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I like the look of bear claw Sitka but I wonder if all that changing grain is a bad thing for a top.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Terrible, just send them to me for disposal,

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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.

Not that I've seen.

Bear claw involves lot of variation in run out. This can be a problem if the bridge gets glued down near a 'claw'. It'a generally possible to avoid this by careful planning.

The figure probably does increase the density and reduce the long grain stiffness a little. It might increase the cross grain stiffness somewhat. All of these are so variable anyway that it's really hard to be sure how far out of the usual range it might be.

The main thing acoustically is, of course, that the stiffness varies from place to place; you get 'hard' and 'soft' spots. In the high frequency range, where the top vibrates as a number of small areas, this will introduce some differences in the sound output. I think it makes the sound more 'interesting', which is generally a good thing on the guitar.

I’ve never had trouble with it. Bear claw introduces measurable properties, and if you take measurable properties into account in your building, then it’s just a factor to accommodate.

Maybe that will help, maybe not, but I've had a D28 with quite a lot of bearclaw (maybe you expert wood guys and gals could call it heavy "silking", too,
you tell me) since I bought it new in 2000.

Quite the looker, never had a problem that I could relate to the figuring, although I might add that I had to fix a crack that developed in a couple of weeks when RH dropped fast at around 30% RH while exterior temp rapidly went from -10°C to a savage -40°C. The D had been taken out of my guitar room for a few days when outside temp went brutally south. Up until then it had behaved well for close to 20 years.

So I don't know for really sure wether the figuring has something to do with it or not, but I seriously doubt it.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

FWIW, I've always thought that silking and bearclaw are two completely different things. I'd say that your top is unmistakably silking, i.e., the exposure of medullary rays that happens when spruce is perfectly quartersawn.

I believe you're right indeed.

As I was posting the pic this morning I began having second thoughts about this so I went back and double-checked on the acoustics wall and what do you think… the bearclaw is on another guitar altogether.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

Here you go.

Right. That’s what I later realized. Thanks!

In my mind my D28 had a lot of figure, but as I almost never play it (I’m a J45 kinda guy) it has mostly hanged unused for all those years. I realized after having posted the pic that it was not the one with the top I had in mind as having bearclaw in it. Should have downed my second espresso BEFORE replying.

Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay