Well.
I'm back from a short stint driving from Athens to Florence (with a boat-ride in the middle), and adding a daytrip up to Milan to check out Rivolta Woods for some more tops. I only 'needed' another 5 tops to match the numbers of tops and back/side sets, but obviously I came away with 9, and a spare set of macassar ebony to spare. And we're ignoring another order that's gonna come in later today.
For those who don't know Rivolta, they're a small-ish family-owned firm specialising in Italian Spruce. Most of their best stock is pretty freshly cut (spring of 2004, mostly), although they have a fair amount of mixed, older stock still in the shop. They also carry back/side woods, but pricing on those is merely decent, not fantastic.
Basically, I drove in and was shown the warehouse with the stacks of back/side sets (paired, but not matched. Match your own is the game, although I have to say the sets I got by mail order were very well matched, so I wouldn't hesitate to do it that way.) Then there was the spruce. They had two very large shelving units for guitar tops; the first, the older stock, mostly had grade E (top grade) and Grade 1 (slightly less, sometimes an avoidable knot, mostly slightly wider grain and striping) tops from 2000-2003. Each unit's about 15 feet wide, tops stacked about 1.5-2 feet tall, two deep, on 4 shelves. Shelf 5 (get yer ladder) houses WRC tops. And that again, but more so, for the 2004 yield. Bearclawed tops are 'tagged' in either red or blue at the ends. I tell you, it's hard to know where to start.
So I wandered between the two, basically sorting through stacks of 20-30 tops at a time, selecting first on looks (looking at the stuff edge on, they really know their quartersawing. Everything there was top notch), then sorting through the smaller piles for stiffness and tap tone. Took me about 2 hours to narrow the choice down some. I ended up with 4 Grade I tops, because the tap's great, they're beautifully stiff and I do quite like a bit of variation/striping in my tops, thanks. Plus, the prices are very, very right (25E each). Then came another 4 grade E tops, two plain, two bearclawed. I almost got another bearclawed top, but one soundboard half seemed to have a rattle to it when tapped, like there was a hidden crack somewhere. Couldn't find anything on inspection or flexing, but I didn't trust it. Also got one WRC top that was just lovely, stiff, and seemed to actually have some slight bearclaw. It's a bit hard to tell, since most of their tops are simply rough-sawn, sawmarks and all, sometimes with one planed face on one half.
I got another set of Maccassar Ebony as well (they're still in the process of sorting and grading all their wood right now) which unfortunately, I discovered after getting all the way back home, has some serious cracking along the area I want to centerjoin (compression fracture of some sort). I want to have a look at how this affects glueup/use before I contact them about it, but it is a nice, big set, easily large enough for a Dred. Still pondering getting two other sets from them that I saw, but didn't buy. I hasten to add that this set was ungraded, and the crack's pretty much invisible. The stuff I got from them by mailorder was flawless in every way. They know their wood.
Here are a few pics. They hardly do the wood justice, though. Keep in mind most of the top pieces are a full 9" across, and a good 23" long, for scaling purposes. First, a bearclaw top, grade E:
Then the Maccassar set. The cracks are at the top end, not visible, about 1/3 of the way down in one half. I'd need to trim about and inch out in that area to make it work. Worst case scenario, it'll be another OM-sized set, like the other two I've got!
Additionally, Here's a link to the directory with all the pics. Didn't really have time to take a grand tour and get pictures of the facilities, though. Maybe next time!
