Looking For Spruce

[Skip Ellis]

Does anyone know where I can purchase a 1/4" Sitka spruce drop top or a quarter sawn billet big enough to resaw. I want to do a hollow spruce over mahogany 'jazz' Tele. My last one was curly maple over mahogany and I'd like to try spruce but most places only have top sets for acoustic guitars. I'm thinking some of the aircraft or boat suppliers but thought I'd ask here first.

[sbeishline]

You could call (or email) Brent at Alaska Specialty Woods and ask him if he can provide what you're looking for.. he's a super nice fella.

[email protected]

[Skip Ellis]

You could call (or email) Brent at Alaska Specialty Woods and ask him if he can provide what you're looking for.. he's a super nice fella.

[email protected]

Thanks!! Sent him an email - waiting for reply.

[sgosnell]

Wood and Supplies Guitar Makers - Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc
You may have to glue up two pieces, as is usual. Getting one piece of spruce wide enough for a top is rare. Top wood for an archtop should be plenty thick for what you want to do.

[Skip Ellis]

Wood and Supplies Guitar Makers - Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc
You may have to glue up two pieces, as is usual. Getting one piece of spruce wide enough for a top is rare. Top wood for an archtop should be plenty thick for what you want to do.

A 'drop top' is, generally two bookmatched pieces yielding the total width needed. If I resaw from scratch, I start with a 7-8" wide board, 3/4" thick and split it down the middle giving (2) - 3/8" bookmatched pieces. These then get thinned down to 1/4" then edge glued, resulting in a blank wide enough for the current build (a Tele is about 12-3/4" wide but can vary a little). There are several places on line that sell 'drop tops'. I think I got the one below from Ebay:

Re: archtop wood is harder to use for something like this as it usually comes in a wedge shape which leaves a lot of waste. The first (and only) archtop I built, I got a huge 2" thick piece of spruce from Augie LoPrinzi and split and bookmatched it. I think he said he got it from Martin - charged me about $50 for it as I recall about 30 years ago.

[sbeishline]

Thanks!! Sent him an email - waiting for reply.

Sweet! Let us know what ya hear.

I bought the Sitka spruce top for my first build documented in the 1st Timer thread from ASW and he was great to work with.

[sgosnell]

I would expect a lot of waste, and a lot of work, from any wood unless it's already prepared. That will increase the cost, but you pays your money and takes your choice. Skip seemed concerned about getting something too thin, thus the archtop option. ASW might be a better place, but I've never dealt with them, so I don't know what they have. If they have something better, it's good to know.

[rlrhett]

You can generally find rough sawn spruce at any good hardwood lumber yard. Just look through the stack to find a quarter sawn stick. On the west coast I can find Sitka easily enough, but I was in North Carolina a few years ago and found Red. A ten foot stick of 8/4 rough lumber can usually be had for about $50. Even at twice that it’s a bargain compared to “luthier” suppliers who take $5/bft lumber and sell it to you for $40/bft. Enough spruce to keep you in spruce several guitars.


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[sbeishline]

Skip - Did you end up finding some wood?

[Skip Ellis]

Skip - Did you end up finding some wood?

Not yet. The guy in Alaska that was recommended ignored several emails so that was a dead end. I did find a source for 1/4" cedar drop tops which might be OK - still thinking about it. I think a cedar top with curly maple binding on a mahogany body might look pretty sharp.

[sbeishline]

Damn - sorry to hear that you got crickets from ASW! I haven't ordered from them since 2019, so maybe something is up since COVID?

Cedar with mahogany prolly would look slick.