Great informational post regarding spruce by Harry, aka gilded

dklsplace

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2001
Messages
3,325
Reaction score
0
Adirondack Spruce trees and Sitka Spruce trees grow in different places in the North American Continent and at different elevations. Adirondack Spruce is often found at higher elevations and is a slower-growing tree than Sitka.

Here is some info about the two varieties of spruce from Wikipedia articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picea_rubens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picea_sitchensis

Flat top Gibson and Martin 'tops' before WW II were made from Adirondack Spruce. People got used to the sound of Adirondack instruments and a lot of the iconic sounds of the '30's and '40's recordings come from lightly-braced, Adirondack-topped instruments.

In the guitar manufacturing world, Sitka came into use when companies such as Gibson made wartime products like wing spars for gliders. My guess is that wood-product manufacturers needed a steady source of good, knot-free hardwood to accomplish their wartime goals and Sitka was simply a 'better get' than Adirondack.

After the War, Sitka was both easy to source and a known product. Adirondack, by comparison, came from depleted forest areas where the big trees were all gone. Accordingly, Sitka became the wood of preference for all of the wood-product manufacturers in the good old USA, including Martin and Gibson at some point.

At the same time as the top-woods were changing at Martin and Gibson, the products were being redesigned at the request of the Bean Counters. Lightly braced guitars and lifetime warranties do not mix, apparently. So, interior bracing became progressively heavier between the late '30's and the '60's. Bridge plates (the plate on the interior side of the top underneath the bridge) also got to be bigger and bigger from both companies, all in the effort to cut operating costs.

The trouble was, the new guitars sounded bad in comparison to the older guitars. Players noticed and commented on it. Finally, the first-wave of boutique builders went to Martin and Gibson (beginning in the late '60's) and started asking questions. The answers were, 'we changed the top-wood and the bracing'. Builders found a way to get some Adirondack Spruce or some Brazilian Rosewood and Players noticed the audible difference in sound.

What Players didn't notice was the return to lighter bracing inside the instruments, or the elevated build-quality from the New Age of builders. It all makes a difference, folks.

So now we are two-three generations into the Rebirth of good sounding guitars. There are great factory managers like Ren Ferguson, who know how to do it all! We are living in a Golden Age of Instruments, right now. A New Hartford-made Guild D55 is going to be a wonderful axe, because experienced builders are making the right decisions when the instrument gets built.

Does that mean that Sitka and Adirondack sound the same? No, but they each have a purpose and a place. As well, boutique builders will tell you that a good piece of Sitka will sound better than an inferior piece of Adirondack (and vice versa). If you call up a small builder and say 'what's your best top wood for a dreadnaught?' and he says 'I've got some great Sitka and have built 10 kick-*** dreads this year with it, but one of my two Adirondack customers was a little disappointed', what are you going to do??

In general, I think Sitka sounds better for strumming and light fingerpicking and Adirondack sound better when you are playing either hard Bluegrass or wrenching the guts out of a guitar. I have great love for both top-woods. I owned an '06 Tacoma-made D55 for six months or so and it was a great guitar, Sitka top and all. In fact, it was a wonderfully great guitar!!

But again, I'm not an expert. Even if I was an expert, what sounds good to me might not sound good to another person.

Harry aka gilded
 
Top