Official Luthiers Forum!

Yeah Clay I had thought about that trimming technique myself, it would get rid of the worst part of it. The pics show the best sides of the book match. It is hard to tell from cell phone pics under fluorescent lights but the dark grain lines are jsut that I think in number one, left one. It has annular ring lines that are apparent in the center and almost fade out to the edges where that cloudy color sort of takes over. It's really interesting actually. From the edge I can see the annular rings \\\\\\\ the whole length slightly off quarter. Almost exactly as this slash goes as a matter of fact \\\.

That little bit of "off quarter" wouldn't bother me for a back. It sounds like they are both first quality pieces.

After close inspection of the knot with a 10x loop I can see some micro fractures in the knot.... Decision made.

Need my shipping address?

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

Hahahhaha. Yeah it's still usable. I tightened it up with thin CA and clamping pressure and with a brace running right over it I'm sure it will be fine. But I needed an excuse to make a decision too.

Have you considered moving the lighter wood on set #2 to the outside and straighten up the unjointed edge for a center seam.

Just looking at the back halves, it looks like that would push the worst of the knot outside the pattern. Moving the knot as close to the waist as possible would help more.

The lighter color wood in the sides could be aimed at the back and you might get a nice wrap around grain effect.

Just a thought I don't think was suggested yet. Maybe you already explored that.

Knots like the one in set 2 can sometimes cause some very local distortion. I might even try changing the RH where the back wood is stored for a week and just see if it stays flat in the area of the knot.

_________________
Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

I did consider making an adjustment like that. The thing is though the way it is cut now it's just big enough for a Dred which probably makes the set a lot more valuable. If I adjusted it to that extent it would be down to parlor size. It still might be the best option for that.