Anders Eliasson -> RE: The effect of "silk" on spruce (Castillo guitar) (May 20 2010 0:06:37)
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What is seen in the photo of the guitar belonging to a_arnold is bearclaw, maschiato, hazel-fichte. This is like curly maple and gives a structure to the spruce which is not desirable. We search desperately for tops with no run-out and this is extreme, localized runout. In my experience the bearclaw tops I have handled have been less stiff in general. Romanillos in one of those guitar gourmet videos says that bearclaw indicates a well-cut piece of wood but that is untrue. What indicates a quartersawn piece is medular rays or silking as has already been mentioned. Quartersawing and the consequent silking is very desirable for most of us. Now, having said all that, bearclaw can make a beautiful guitar and sadly sometimes that is what the client wants. Thats 100% your personal statement. You can find a lot of different statements from other well known guitarbuilders about Bearclawing, including some that says it makes for a better soundboard. You can also find statements that say that what you call "extreme, localized runout" has no possitive or negative effect because the wave goes in two directions and thus neutralize each other. I´m personally neutral about Bearclawing. I find that it looks good on some guitars and some of the best guitars I have made have been with bearclawed tops. I wouldnt judge a guitar positive or negative on the fact that it has a bearclawed soundboard.
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