Advise on choosing tonewood for Tops

[rusty999]

Hi, I have a choice of 2 Sitka tops for a guitar I am planning to build, and was wondering if someone with more experience than myself would tell me which of the 2 they would use as a first choice.

I have hand planed one of them to get a look at the grain and the other is not planed. The planed top has wide grain as you will see in the bottom pic-- and I am wondering if its second grade or A depending on how you guys grade wood in usa--I'm in Europe. Both were purchased in Europe. The top pic has much tighter grain but I probably need to plane it to show that properly.
I purchased the wide grained top on line quite cheaply but the guy tells me he has build 90 instruments from similar tops so I took a chance on it. I tried listening to the tap tone and to me it sounds a bit like a drum and rings for a few seconds but then I am a beginner and have very little experience of what to expect.


Sorry I had to use an image converter to load them here as the files were too big

[ken cierp]

For the most part top grading is appearance related -- as long as the wood is properly dried, it will work and sound fine. I simply check the width-wise flex after the halves are joined by holding it on the edge during the thinning operation -- at about 16" wide there should not be more than 1" downward deflection

[Tim Benware]

Agree. A "AAA" top may look great but sound like "@#%$." I choose my tops by how they sound to me and if there are "imperfections" to me that adds character. But that's just me.

[Tom West]

Stiff, light and a willingness to ring when tapped.
Tom

[Thomas Felty]

It's got to be quartered, stiff and ring like a bell. One of the best guitars I ever built had a Red Spruce top and the grain was quite wide. It was well quartered, stiff and rang like a bell.

[Dave Bagwill]

I wish one of you fellers would record a clip of 'ring like a bell' for the inexperienced folks around here. Most of us, when thinking about a bell, think long sustain, loud etc. It would be good to have a nice clear example. I don't have a mic good enough.

[ken cierp]

For me "ring" is not the correct verb in this context -- you will not hear a bell like sound. However -- when you hold the piece of wood on a corner or edge and rap it at the bridge location you should hear a tone that has some noticeable sustain and decay. When you knock on a table top it will have a bright report but it will be a brief event. Rap on a piece of cardboard and there may be a thud, but still the flexibility may allow the sound to linger for a short time. So you are listening for a "bright unrestricted" sound. Some claim to be able to evaluate this sound when the wood is in its most unprocessed form -- I can not.