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Many finger pickers and builders of like guitars have stated that, for finger-picking, they prefer cedar tops.
What kind and harvested from where please.
Thanks,

Western Red Cedar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_plicata

You have to be very careful working with it - you can dent it from across the room just by looking at it funny.

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Among all the top woods I have used, this is the one that I find the most need to pick out in person, because they vary so much in stiffness. If they are given the hgiest grade on the usual visual criteria--sawn on quarter, little or no runout, straight grain, even growth ring spacing--they still can be very different.

You may not be able to buy in person, but if you can't, find a supplier who can pick out stiff tops for you, especially those that are stiff across the grain. For steel strings, in my opinion stiffer is better with cedar.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Alaskan Yellow Cedar aka Alaskan Cypress aka Yellow Cedar is more like a hardwood in its properties. Lovely stuff (if you like the smell; some don't) and often used for back/sides for flamenco-style guitars- it's also good stuff for linings and such if you aren't too concerned about the weight.

Also, (not to start an argument) stiffness along the grain is probably as important/more important than cross-grain stiffness- something to keep in mind when you are massaging wood. Stiffness in the two directions doesn't seem to always 'go hand in hand' which can make choices even trickier.

Cheers
John

Fingerpickers are talking about Western Red Cedar harvested throughout the northern mountain areas of the North American continent.

Mike

Thanks all

I'll echo what Howard said. You can expect to see a lot of variation in cross-grain stiffness (regardless of long grain stiffness). I resawed one billet that was visually beautiful, as nice looking as anything you could want, and that was almost limp in the cross-grain direction. I don't know what to do with it.

Jim

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

[QUOTE=jtkirby] I resawed one billet that was visually beautiful, as nice looking as anything you could want, and that was almost limp in the cross-grain direction. I don't know what to do with it.
[/QUOTE]
Drop it in the mail to me!

Hi All....haven't posted here before, but have been lurking for a while.  I just strung up 2 cedar-topped guitars this weekend that are prototypes for a new design for me.  These were the first guitars I've built using WRC and I have to say I'm just tickled with the initial sound...very loud and present right off the bat.  I did trash one top while thicknessing, though...way too floppy across the grain, albeit very pretty!  I might have rejected it had I been able to get my hands on it prior to buying it....to reinforce Howard's thoughts.  I thickness by feel and the tops both ended up around .130" compared to about .110-.115" for the Sitka and Engelmann I've been used to.

Loren

Anyone out there ever heard of Insence Cedar, also called White Cedar
(species Calocedrus decurrens) being used. It's another of the the Cedars
+/- common to the northwest. Just curious.

john