Official Luthiers Forum!

Luigi has donated 3 extremely nice Italian Spruce tops.

If you have not been aware of the conversations lately - Luigi has been intriguing all of us with some of his high grade Italian spruce tops.

He has generously donated 3 of his best sets.

Here is what he has to say about the wood.


Here are the brief description and the pictures of the wood I’m going to donate the OLF for one of the next auctions.

This wood has a story. I’ts been harvested at a high altitude and comes from a trunk I had from a crazy harvester a few years ago; he was on the point to sell for firewood and came to my attention when a friend of mine showed me a piece for an opinion about the incredible figure. He was’t shure if this could have been alpine spruce because of colour (more clear than usual) and the particular “flamed” figure this friend of mine didn’t ever see. The wood was amazing but had deep gray spots on one side, the side that probably has been left laying on wet ground for months. The north side (which is usually the best one in alpine trunks) was perfect.

This spruce is probably an hibrid since it differs in colour, growth, grain count and figure from most of the spruce I’ve seen until now. Compared with the Fiemme I have it looks even stiffer and more nervous, has a bit less overtones when tapped and a bit (just a bit) less sustain but I’ve runned some home tests and if properly braced it has an incredible caracter. As I told you if Fiemme is the Rolls Royce of spruces, this is a sort of Ferrari that turns into very aggressive and responsive tops expecially in medium sized guitars. I love it and called “Wild Boy” for its particular appearance. I have enough for 90-100 tops or more and the sets I’m giving the forum are some of the best ones.

I shot a lot of pictures in different light conditions trying to show the flamed pattern, It’s been a hard job and the images I’m sending you show just a little of what the winner will see.

Approx dimensions: 55 cm x 22 cm x 0,45 cm ( 21,6 x 8,6 x 1,78”). These tree tops can be replaced with an equivalent billet.


We are going to run this auction a bit differently than those in the recent past. Rather than making 1 auction for all 3 tops, we are going to accept the 3 highest bids each winning 1 top.

If you want to bid on more than 1 top you will need to specify that in your bid. (i.e. 2 tops @ $200 per)



All of the normal stuff applies, going, going, gone etc.

Good luck.







Brock Poling38713.4820023148

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Let's start it off! I'll bid $30 for 1 top.
Tracy

I'll bid $35 each for 2 tops.

_________________
Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Pictures?

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Sorry... It takes me a few minutes to get these posted.... you guys are just FAST.   

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

GEEZ.... that looks pretty nice. I'll bid $100 for the best one :)

_________________
Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

$40 for 1 top

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I see'm, thanks

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

$50.00 for 2 tops

Here we go again. $70 - 2 tops.

_________________
Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

I'd say $75- 2 tops

75 - 1 topsJim_W38713.5513078704

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

So far, it looks like we have:

1 top $100
2 tops $75

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Nice...! An open-ended auction. No "ends at day/time" thing. So who decides when it's over? Is this sort of like Musical Chairs?

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Wow guys, I'm impressed by your interest (and generosity) so good for the OLF

Gg

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Nice...! An open-ended auction. No "ends at day/time" thing. So who decides when it's over? Is this sort of like Musical Chairs?
[/QUOTE]

As the graphic says...   

Friday @ noon.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

3 tops @$85.00 each.

it is all for the good of OLF (and to win )Shawn38713.7233217593

Wait this still keeps me in the lead for one of them, right?

_________________
Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

So far

[QUOTE=Brock Poling] [QUOTE=Don Williams] Nice...! An open-ended auction. No "ends at day/time" thing. So who decides when it's over? Is this sort of like Musical Chairs?
[/QUOTE]

As the graphic says...   

Friday @ noon.[/QUOTE]

Since I only use the "Active Topics" section, I don't see the graphics. You guys should really add those to that section! I made a bad assumption that someone would post that info in the thread...sorry, my bad.

Don Williams38713.781099537

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Brock,
How about Numbering the tops so we can bid on a paricular one? other wise please explain the bid/selection process...am I bidding on photo #1 or #3 if I only want one?

I realy like the first two photos/tops can I bid on them only?

I am not trying to be a wise guy...just want to know as I am truely/only interested in the first two ( given the photos shown).

THANKS!

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Here we are, I shot the picture with sunset light trying to show the bearclaws without artifices so they look darker, refer to picture #3 for the original colour.



#1 has a pretty nice knot in the lower corner far off the profile of a standard D size guitar

#2 is 1/2 inch longer than the others

#3 the last one, has the same lenght of #1 without the knot in the corner.

All the sets come from the same 4 years air dried billet and leave my house at a 12% RH.

Gg

O.k. I bid $100 on #2 and $100 on #3.

Can you also give more descritption on the amount of bear claw on each ( i.e. "heavy claw", "least claw", "most claw" etc.)

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

This is confusing some bids seem to be for 1,2 or 3 tops some bids seem to be on top #1,#2 or #3 which is it?

It is just evolving... that is all.

The three top bids still take the stash.

As I have it we have

3 bids at $100

Jfrench
Dave-SKG (2 tops)

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com