Spalted spruce top?

[John J]

This spalted spruce top intrigues me. Is spalting an absolute no for tops? Thoughts?

[John Parchem]

Looks good, how does it tap sound? It sure would make an interesting looking guitar.

[ken cierp]

Whether those are sap or fungi stains -- I think you'll be hard pressed to find info validating their use as acoustic guitar sound boards. Certainly would fail basic grain configuration as well as appearance guigelines. For me its the premise that we are making musical instruments --- not wall hangings $.02

[John J]

Looks good, how does it tap sound? It sure would make an interesting looking guitar.

Honestly I'm still trying to figure the difference between tap tone and tap shoes.

[John J]

Whether those are sap or fungi stains -- I think you'll be hard pressed to find info validating their use as acoustic guitar sound boards. Certainly would fail basic grain configuration as well as appearance guigelines. For me its the premise that we are making musical instruments --- not wall hangings $.02

Ken
I know it's not the norm for tops, I was more wondering if there was structural issues with the spalting. I'm still making guitars for me and I kind of like a bit of the unusual.

[ken cierp]

"Spalting is a generic term for various forms of discoloration that can occur in wood due to invasion of the wood fibers by fungal spores, which then form colonies and continue to grow in the wood. Since spalting is a form of rot, the discoloration is usually accompanied by a degradation in the strength of the wood fibers and the wood can become quite punky and eventually just rot out entirely."

I am thinking - not a good characteristic of a guitar sound-board?

[John Link]

Ken and John: rot, no matter how beautiful, is not a good characteristic for any guitar wood (as Ken says) except as a decorative element, which could be used in the rosette or end graft or other such restricted area. But tops don't have to be plain. Redwood and Red Cedar can be quite spectacular looking, as can bearclaw spruce, none of which involve fungal attacks or rotting. Even where weakening in general might provide a desirable sonic characteristic (bass response, for instance), rotted wood is weakened in a random pattern, whereas the kind of weakening that is needed for bass response must be homogeneous.

That said, I think John is right to seek ways to make his instrument look good. It makes the player like it more and liking it more can lead to a better effort to play it well. It makes the builder like it more too, which leads to better building. Experimental psychologists have shown that perceiving something we are working with as "excellent" results in accomplishing better results, compared to an identical means that is not perceived as excellent. There are limits to this phenomenon, of course, but it has been shown to work within those limits.

Finally, beautiful things are simply their own reward. Our species is inspired by stuff that looks good. There are many paths that lead to beautiful results. Ornate, as in Grit Laskin, is one, so is well proportioned simplicity, as in Torres.