Tight grain on the outside or in the middle?

[ken cierp]

To my way of thinking the only way to verify what one thinks they hear relative to a given set of sound board halves and orientation -- is to glue them up one way (wide grain in or out) build a guitar test it disassemble that guitar split the sound board glue it the opposite way and test it. And maybe it would different sounding one way or the other, but who is to say which is better? I do think that wide grain Spruce is a bit stiffer than narrow grain off the same billet but to my ear, the tap tone difference is usually one or two passes through the sander. The paradigm of today the guitars have the narrow grain at the center, the exception I've seen are the imports with solid tops that are slapped together, its only one off a million variable combos but those guitar general don't sound so good. Only my opinion and $.02

[ken cierp]

Well this is very interesting -- my Email exchange with John Greven


Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 10:03:54 -0700
From: admin@kennethmichaelguitars.com
Subject: Re: moon Spruce
To: grevenguitars@msn.com

Hi John,

I came across a video where Dick Boak is talking about tenor guitars -- a sound bite that caught my ears was a statement that sound boards joined with the wider grain in the center sound better or different than those with the narrow grain in the center, which seems to be the current paradigm. Any thoughts?

Ken



Ken;
I have long noted that vintage Martins almost always had the wide grain to the middle , but could never get a comment from Martin. Maybe this is it. Can't verify the tone difference as I always do the old growth to the middle and the new wider growth to the outside. I know that the stiffness and density varies from old to new with the old being more so. I suspect it may not make an audible difference.

I do know that as a general rule, the better looking the top is visually, the less interesting the tone quality as it tends to be very uniform in density and hardness rather than having asymmetry in those aspects. I think the lack of absolute sameness in a top adds to its ability to support the many frequencies more readily and with more "character". I almost never use Master grade tops of any kind for that reason, not just because it is a rip-off from the wood dealers. All top wood is graded on looks first, not what it might actually sound like. Most wood dealers do not build guitars for a living.
John