Golden Era instruments

Bones

Bob,

Those are all good points. I only brought up the low end market to illustrate how the whole industry has risen, including the small cottage industry makers (from what I can gather I believe you fit into that category). The recent golden age that I refer to probably started about 20 years ago or so. The elevation of the level of the small, custom shops really forced the whole industry to step up. There was a period prior to that when the small custom shop was practically a lost art and the large factory makers were building pretty poor instruments for the commercial market. That has certainly been turned around and quality instruments are being built by many solo builders as well as the large, low end builders.

As far as wood goes, I have not bought any instrument wood for about 12 years or so. At that time I had no trouble getting spruce and maple (domestic US varieties) and I believe that it is still available although quite a bit pricier. Yes, it does need to be aged. Some wood varieties were becoming scarce as I recall and that is a real bummer for the luthiery since that industry really could survive on such a small amount of wood but it gets used up building houses and such.

I hope that in the future people can learn to use resources like the forests in a way that they don't use up the wood faster than it can replenish itself so that there can be plenty for future luthiers (and players) but I fear that builders will need to learn to get the most (volume/tone) out of whatever they can get their hands on. That will take the skills of an experienced builder (i.e. someone who has built a lot of instruments).

Bob Holo

True - that's the key - resource management. If you haven't bought tonewood for a couple of decades the prices would probably surprise you.

And it's not just the North American Connifers - Mahogany has really dried up, so now everyone is looking toward Sapele and Khaya... for as long as they last... This is another reason I go for vintage woods - somehow it helps me feel that I'm not directly feeding the frenzy because I'm out scrounging around for wood that was long forgotten about in some little corner of someone's warehouse. Though the small amount I use is probably a rounding error in this equation. Some of the wood I've been using for tonebars is reclaimed. You can get amazing reclaimed woods - just not in big chunks, But, tonebars are small and the strength to weight ratio is really important so this is a really good use of very old dry woods. I used 1910 Engelmann spruce in the tonebars of a couple guitars - that had a good feeling to it as Django was born in 1910. But the reclaimed wood market is harder than it seems as it's in vogue and so there are profiteers feeding off people's desire to do good.

Romain Vuillemin

hey interesting post in here !! that's for the info !! I do consider that there is something about old woods and old guitars.. There is a little something in old selmer and busatos that i have played that you can't find anywhere else..
I have a 16 inches gibson L5 from 34 that is a killer, i'm now looking it's little sister with 17' body for a change of voice, but i guess if i want to keep the great acoustic quality i need to find something between 1930 and 1955 maybe... although i'm sure that some examples of later acoustic L5c can be good, i guess only 10% of them will match the acoustic tone i'm expecting of them, whereas the percentage might be 80% in 30s, 40s or early 50s, because of the woods, the craftmanship, and also the fact that after 50 they 're building nearly only archtops with microphones, so the tops are thicker, and the sounds less interesting (a bit like my L5 wes from 2003, which is great plugged, but isn't good for me acustically) since i guess you lose your technique and maestry if you stop doing things on a regular basis...

If you guys have some vintage archtops (Gibson Epi etc) i might be interested so don't hesitate to drop me a PM.

Thanks

woodamand

For me, I have and have sold guitars and horns of all ages. Of course you can't get the same quality of wood today, and while I love the old stuff, I really only care about two things 1) how does it sound and 2) how does it play. All the rest is commentary.

Jazzaferri

Michael Dunn built both of my guitars from wood he had purchased in Spain over 40 years ago. I don't recall exactly but it had been air dried for a number of years before he bought it. The are pretty stable. I only have one bridge. Every late spring (usually)and mid fall they go through a few weeks of grumpiness with a bit of fret buzz and other sonic weirdness then settle down again.

I suspect that many of the secrets of building wood instruments were not passed on so now it is builders like Bob, who are rediscovering some of the secrets the hard way, trial and error.

Bones

Spruce is fairly readily available as far as I know but I have not been in the market lately.

I have lots of archtop spruce and archback maple from 15-20 years ago (well aged) if anyone is interested I might part with some. A bit of flattop spruce as well. I doubt I'll get around to using it.