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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 766
Location: New Hampsha | Take a '93 Collector's with the top bashed in and can order a new top from the mothership. What would you choose? An identical spruce replacement? Can't have KOA - they are out of KOA. A Walnut top? NEB? An Adamas? What would you do and why? |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Original spruce top to go with the collectors neck. Then add your own touch with a burst of some type. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | no walnut, that would be a panelmaster.
your choice is cedar or spruce. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15678
Location: SoCal | Bearclaw spruce top.
Same epaulets or different woods? |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 766
Location: New Hampsha | OK, No walnut - it has to be decent quality.
I'm leaning toward the Adamas top - a budget Adamas cross '93 mongrel can be had for not quite 3 times the cost for the spruce original replacement top.... The net result might be an "Adamas" - sounding unit for under $500. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1071
Location: Carle Place, NY | AA spruce in NEB. |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I would be surprised if the Mothership allowed an Adamas top in this situation. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | So would I. Moody's right - bearclaw. |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Spruce. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Spruce, if you care about resale and/or collectibility, REDWOOD, if you want a unique sound. Admittedly a bit fragile, though.
Roger |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Spruce. :cool: |
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April 2005
Posts: 331
Location: San Angelo, Texas | KOA or Bearclaw Spruce
...and KOA is available for custom orders, have three of them in progress :) |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | Let's see, the '93 is a mid bowl, Quintad bracing, Elite style...don't see what you are going to gain by unique woods such as Koa, Engelmann, or Bearclaw. At least not unless you change the binding, the bridge (non-carved walnut), etc. And, if you ever want to sell, with the more expensive treatment, you'll probably not get your money back.
Personally, I like the unique woods such as Koa or mahogany but there were a lot of negative comments about Koa a few months back. My opinion of redwood, cedar, mahogany, and Koa - great guitars, different voice but not the best choice if it was your only guitar. Cedar and redwood are more sensitive - heck, general recommendation is to not leave the redwood (2001 Collectors) at pitch. Bearclaw is too variable...not sure how they will look in 5-7yrs but there is a lot of variation between guitars with the bearclaw used in the 30th Anniv Custom Legends - other than the factory, I'm probably the only one who had five of them side-by-side...a striking difference
With the mid bowl, I would suggest AAA spruce. And, if you want to change the pre-amp, this would be a good time.
Go crazy with the bridge, the epaulets, the binding...AAA spruce is going to create the best "voice" for the mid-bowl. But be careful, hard to beat the appearance of the guitar as it came from the factory. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . heck, general recommendation is to not leave the redwood (2001 Collectors) at pitch . ."
Who said THAT??
(I concur on the sproooce, btw . . .) |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 766
Location: New Hampsha | Now toss price into the mix - A replacement Spruce top is $125 with bracing installed; Adamas is $350 ditto. KOA is out of stock as of this morning - all spoken for.
As to recovering the money into it; add $150 for the inital price and I think anything will get my outlay back once I get tired of it. Would someone buy a '93 Collector with an Adamas top and pay $500 or more - I think they might. As for more than $275 for a restored '93 Collectors, that's a slam dunk. And I get the fun and know-how out of the project to boot! |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | A replacement Spruce top is $125 with bracing installed pretty good price when you consider that it was $350 to refinish the top on my 1658 two years ago (course, part of that was the rosette but I already had the top, bracing, etc.) |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Spruce. Not Bearclaw. Just a nice clear piece of high quality spruce. Whatever color you want but since you didn't ask, I'm partial to tobacco burst, tobacco, natural, black or white. |
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Top Choice non-poll Poll
