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The violin thread is stirring up my arch top fantasies, but a quick survey of the arch top back and side supply on the interwebs is looking a) very limited and b) pretty pricey. I seem to be surrounded by guys with portable sawmills so was wondering if anyone uses local lumber for back & sides? And if so should they be air dried and quartersawn? There's a lot of black walnut in these parts so I might be able to come up with something good if I know what I'm looking for - or maybe this is a bad idea? Thanks for any thoughts.

Sure -- try it out and see how it goes. For my first guitar, the guy helping me build it had managed to buy a couple of old-growth red spruce logs out of Baxter State Park here in Maine, and he was generous enough to sell me a top out of that wood. I also tried to get local black walnut for the back, sides, and neck.
Now, I didn't cut the wood myself, but if you have access to good local wood and a friendly sawyer, why not? I don't know if quartesawn or flat sawn will give you the most interesting grain. The sawyer might have an idea. A top, of course, ideally would be split from the log to get the most vertical grain possible.

You picked the right guy to help you with your first build - wow, that's a great story

Absolutely. I found really old cherry and black walnut at a local lumberyard. They let me crawl around in the rafters where the wood is stored. I found cherry a full 2" thick and 12" wide. Same for the walnut. They didn't have it on computer or in inventory. I made a beautiful guitar from it and still have some in the shop. The guitar cost me $35 in wood. They charged me for 8" wide x standard 1" (3/4") wide. So, if you have a local lumber store, go look. I turned boards over, and crawled among them to find the stuff.

The last two I completed were made from wood harvested off my property. Ponderosa Pine tops with some staining and a few worm holes, White Oak backs and sides and Manzanita fretboards, pinless bridges, binding and peghead veneer. The neck were laminated, White Oak with Manzanita down the middle. I think they're beautiful and they sound great too. A parlor and a prairie state. I'll try to get a couple of decent pics to show them off. I'm not too good at photography.

I would think sides should be quartersawn for ease of bending but i see lots of sets for sale that clearly are not, so this must not be that big a deal. But I'm curious for those harvesting their own wood if they have had to pay attention to grain direction for sides (aside from the obvious like knots and severe run out)?

Yep.

I have a bandsaw sawmill, a chainsaw sawmill, a solar kiln, and a barn full of wood.

I’m working on a black walnut dread and a maple 00. Trying to use all local wood on the 00 including a top fro eastern white pine. The dread has a reclaimed redwood top.

I built a black locust 000 12 fret from wood I bought from a local sawyer. And my Oak dread came when I found a perfectly quartersawn red oak board in a bunch of boards we got for barn siding.

There’s some resistance from established luthiers. You’ll be told you won’t be able to sell the guitars because the market expects rosewood and mahogany. And why deviate from rosewood when it builds a really good guitar?

Because it doesn’t interest me and plenty of lovely guitars have been built from walnut, Cherry, maple, etc.

And I have a life time supply at the rate I’m going. I pick out choice pieces and set them aside.

I've also got a guitar made from wood salvaged from a church pew. The UU church in Brunswick burned in 2011. A luthier ( https://submusicworks.com )is a member of the congregation, and he built the guitar as a fundraiser. The top is pine, the back and sides are ash. It's a nice guitar, which may show that if you know what you're doing, one can build a good guitar out of almost anyhthing.

Thanks for all the replies. I've found some nearby possibilities to check out when time permits. One of the fascinating things for me about building guitars is how little consensus there is on anything, including wood choices. It's always great to hear about different approaches and I love when people use wood that has a story behind it and special meaning to them.

yes I have used local walnut , spruce , cherry , sasafras , and osage orange
We have some good spruces .