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Well I had an awesome week.. I'm slowly learning the art of selecting tonewood logs (specifically spruce). A new pair of corked boots, some warm socks and I was off.

Heres a few pics of the trip. Uhm Luthiersforum.com genius points for the first person to ID all 3 of the people introducing me to hunting tonewood in the ocean. BTW walking on those logs is harder than it looks.. especially when you've got about 60-80 lbs on the other guys there.. they just seem to spin and bob a lil more for me



Jason38680.8753009259

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Jay

That wouldn't be Jean Larrivee would it? And Maybe his son John Jr.? This is a really wild guess.

Josh

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Josh House

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Beared long haired one is Jean Larrivee for sure, other fellow in the dark boots is David Iannone I think (Morgan guitars). Not sure who is the one in the wonderfully orange boots, but I will go with Josh on the Jean Jr ... I know its not his other son Matthew.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Hey Jay,
I don't know who any of those guys are, but I wanted to thank you for sharing your experience. Fascinating stuff. Logging here in Ohio sure isn't as interesting.

If you've got more pics, I'd love to see them.

Great pics. I grew up playing tag on boom logs on Lake superior and it does get easier as you practice. I salvaged a 70 year old sitka spruce boom log off Lake Nipigon which was interesting, way more work than I would like though.

[QUOTE=TonyKarol] Beared long haired one is Jean Larrivee for sure, other fellow in the dark boots is David Iannone I think (Morgan guitars). Not sure who is the one in the wonderfully orange boots, but I will go with Josh on the Jean Jr ... I know its not his other son Matthew.[/QUOTE]

Ding Ding Ding! Winner ;) I figured Dave and John jr would throw some of you off but you guys are too smart ;)

I just wanted to show off the photos :D Thanks for playing.

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;) More sitka floating in the ocean!

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Thanks, Jay. I know what "guitar" means, but what does the "A" and "S" painted on the logs stand for?

The A / S isn't a tonewood thing, it's something to do with the log sort. Only a couple of those logs are any good for guitars. The ones selected get sent to the shop in Vancouver, the rest go away to become lumber, airplane parts, and whatever else spruce is good for.

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CVT Inc.
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Jason, very cool pics,
how did they go about determining which of the logs is best for guitars?

I have heard that they hit it with a sledge hammer to hear if it sings, but when the log is floating, how can they tell the differences between them?

Matt

I would imagine they are only looking at the annual ring spacing, and hopefully the log has been barked, so they can see the twist in the growth. I remember reading once that Jean bought a log that looked great, and then once it was split and sawn up into sets the whole thing was useless because it was loaded with sap pockets. I bought a high end top from Serge deJonge once that looked perfect, and once thicknessed there were two pockets that showed up,one on either side, the better looking side being the non book one. I asked Serge about it when the guitar was done and he said ' you never know hwat you are going to get - happens all the time'.

What was one of those logs worth ?? - probably like 20K or more.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Oh yeah .. so what do I win anyway ?? , a free top or half log or something !!!

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

If you look at some of the logs, you will see spiral grain (runout) and other included bark indicating damage within, both of which would eliminate its use for guitars. Even looking at straightness of grain will not guarantee that there isnt pitch pockets, reaction wood or thunder shakes.