. In similar encounters with sales reps I’ve been given some rather blatant misinformation about rival firms’ supposed dubious practices.

Like Drak pointed out, yes, some woods can be successfully bleached, but spruce is not a good candidate for that process.


whm

[Pura Vida]

Perfect. Thanks, all. It seemed unlikely to me, but I've never worked in the industry or made a guitar, so I figured I'd come here to set things straight. It's amazing that a guitar company would allow someone to speak so freely and loosely with the facts. It says something about the company this person represents, and it lends some credibility to other companies whose reps have provided me with some incredibly useful information.