Official Luthiers Forum!

I am looking for a lilly white high grade italian spruce top (it is a request) and all of the european I have is carpathian.

Do any of our sponsors carry it? If not who else would you suggest?

I just need 1 top.

Thanks.

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

Brock, I've bought my Euro from Allied and have been very happy with it. I dunno if it is Italian, though. It is my understanding that it's all the same species but that local climatic conditions can affect appearance and tap tone.

I've just sent an email to a fellow I know who deals in Italian spruce, asking him to reply to your post. Hope he does.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

I'm in the process of getting some Italian alpine sruce from ggdelazzer. He seems very knowledgable about wood.

Thanks

Brock,

I get all my spruce through Rivolta in Italy.

I'm not sure what the shipping costs would be for you, but by European standards, their prices are fair, and they supply excellent quality spruce.

                   Rivolta

Russ

What Russ Said. Rivolta's not always as quick on their feet responding/getting stuff done, so if you're on a tight schedule, make sure that's clear, but their stuff is excellent, their prices very fair (and a lot lower than Allied and Co for top grade stuff), and they're a pleasure to deal with in person.

This said, I'm also talking to ggdelazzer about some possible spruce tops, so we'll just have to wait and see where my next batch comes from. Rivolta's still a great place to get stuff, doubly so if you can go there and sift through the enormous piles of spruce they've got. Only caveat with them: the spruce they have is often fairly 'fresh' (date of processing is stamped on the wood, very handy), so keep that in mind. I traded Lance some of their grade I (AAA equivalents, mostly) for some Sitka when I was over in the US, and he seemed to like it.

I get mine from Luigi(ggdelazzer).
i only used his mastergarde which is fantastic, so i cant commnet on other grades.
cost of wood and shipping is very reasonable(at least to Israel it is).
ask him about the "bearclaw" he has just finished slicing up.
that is some gorgeous wood and a couple of them tops should be already on their way over to my workshop.
highly reccomended.
seriously.

Udi.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I will probably need to build with this in Feb / March. So it isn't much time to let it dry at my place -- so finding something that is already dry would be great....

I will check out some of the sources you suggested. I knew of Rivolta, but it seemed kind of extravagant to buy 1 top and have it shipped from europe... but I continue to hear great things about their wood.

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

Buy several, my guess is you'll like it.

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

I am sure I will.

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

[QUOTE=vachterm] I get mine from Luigi(ggdelazzer).
i only used his mastergarde which is fantastic, so i cant commnet on other grades.
cost of wood and shipping is very reasonable(at least to Israel it is).
ask him about the "bearclaw" he has just finished slicing up.
that is some gorgeous wood and a couple of them tops should be already on their way over to my workshop.
highly reccomended.
seriously.

Udi.[/QUOTE]

Hi can you please give us an email address or phone #. Thanks.

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

I found this in his profile

gg AT delazzer DOT it

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

Um, Brock, I just got finished reading your post about the pointlessness
of obsessing over what different woods "sound like," and pointing out the
great variation from tree to tree, etc., and now here you are
requiring not just European spruce (a sensible choice for many guitars),
but Italian spruce. What gives? Making the obsessive customer
happy?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

yep. Someone specifically asked for it.

I am not *against* any wood. I will try working with anything. I too have my favorites. My "complaint" (if that is what we are going to call it...) with the tonewood generalizations is that it is just one of a myriad of variables that go into the overall sound of a guitar.

Again, I find that if you want more control over the tone... build more guitars. I seem (at least for the moment) to think experience is the real key.

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

Hy there
beg your pardon Brock, I've lost a couple of weeks posts due to several hardware cracks, several requests of free samples and job (the real job, anesthesiologist).
I am not a wood seller, I am a tonewood collector, I won't sell wood here on the forum because I would like to respect those wood suppliers who support the forum with their precious experience and their solid bucks.
Please contact me privately . I made a promise and will keep it.

Howard,
The secret is the way you choose and select your piece of wood of course; but there has to be a good reason why Antonio Stradivari was obsessed by this wood. Don't you think so?

Ciao - Luigi

Hey Udi
I see you post from Italy . Brother you're great,
I told you, move your shop and come here
Gg

[QUOTE=ggdelazzer]but there has to be a good reason why Antonio Stradivari was obsessed by this wood. Don't you think so? [/QUOTE]

Other than that it's probably the best wood for the purpose available in his vicinity? Probably not. Had Strad lived in British Columbia, he'd probably have used Engelman or Sitka.

Availability, of course...
I think the reason why Antonio became Stradivari was his cultural background, not the source of his wood; he lived in Cremona, the town of luthery, which is not in British Columbia otherwise at his time he would have probably build canoes rather than violins. It's a long story, believe me.
A few luthiers can build great guitars with scrap wood but the knoweledge of the different caracteristics of any top wood (that's what many modern luthiers miss) is the base of "unique" instrument crafting. Swiss red spruce is different from carpatian that's different from alpine italian that's different from austrian and this is not an opinion, this is knoweledge. Is the sitka that grows in Pensilvania the same that grows in Alaska?
What I say is that I understand why somebody may pretend a kind of spruce rather than another for his guitar; he also has to choose well the luthier otherwise there will be no difference.

What if Stradivari would have build dreadnaughts? He would have probably used different woods for different purpouses but I guess he would have well experienced all of them.

Shipping via "recommended mail" 2kg (2 soundboard + 2 bracing billets in a safe package, 8-10 days deliver) to US or Canada = 15,80 eur.

Beg your pardon for my awful english.

Luigi

PS: Mattia, wonderful olive sawn this afternoon want pictures?

[QUOTE=ggdelazzer]
PS: Mattia, wonderful olive sawn this afternoon want pictures?[/QUOTE]

Yes

Hi Brock,

We have 100 European spruce tops on the way and should be here in a week or so. It's a new source straight from Germany.

I will keep you posted.

Brian
www.alliedlutherie.com

Cool. Thanks.

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

Italian red spruce from Germany? Wow
Brock, check www.ciresafiemme.it also.

Is there a way to track replies to a topic?

Regards
Luigi

There is no Swiss red spruce (and no Pennsylvanian sitka). All European
spruce is the same species, with some dispute about an "alpine" sub
species and another sub species around Bosnia. At least that's what the
taxonomists say.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard
come here, I can see 4-5 different red spruce varieties from my window, they may have the same name but even on the same soil they are not the same wood. I would suggest (but I am conscious a forum newbie shouldn't) to live taxonomists alone and come here next spring, Dolomites are a very nice area just under the Alps. In a 1-2 day car ride we could take a walk into forests in Italy, Germany, Austria and Croatia, look, talk to harvesters, take pictures to post into the forum, seeds of the trees and maybe ship to US a couple of well quartered boards. What do you think? I'm not kidding, I'll take it seriously.
Luigi

Hey Luigi:

I'll verify what you are saying after I receive my tops from you ;)

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

[QUOTE=Tim McKnight] Hey Luigi:

I'll verify what you are saying after I receive my tops from you ;)[/QUOTE]

Tim, you asked specifically for the Fiemme variety (15 km diameter forest) isn'it? you won't see anything but that one. Maybe next time
You're welcome too if you decide to spend a couple of weeks in europe.

Check your mailbox.
Luigi