Official Luthiers Forum!

I've got a client who wants his commission topped with Adirondack red spruce from, well ... the Adirondacks (it were he's from).

I've got sets from NC, WV, and ME ... but none from NY.

Does anyone know of a source of p. rubens from the great state of New York? Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jim

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James Warwick
J. Warwick Guitars, LLC
http://www.jwarwickguitars.com

Try Zootman aka Uncle Bob at RC Tonewoods - he had some beautiful, stiff Adi when we were at his place in Buffalo NY in February.

You could try Old Standard at http://www.adirondackspruce.com. They have some nice stuff, but it's pricey.

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

You may also want to check out Steve Roberson at http://www.colonialtonewoods.com/, Steve always has first class adi in stock at great prices, and service to match, also, like the Zootman, Steve is an OLF sponsor.

Cheers

Kim

Thanks Hesh and Ken. I'll give Bob C and Old Standard a call.

Kim, I too can vouch for Steve R's products and service ... I'm a frequent customer of his. I have some very nice red spruce from him, but I believe his comes from Maine. Nothing wrong with that at all, it's nice wood. I just need a piece from NY.

I have a dim memory of an old OLF post mentioning a woodcutter in NY that was processing Adirondack spruce. Can't find any such post, though. Must have been a dream.

Thanks again!

Jim

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James Warwick
J. Warwick Guitars, LLC
http://www.jwarwickguitars.com

Jim,

Mike Collins posted that post about (I think ) Ralph Charles. I got a price list from him and he is on par with old standard for pricing but his wood is for sure from the Adirondacks. If you search his name you should be able to find it here with an email contact. If you can't find it let me know and I'll dig out the sheet he sent me.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Carl Barney is the man....

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"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."

Old Standard sold me some great tops. The price is variable with appearance. If you want AAA expect to pay. If a few streaks don't bother you then lower prices are available. I bought some 4 piece tops for $65 each. With care the extra joints are not easy to see and you get a consistant colored Dred or Jumbo top at a great price. I'll post some pictures this weekend of an example.

I'm completely sold on ADI - get some bracewood with your order and build a great guitar.

Steve

Another vote for Old Standard.

Jim if you needed Adi from the Empire state this is the place to call. I believe they source their logs from a few different states, but if you called and spoke with John I'm willing to bet he would know which tops came from where.

These guys are not middlemen selling wood they bought elsewhere; they're out there selecting which logs will make the grade for tone wood in the field.

They do have $1000 tops; but I've found their 'Common' grade tops ($30 range) to be every bit as good (or better) as tops found for twice the price from other vendors. Best of luck to you.

Burton, Don, Steve, and Andrew ... thanks very, very much for tips. I'm on the hunt ...

Best regards,

Jim

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James Warwick
J. Warwick Guitars, LLC
http://www.jwarwickguitars.com

Andrew my friend or anyone for that matter what could possibly make a top worth $1,000? When they are grading the tops is it purely cosmetic or is stiffness measured and the data available?

Before I say what I am really thinking here, and sound as ignorant as I am, hopefully there is a legitimate justification for a $1,000 tag.....

I have some Jim
john hall

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

The highest price I see on their price list is $400, and that is for the very highest grade tops, which are, indeed, very rare. Their prices start at $20 for "common grade". Their "excellent grade" are priced at $45 to $100. These all seem like reasonable prices for adirondack spruce to me.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Thanks Todd and I agree those are reasonable prices.

Personally I like Adi with character anyway.

It's interesting to me that when I started building around 4 years ago now it was hard, at least for me, to find Adi at all. All I could find back then, and this was before Uncle Bob adopted me was LMI and their Adi had very wide grain spacing, not that this is a bad thing with Adi mind you, and larger sizes were often not available.

It seems like these days Adi is very easy to find although the cosmetically perfect stuff is still tough to find but I am less interested in it now anyway.

I've been getting mine from Carl Barney as well. A google search on hos name should bring up his guitar site and contact info. Very reasonable in price too.

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

I heard from one of the "big boy" builders tops at Old Standard were going for well over $500. Anyone paid that much? I've bought many tops from Steve at Colonial Tonewoods and he has always sent me tops better than I expected to get. The last batch that were AAAA (just barely not "Master") were like $150 or so but they're now all gone.

But I must say, Carpathian Spruce really has my attention. It may very well replace Adi if we're able to get plenty of it in the near future...at least for me anyway.

What do you guys think?

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"

I have two OMs that were built identically except for the back and side wood and tops. One has an Adi top and the other a Carp top. Personally I like the Adi one better but the Carp guitar is still a very nice sounding guitar. Others who have tried them both don't always agree.

Carp looks very much like Adi, is nice and stiff, at least the several Carp tops that I have are, but I still think that Adi produces a slightly more defined, louder tone. Mind you this is a very limited sampling and there is always the issue of psychoacoustics...... YMMV

That's a good one Hesh. I'll have to remember "psychoacoustics"...that will sound pretty profound coming from the mouth of a hillbilly. I'll let you know if I actually get to use it someday.

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"

Reeves my friend psychoacoustic is just a fancy way for some of us to cover our butts when we think that we observe or notice something and want to pass it on but don't want to get flamed on the forum...... I say go with what you believe to be true and enjoy!