Members bullpencoach Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 Hi - I've never owned a solid top before, and I'm wondering of wood flaws are a fact of life. Just bought one - great price, plays great - but it does have a flaw on the top where the grain is a little warped, giving the spot an almost bleached appearance. For the money, I was a little disappointed, but I don't want to overreact, either. Perhaps as the wood darkens, it will be less noticeable? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members desaljs Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 For a while, I was bothered by the same thing. I have some higher end Taylors, and noticed these cosmetic issues. I have come to realize that this is the nature of wood, a living thing subject to the laws of nature. If the guitar SOUNDS good, then this is what you really want. I like a nice even wood grain, but accept the flaws that mother nature provides. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jerry NT Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 I actually like the little "flaws". They give the guitar a naturalness. I read on a luthier's website once that some of the best sounding wood is not the best looking wood. He was bemoaning the fact that he had to pass up some excellent sounding wood so that he could give his customers a "pretty" wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solitaire Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 Originally posted by bullpencoach Hi - I've never owned a solid top before, and I'm wondering of wood flaws are a fact of life. Just bought one - great price, plays great - but it does have a flaw on the top where the grain is a little warped, giving the spot an almost bleached appearance. For the money, I was a little disappointed, but I don't want to overreact, either. Perhaps as the wood darkens, it will be less noticeable? Thanks Is this what we refer to as "bear-claws"; a wavy area of the top wood? I know one of my Gibsons had a structure flaw that was not; something of a birthmark in the wood. Looking closely, can you tell wether it's the silk that reflects more light which makes it look paler/ brighter, or is it in the wood itself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 Yea...It sounds like a touch of "bearclaw" and not a pin knot. Bearclaw is good, pin knots are bad. I've heard luthiers complain about bearclaw having to be a LOT otherwise it looks like imperfections. Bearclaw spruce seems to be a genetic varietion. Wood that has it tends to have a higher stiffness to weight ratio. I know a lot of attention goes into the back and side woods, but quality spruce is getting difficult to find too. It has to have uniform color (typically it can't be saved with stains like the back and sides) It can't have knots, runnout, must be quartersawn, be tight grained, straight grained, bookmatched, and the grain width must be uniform through the whole board's 8" width and 20" length...Each grain line is a year so basically you need the exact same weather for 80 years for a tree to have the same grain width for 80 lines. The spruce tree in your back yard probably would be horrible. Trees in domestic areas get too much water and aren't competing with other trees...so the grain lines are like 1/8" to 1/4" apart. Would look bad on a guitar top. It's also probably not wide enough because you need to avoid heartwood and the center. Same holds true for commercially farm raised lumber (Christmas tree farms) That stuff is genetically modified to grow extremely fast which means wide grain lines. And then there's ACID RAIN. Red spruce is especially hit hard by this one. Visit the Appalacian mountains and you can see how the wild mountain trees (which are the only ones you can use) are all dying off. They're pretty much protected now and you can only get them if they fall over and die from storms and then it's a lot of paperwork. ANd there's no infrastructure in place for that because nobody cares but instrument builders. And then you have to hope that the trees that fall down and get through the paperwork have no flaws.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bullpencoach Posted April 5, 2005 Author Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 I think it is bearclaw. I guess the fact that there's basically only one mark of it makes it look like a blemish to me. It's about 1/2" wide and a couple inches long. The grain does a quick peak through it, then runs straight again. It's a Larrivee, and the spruce top is very light, which is why the mark looks almost bleached. No chance of staining it? Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 Nope. Look on the bright side. If your guitar were ever stolen you'd have an easy way of identifying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Qengho Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 My Greven FX has a blemish on the top that didn't appear until the finish coat was applied. I don't give a rat's ass, because the guitar sounds spectacular. Besides, it can be covered up with a tasteful decal: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solitaire Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 Originally posted by Qengho My Greven FX has a blemish on the top that didn't appear until the finish coat was applied. I don't give a rat's ass, because the guitar sounds spectacular. Besides, it can be covered up with a tasteful decal: I'm sure it's a nice sounding instrument and I believe an aging toner that's yellowish will increase the contrast of the flaw and perhaps the toner also is more subject to go into the wood at certain angles of the wood fibers. I won't, but that's not the only blemish visible on that image. Can you see the dark streaks below the armpit of the guitarist. Got the same thing on my Sigurdson, but in my case the flaw is repeated as a mirror image on the other side of the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nylon rock Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 Since I've never bothered to ask anyone when in guitar stores, I'll have to ask here. Is bearclaw little longish-swirls that go perpendicular to the grain. My guitar has these all over the place...everywhere...and I thought they were "silking," whatever that is. Is bearclaw medulular (sp) rays? When you have this, what does it tell the trained eye? Qengho, in your photo, above your wrist about two inches, the light swirls, are they bearclaw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 IMO a little bearclaw isn't a bad thing. I've also heard that it's pretty common on Larrivees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members owd200 Posted April 5, 2005 Members Share Posted April 5, 2005 I like the natural look. As far as I'm concerned, as long as it sounded right, you could just slice the entire guitar top off of a log, rings and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Qengho Posted April 6, 2005 Members Share Posted April 6, 2005 Originally posted by solitaire Can you see the dark streaks below the armpit of the guitarist. Got the same thing on my Sigurdson, but in my case the flaw is repeated as a mirror image on the other side of the guitar. Good eye. And the spot is actually mirrored as well, but it's hidden by my arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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