Grade your Guitar Wood

[Jaden]

The top of my Om is covered with fine silking but also there is a nickel-sized imperfection, what looks like a dent in the wood grain underneath the finish but may be a singular instance of bearclaw.

I don’t know about the rating system; how much of the forest has to be cut down to find a perfect top?

I think it was Dana Bourgeois who said many excellent tops would be rejected by consumers for their visual, not sonic imperfections.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by Jaden

how much of the forest has to be cut down to find a perfect top?

That implies that sawyers just keep cutting down trees until they find one that is "right". It doesn't work that way. Sitka spruce, for example, is used for everything from 2 x 4's to guitar tops.

[Otterhound]

Originally Posted by Jaden

I don’t know about the rating system; how much of the forest has to be cut down to find a perfect top?

I think it was Dana Bourgeois who said many excellent tops would be rejected by consumers for their visual, not sonic imperfections.

There is no such thing as a perfect top made from wood .
Dana Bourgeois is only scratching the surface . There are woods that consumers readily reject simply because they aren't the species that they have been trained to see as acceptable . I once had a respected ( well deserved ) luthier declare that he would never consider black locust for a guitar . They make fence posts out of that stuff .
If you go to the right place , I have no doubt that you will see BRW being used as fence posts .
There is a huge world out there when you dare to leave the bubble .

[Bruce Sexauer]

Many spruce trees do not have have a AAA top in them. Spruce trees that do render a AAA top will almost always have many. The sawyer can make or break such a tree.

[ruby50]

Anybody have a spare $16,000 laying around?

https://reverb.com/item/11715897-tay...r-2000-natural

Ed

[Kitkatjoe]

Originally Posted by Iain1231

What do you think of Wood Grades. According to this guide :http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/doc...WOODS-LIST.pdf, A quartersawn wood would be an AAA grade for mahagony. What grade would you give your guitar's wood and why?

One of the best sounding guitars I own is at the bottom rung in looks. The tone is there.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Interesting to me that Taylor’s pallet guitar is apparently becoming collectible. I built a guitar a few years ago from Poplar with a Catalpa top, with a similar goal to the Taylor effort, which was to show that the materials influence pales in comparison to the builders input. What is especially interesting is that I made the guitar in 2013 ( I think) and no one ever bought it despite the price being advantageous and the guitar being very much in the ballpark of my general work. . . Until this week. A buyer has appeared! Coincidence? Or is it the changing times?