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I don't think Lance will get mad at me for putting this in the forum with the most traffic since this is his tonewood and I promised to let folks I know know it's available for sale. So, to be clear Lance is the seller and I mean the same Lance who is our friend and host here on the OLF.

A beautiful set of BRW w/sapwood and I'll add that Lance has always had the pick of the litter with our sponsors so his stash is as primo as it gets. I can't remember him opening it up before.

And a rare and coveted LS Redwood top. If you were on this forum in the late 2009'sish you will know that LS Redwood commanded the highest prices of any Redwood ever offered here on the OLF. It's highly coveted and one of the bucket list things that I missed out on before I got bored with building.

Lance wants $2,400 for both and he said there is some flexibility here too. Oh course it's all well seasoned and cared for and ready to build a dream guitar with right now.

If interested please let me know and I will put you in touch with Lance.

TIA (Thanks in advance not this is Africa)

Too rich for me, much as I regret that

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

For those not hip to the power of LS redwood...

https://www.luthiersforacause.org/lucky-strike-redwood/

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Me too the most I ever paid for a set was to our friend Brad Goodman and it was about $700 iirc. But wow have prices increased especially on BRW lately. Was looking at it and $2K sets especially from builders are not uncommon now.

This is great thanks Chris very much appreciated!!!

- and that’s $2k plus for a flat-sawn set that would have been considered firewood not too long ago.

The standards they are a’ changing…

Flat sawn is the new figured!

Pat

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Pat

Yup, noticed that -

M

Cathedral quiltish? Beautiful wood nonetheless but outside of my budget.

I think it was number 14 that I built for myself when I finally thought I knew enough (I didn't...). I used my flat sawn BRW which as mentioned was the most expensive set I had and have ever purchased. It came out great and I love it to this day. When my friends come over they all fight over who gets to play that one.... BRW back and sides, binding, head plate, bridge, fretboard, bridge pins, bridge plate, heel cap.... The design spec was to have it "dipped in BRW" no jokes please well maybe a few.... The Top was Master (for that time.... times do change with tone wood) Adi.

Came out great and now at 16 years old sounds great too.

I only built with BRW three times twice for customers and once for me. And it still blows my mind that this magical tone wood was so taken for granted when I was a kid and even cheap guitars were made from it.

But true what Ed and others said there is a sliding scale on tone wood based on availability. When I started all you could get was stump wood BRW (of questionable legality too...) and the ADI tops were usually cosmetically imperfect. But we soldiered on with what we had, someone had to do it.... LOL

I've been lucky to be able to work with some true old growth BRW in the last couple years. A partnership with a collector who happened to have this wood in a personal stash since the 90's I believe. I'm kind of wondering what this stuff is worth now as the prices keep skyrocketing. This is the dark chocolaty straight grained stuff I'm talking about.

Having said that I did a restoration on an 1860's Martin last year and guess what? It was flat sawn

This is definitely true. You can find examples of flat sawn Brazilian even in the guitars of the old Spanish masters. This is before consistent humidity control, and many of these guitars were neglected for many decades (in some cases centuries) and needed repairs or restoration; but they are still being played. This may just be what was available to guitar makers in the normal commerce of the time, and it seems like there was a time of 60-70 years in the 20th century where suddenly top quality Brazilian was available, until it was over harvested.

I would say that the above set would never have been considered "firewood" by serious makers. That sounds like something you may hear from players who are Martin purists, as their golden age seems to have coincided with the availability of top quality BRW. But it reminds me of the problem we have with tonewood suppliers for soundboards, they are grading them based on the player's (often misguided) priorities rather than the makers's.

Assuming good humidity control on the part of the maker, and decent humidity control on the part of the player, I would be quite happy to make a guitar out of the above set. Just not $2k happy.

Still, considering the availability of nicely quartered Indian Rosewood, I would never buy the "figured" or "cathedral" grained IRW. But considering the limited availability of BRW, I have no problem accepting other people's "firewood".

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier

Hesh, tell Lance we’d have an easier time selling this set if new people could sign up for the site.

Seems the mail is still not going out to new subscribers to allow them to activate their account.


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