Tale of Two Redwoods

[Mark Hatcher]

It was the best if tops
It was the worst of tops
It was the clarion call to musical greatness
It was the dull thud retired to the waste bin

So you might see why I decided to be a guitar builder instead of a writer

The best and worst tops I've ever used were Redwood. There is a bit of marketing hooey going on out there selling some pretty low performing redwood but, redwood can make a remarkable top with the right wood in the right hands. I have some of the Carter Redwoods which are just fantastic and recently I have loaded up on tops made from support beams used in railroad tunnels built in the late 1800s. They are remarkable. They tend to be lightweight, stiff, and some have grain counts of over 72 lines per inch. Here is an old photo of tunnel 14 and 15 from the Northern Pacific Shasta route:



Here are some top pictures:









These tops are of very limited supply as these pictures might attest:





I have no business interest in the sale of these woods. I am at an age in building that I can reasonably estimate how many tops I could possibly build with before I'm done and have made that purchase. I am extremely happy with these and they are in short supply. I just want to get the word out to other builders here on AGF. If you are a builder and would like the contact information feel free to PM me.

Mark

[hat]

That is some very nice wood Mark! have you completed any guitars using a set of that yet? I'm curious how the stiffness of those sets compares to the normal Redwood top?

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by hat

That is some very nice wood Mark! have you completed any guitars using a set of that yet? I'm curious how the stiffness of those sets compares to the normal Redwood top?

What’s a normal Redwood top? I’ve seen a lot more really dead Redwood tops than decent ones and an average wouldn’t do justice to good Redwood because the field is so wide.
Roughly, I would say Redwood comes heavy or light. 7grams per cubic inch would be what I call the border line. My experience with heavier have not given me great results, could be the way I build guitars.
The lighter Redwoods start getting closer to Western Red Cedar and I’d say that’s where these are. Maybe a little more midrange, top end, and sustain. Maybe a little less response to the lightest touch compared to normal cedar.
So any of the Tunnel Tops I’ve gotten fall into the lighter than 7gr per cubic inch. As a reference I would consider that weight to be an average Sitka weight.

Hope that helps!
Mark