[QUOTE=grumpy] Wasn't long ago that most of that would have been rejected and tossed back to the firewood pile. The times, they are a changing....[/QUOTE]
...I'm trying to think of a comical way to say you're earning your handle. Maybe if I plaster a few chuckling heads here:
If high quality tonewood used to be burned for the crime of being cosmetically imperfect, then it is about time that luthiers figured out that is a waste of material.
The worst Adi top Bob is offering will have the defects cut off with the pattern, and hidden by or cut out for the fingerboard. The guitar made from that top will probably sound fantastic, and it will look fantastic.
I too was taught (by tonewood vendors) over the past 25 years that uniform white Spruce soundboards with even grain spacing were "Master Grade", or "AAAA" and it all went downhill from there. Trouble is, no one ever proved it. In fact, I think there is ample evidence that it is not true, and that the timbre, sustain, or other sonic properties of a soundboard cannot be prejudged by grain spacing, grain count, or uniformity of color.
Maybe I should just quietly stock-up on high-quality, bargain-priced tonewoods that have cosmetic defects, and leave the Master Grade stuff for those who are willing to spend more for that aesthetic. But I thought I'd toss in my $0.02 in support of Bob's wood, as well as remind those who are beginning this craft that the aesthetic qualities that have caused some fine tonewood to be downgraded as sonically inferior are a myth.
Dennis
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