Guys,
I have a well-seasoned set of redwood I'm about to join. It has excellent tap tone when I hold it with one edge up, but on one piece the tap tone is not nearly as good when I hold it with the opposite edge up. On the other piece, the differences are not as dramatic, but they're still noticeable.
This set is a little streaky, but it is very stiff, is perfectly quartersawn, and has tons of silk. The most obvious silk is about a third of the way out to one of the edges. When I hold this one piece so that the heavy silk area is toward the bottom, hence freer to respond to tapping, is when it sounds not so good. If I turn it around so I'm holding the wood just above the silk, it sounds loads better.
Here are a couple of shots of the set. The first one shows it oriented so the silkiest bands are toward the outside and the second one shows it so these bands are toward the center. The wood is pretty dark, but you should be able to see what I mean.
Because the set sounds best when I'm holding the wood closest to the silkiest areas, I am thinking that I should have these bands oriented to the outside (first photo). Does that seem to make a certain amount of sense, or am I over analyzing things?
Best,
Michael