Official Luthiers Forum!

I am working on a top that has some bearclaw, my question is , does it go throgh the top? will sanding the top reduce the amount of bear claw ? bring more out ? I am just wondering if I will lose it when/if I thin the perimeter of the top .. thanks Jody

Look at the back side of the top ??

That will tell you if the pattern is uniform all the way through.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim's correct - bearclaw is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you will get......

thanks now I am feeling a bit gumpy ...looks like I will be losing some . Jody

Jody my friend on the last guitar that I built much of the bearclaw sanded off the top. So..... I decided to call it squirrel claw and all was well......

I just bought 20 sitka blanks (#2 or #3 grade) and about 5 of them had some significant bear claw in them....or 'squirrel claw'...as Hesh put it...

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

...clearly, this is why you select a show face, joint, inlay the rosette, level sand, and then thickness from the back.

Yes, Bearclaw can be thin and irregular, it is not like curly wood. If you are buying bearclaw sets it is really best to buy at least sets that are surfaced on the face(because a lot of what you are paying for is the look of that figure. Then you should only need a minimal amount of surfacing on the face, thickness from the back as Mattia mentioned. Avoid buying ruff cut bearclaw, or at least don't pay too much for it(buy it as you would any other regular set) as you may lose what figure may be present.

Rich

LOL hey thanks for the responses guys ! I didnt buy this as bear claw, it wa s serviced top I bought so i could build while I was acquiring all the neccessary doo-dads -thing-a majiggies and hooziwhatsits for guitar building , so nothing lost ,, having said that, the respones here give me a good idea how to approach the situation in the future .. thanks again! Jody