Choosing a sound-board

[NeilG495]

A quick question gentleman - when selecting a soundboard form a stack of boards, still in their full thickness state, is it possible to determine their potential by tapping?

[peter havriluk]

Every soundboard I've installed gets run through the thickness sander till it rings like sheet metal when it's tapped. So, yes, it's commonly done. It's also a bit of an art form best learned by participating while an expert demos the job.

[NeilG495]

Thank you, I was thinking more when choosing a board from a supplier, before they’ve been through the thickness sander, is it possible to grade them by tap tone when they’re still at full thickness or is it better to go by grain spacing etc?

[peter havriluk]

You've just walked into a very dark hole in guitarmaking. Tops are sold on cosmetics, not performance. Lots of folks waste LOTS of money on high-end soundboards that are high-end only 'cuz they look nice. I'm unversed in this, but I'm guessing I couldn't find a vendor who taps their rough-cut soundboards, in great part because it would be meaningless. I've been working down a group of Sitka spruce soundboards from Alaska that sound just fine and cost me a princely eight bucks each ($80.00 for ten, postpaid).

[NeilG495]

Thanks Peter - so if you have the opportunity to visit a tonewood supplier and your faced with a stack of rough cut boards, how would you select the ones you want to buy?

[peter havriluk]

If I could observe silking, quartering, runout, I'd try to use those filters. Silking and quartering are closely related, and runout can be observed on the edge of the panel. And if I could find a garish bearclaw figure I'd ignore everything else and be sure to get that one (I ain't immune to cosmetics!). I just don't want to pay crazy prices for wood.

I'd love to hear how Dana Bourgeois chooses his soundboards!

[NeilG495]

Thanks Peter, appreciate the info. Only asking because I recently had the opportunity to look through a stack of rough cut boards, all looked pretty similar and all were the same price. What surprised me was that a few had real ring, when tapped, but the rest sounded dead, just wondered if that would have any bearing at all on how they would perform after a build. Interestingly, Dana Bourgeois seems to put great store in the tap tone of rough cut spruce boards during his selection process.

https://youtu.be/O10hREMRufU?si=h7f2v2UseyPVEXDk