Official Luthiers Forum!

Anyone ever buy any wood from them.
I got a flyer in the mail a few weeks ago. Calls his sitke bolts Superior Master Grade.

Just wondering

Thanks Gary

I just went to the site and then called them up and ordered one of their sample bolts. He said a bolt would yeild 6 to 8 tops plus a good amount of bracewood and the samples are all mastergrade, of course the individual guitar tops are how I will make the master grade judgement after they are cut. A sample bolt is $50 plus shipping which in my case was $30. At any rate it sounded like a good deal so I'll just wait and see what I get. They way he prices his stuff may provide a real good opportunity for a group purchase if we can organize it.John How38468.4963310185

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

How can you tell master grade from a raw bolt? I never could.

Anyway,I've been looking at his stuff for awhile, also. If the quality pans out John, he will barge to Seattle for very cheap. I live near there and will be happy to coordinate picking it up and getting it shipped out.Scott Thompson38468.8526388889

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

That sounds like a possible plan. I agree, you have to judge each top on it's own merit but it was worth $50 for me to check it out. I'll post some pics and my opinion after I get them and resaw them

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

By the way. There is a tonewood dealer near here that resale this guys bolts for $100.00 each. Mostly for carved tops so I haven't seen the finished product.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

I would be in for a couple of bolts for a group buy. If not I will just order them.
I really want to see what they look like too..

Gary

I would also be interested in a couple of bolts.

depending on quality, could be interested in three or four.

I'd be in for a bunch if it pans out to be as good as advertised. BTW, what's the difference between a billett and a bolt?

A bolt is just a short log. These he has are hand split chunks, so not a full round. A billett is a smaller cut or split usually rectangular-ish piece.

Here is a stack of his bolts

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

Wow... this is great. If their quality is good this is fantastic.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

After thinking this over a bit more and emailing the wood guy, I'm not sure if this would work as a group buy. If you purchase a singe "sample" bolt, he sends you what he thinks will be a master grade. If you buy in large quantity, such as a half cord, which is about 35 to 40 bolts, you get a mix of bolt sizes and grades from bracewood on up. I don't think it would be realistic to fairly divide a shipment like this up among many buyers.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

John's sitka is pretty good wood, I have bought from him before. What you will find is that you will each be better off buying 2 or three bolts from him and having him send them USPS. On anything larger than that the shipping and the work involved in sorting and dispursing, repacking and shipping again won't be worth the trouble.

If anyone buys one of these, would you mind taking some pics as you go through the processing of it?

I have often though of buying these myself but can't quite get it clear in my head how to go about flattening one side and then resawing with enough accuracy to yield the maximum amount of usable wood.

A photo essay would surely be a big help, at least to me.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Sure, I have already order one of his sample bolts and it should be here next week

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Thanks John! I know it will be a help to me. Hopefully others will get some good from it as well.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

John, do you think you'd enjoy sawing those up for the rest of us? Or maybe the zootman would like to do so w/ that fancy new saw?

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I don't have a saw reliable or large (my bandsaw has a throat clearance of on 6" or so) enough for the job. I'm gonna take this sample bolt down to my friends cabinet shop and see what he can do for me.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Converting bolts to tops can be more work than you might guess as I learned when I resawed a half cord of Engelmann into tops a couple of years ago. It helps if you have (or can rent time on) a 12" jointer so you can level one face quickly (I did them with a hand plane).

If the billets have any appreciable twist, it becomes more challenging. And realize the downside of buying billets -- if you unearth a big knot right in the center of this thing, all the work is for nuthin'.

That said, it can be kind of fun. Just don't necessarily equate cheap billets with cheap tops, unless you do not value your time (I know I sure don't)!

When they have no twist (like the Sitka billet below), it can go pretty easily...

Since were on the subject here is a good video that stars with full rounds in the forest through to resaw.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/video/woodandsteel/winter2005/D efault.aspx?play=hi&clip=CuttingSpruce_high.wmx Scott Thompson38469.5843287037

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

Cool video.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

dang, that resaw at the end of the video sure makes short work of cutting tops!