Official Luthiers Forum!

Please welcome Shane Neifer and HIGH MOUNTAIN TONEWOODTo our fine list of sponsors!

Welcome aboard Shane!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Welcome Shane!

And just when I was thinking about stocking up on some tops too.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Thanks David, I am delighted to be here!

Shane

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Canada

Welcome Shane
Glad to see you made it.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Thanks Bob, I appreciate your assistance in getting me here. I am able to offer a bit of sale on tops as an introduction and have posted a thread in that regard.

I am truly looking forward to working with this group, it sure seems like a great bunch!

Shane

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Canada

Welcome aboard Shane. I just emailed Shane and if he is the same one I think he is ... I have bought tops from him in the past and they are GREAT high quality tops!

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Welcome Shane
Is it true about Lutz spruce being a hybrid. Can you actually see the blended characteristics of sitka and englemann?

Hi John,

It is true that you can see the blend in the wood. I have agreed to write an article about the characteristics of Lutz Spruce for Bill Moll for publication in Guitarmaker and I will do that in the next 2 or 3 months. I am researching some of the scientific journals now for the article. But this wood is whiter than sitka and just as stiff but not as white as englemann. The stuff I have now has very strong medullary display when cut true on the quarter. In the area that I harvest the science says there are no pure sitka, white or englemann stands but you can certainly see which trees exhibit strong characteristics of each. So each tree will be leaning more to one sub-species than the other. It is interesting wood! I hope that the article will describe all of this in more detail.

Thanks for the kind "Welcome", you are all making me feel right at home!

Shane

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Canada

Guys...do I have a High Mountain Tonewood story!!!

As you know several people have posted things about the Lutz Spruce sold as "kermodie" spruce...

Well...I bought several tops and billets from that dealer and although I did not succumb to any of the sometimes exaggerated hype, found that Lutz Spruce (hybridized spruce) is a fantastic top wood! I wont go into the marketing names thrown out about white versus black kermodie and all that...I just wanted Spruce that was almost as white as Englemann but closer in stiffness and grain to Sitka or White Spruce.

So when someone asked a while back if anyone had heard of High Mountain Tonewoods, I made a mental note and checked out Shane's website...it was the same wood but graded not in marketing names but in a way that I am used to evaluating tops. This was a couple of week before the ASIA symposium so I held off ordering as I was saving my cash for ASIA.

In the ASIA silent auction there was a lone piece of paper with no item attached, just a listing that said 4 AAA Lutz Spruce from High Mountain Tonewoods. Those that attended the ASIA Symposium may have noticed that my name (Shawn Carlson) was the first name on every one of the silent auction items...I figured that if no one else bid I got a bargain but that if they did outbid me then it was all good as the proceeds were going to ASIA.

Well I was the only one that bid on the Lutz tops...I did not steal them as I knew what they were worth and Shane's generosity in donating them to ASIA for the auction so I was the only bidder but bid 100.00 which for 4 top quality Lutz tops is a real bargain!

Shane and I exchanged email after the symposium and when I got the tops, they were as good or better than what I was hoping for...This was not the streaky, color banded mixed grade I had bought (by tree number at a premium) for another source...this was primo Spruce that was as nice or better than the Italian Spruce which I usually use (usually Rivolta)!!!

One caveat...I have never tried it on a steel string as I build almost exclusively Classical but I hear it makes awesome steel string tops as well, just havent tried it.

I have had a very good starting interaction with Shane so will definitely be buying more Lutz Spruce from him in the future.

Thanks for the story Shawn. You ought to get a sales bonus Actually, I'm sold and ordering some of his AAA wood to try on steel string. So many good sponsors and so little pay check, oh well........

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA