The Abies Project

[scamp]

I have been investigating what type of spruce soundboard I want to purchase for my next guitar build. I'm not interested in buiding a lot of guitars but the ones I do build I want to be special so I'm making an extra effort to pick the right material .

Hence, I came across a company called Wood n Tones in northern Italy that is part of something called the Abies Project. This company specializes in Italian Alpine Spruce guitar tops. They basically select and grade Alpine Spruce ( as part of the Abies project) from a local saw mill in Northern Italy and sell it. What is interesting is they actually try and quantify the wood quality for guitar making using measured data. They measure the density of the wood, the stiffness of the wood and something called the sound radiation coefficient of the wood ( how much sound it produces for a given vibration). Seems like very good wood. Rather expensive but it might be worth it. If your interested here is a video from a luthier by the name of Tom Sands on this ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv6accZSBL0 ).

Anyway... just wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with this supplier or the Abies project. Always looking for more info from the experts.

Regards
Scamp

[Skarsaune]

Heard of it - I think through Robbie O'Brien somehow? He does a lot of videos, etc for LMII, and they carry the soundboards from the Abies project.

Not to dissuade you from procuring whatever top shelf materials your heart desires - but in my case, I feel I need more repetitions / builds to be able to get the best out of whatever materials I use, before investing in the premium stuff. The more builds I do, the more confidence I have. I don't know where you are in your personal guitar building journey - but for me, lets just say I'm not buying any Brazilian Rosewood back and side sets just yet. :-)

Looking at the prices on LMII, $265 for a top vs around $100 for a 3A top isn't that big of a step, I guess.

Go for it and let us know how it works out!

As an aside, I can highly recommend Robbie O'Briens Steel string voicing class to help you get the most out of your tops. I did the live/on-line version spring '22; I'm pretty sure it's available on his Lutherie Academy site too. I was really pleased with the top I voiced during the class; best sounding guitar yet. Looking forward to more.

[Stray Feathers]

I definitely understand the feeling of security in buying a high-quality item from a good company with people that know what they are talking about. The cynic in me, though, wonders if this is a way to add "attributes" to a top that the average builder might never be able to discern. Then I wonder if, with my skill level, my experience, my tendency to goof up, will I make the most of this fabulous top? I live on Vancouver Island where at least one supplier is shipping over half a million Sitka tops a year. Somewhere in there are some fabulous tops. I've been able to buy some of these tops from their former grader, who purchased better tops from her employer to resell to hand-builders. I learned a lot listening to her describe each top, its species, grain, runout, figure, silking, stiffness, tap tone, sustain, etc. (some of which I could not discern!), and be able to compare any top with twenty or fifty others on the table. Those experiences were a blast for me. I have bought more tops than I will probably ever use, but I can always sell the extras. And when I go through them, I still get excited about working with every one of them. If you can find a way, get to a supplier and go through a stack of tops, and talk with them about how and why they grade them. Or talk to suppliers who have a stack to sell at a luthier show. If you can, go with a more experienced luthier. I have sure enjoyed the experience more than by just buying a single superb top and putting all my eggs in that basket. Bruce W.

[MaineGeezer]

I suspect that the subtleties would be wasted on me. My skill (or lack thereof) in building would overwhelm any sound differences produced by the top.

Or my choice of a bracing pattern would dominate. On my last guitar I tried a falcate bracing pattern I mostly made up, and I got really lucky because that guitar sounds fantastic -- with an "average" grade top.

[banjopicks]

I'm still on my first guitar. I wasted 2 spruce tops and 2 EIR backs. I learned a lot from that and the main lesson for me is to not buy any expensive wood until I've completed a few guitars. AA grade Sitka and EIR is about all I care to spend on right now. I get my mahogany in 4x4 deck post form. My current attempt is going well.