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finding quility tops you better expect to pay in at least the $50 range the bargain tops often have a lot of run out and to the untrained eye look fine
I use RC Tonewoods and a few suppliers but they require larger quantity orders. ebay is a dangerous place to buy without a good deal of experience
also Carpathian tops are a great deal

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John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
Board of Directors of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com

As another data point, I've got a guitar with a white pine top that sounds just fine. Our church burned in 2011, and Carter Ruff built the guitar as a fundraiser using wood from one of the church pews. The wood was probably over a hundred years old, which may have helped, but it is still white pine, not typically found on a list of preferred tonewoods.

From this I infer that skill in building probably has way more effect on the sound than the kind of wood.

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Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects. -- Will Rogers
There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory. - Josh Billings
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

Welcome to the forum. Like you, I am a new builder, too, and am in my eighth decade as I work on number three. When I discovered this forum, it was one of the things that gave me enough confidence to start building. Another thing was a gift of a few tools, and a form for an OM type guitar made from plans in Jonathan Kinkead's book (widely available). I, like many, don't agree with everything he says or does, and I think his plans will help you build an overbuilt guitar, but I have found it very useful and it was another confidence builder. Finally, I have a luthier friend who has been unfailingly positive and encouraging. He told me from the beginning that my guitars would sound better than any guitar off the shelf. Was he right? Well, I play my own two guitars more than I play my expensive lovely old L'arrivée. If you don't yet know a local luthier, you will get the same encouragement here on the forum. So, go for it, and keep us posted!

Great stuff! Love hearing about the "pine-top" guitar and also that Stray Feather's sound better than his L'arivee - this is what I need! I also have just found John's extensive videos on youtube so I'm getting sucked further into the vortex. So now its not a question of if, but when...

Keep it coming - thanks again!

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"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall

Meet Delilah. She's made from West Virginia wild cherry, which I found in the rafters of a local lumberyard, where they store the wood. The wood, which was more than 12" wide, and not in their modern inventory, was a smidgen over 1" thick and laying up there since before WWII. Her top is West Virginia red spruce.

I have $35 invested in the cherry wood. They charged me $4.35 per board foot, which is what they charge for 6" wide cherry. I told them where to cut, and they cut the lengths that i wanted. Since this wood wasn't in inventory, they simply charged me for what is in current inventory. I also have a bunch of black walnut from the same place, and with the same story as the cherry.

She has an outstanding voice.

The wood wasn't resawed very well; I didn't own the right equipment. But, she turned out okay for my #2.

The point is that you can build a nice guitar without investing a lot in exotic woods.