Brace wood selection

[Tj Turner]

Hey all...

Any going thought on bracewood selection, in particular, red spruce vs. sitka spruce? I have stock of both, and made a 5/16" x 1/2" beam from both. They weighted exactly the same, i.e. to the 0.1 gram, and then had almost identical deflection when I tested in my 3-pt bend tester and cantilever setup. The Sitka spruce has much finer grain structure, but that's the only real difference I see...

Thanks!

Tj

[TonyinNYC]

If they test the same there should be no difference which you choose.

[darren]

if its for a bluegrasser you better use red spruce.

>:) just kidding of course. I've read to match your top wood in cases like yours.

[ken cierp]

While I doubt that even an "extraterritorial being" or a dog could ever hear the difference, you always have bragging rights using Adirondack Spruce. Personally, I'd go with the most perfect vertical grain, there is some evidence that those braces can be shaved a bit more -- less weight.

[peter havriluk]

If you're buying bracewood sight unseen, what are 'safe' choices among woods? I've seen vendors spread their prices 100 percent on bracewood and I don't know whether the five-dollar hunk of Engelmann can be used instead of the ten-dollar hunk of red spruce. Or whether the differences matter to a beginning builder, I'm not going to wind up with anything that should be shown in the presence of Wayne Henderson, but I do want to start out trying to make playable and enjoyable instruments out of decent materials.

Thanks, folks.

[Tom West]

The Red Spruce to me is easier to carve,Sitka tends to be sort of stringy and catchy. Hard to discribe,but certainly noticable. I do use both,some folks swear by the Red,but hard to prove any great tonal differance. Bob Taylor did put out some info about Red Spruce that to me was more manufacturer hype than anything else. The main thing I look for is stiffness and no run out with vertical grain in either type of wood.

[TonyinNYC]

I use Lutz spruce because it is the best. I read online that it is the best and you can't put anything on the internet that isn't true.

Actually, like Tom said, quartered and as little run out as possible. I split my braces from blocks of wood so run out is definitely minimized. I end up with a lot of waste but the braces are sooooo much easier to carve when there is no run out. I use the bigger waste wood for finger braces and the smaller waste is great for filling my garbage can.