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Location: SoCal | Can anybody here tell me the difference between sitka and engelman spruce? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Engelman sounds better. |
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Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | The reason I'm asking is that I'm suddenly wondering if my rebult Legend has Engemann spruce instead of sitka.
Here's a picture of the Legend and my GC RI which definitely has sitka spruce. Any opinions?
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR |  
Sitka Spruce............................................... Englemann Spruce..... |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Looks to be like the legend is half and half |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | The favorite spruces are Sitka, Engleman, Adirondak(red) and German.
They say Adirondak is the best.
There also is the Carpathian moon beam harvested spruce............ |
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Location: Tennessee | Both Sitka and Englemann are from the western part of North America. Red (Adirondack) is from the eastern US (i.e. the Adirondack Mountains). I like their chairs. My Martin is Adirondack ... and it has wider grain than my other guitars.
Englemann used for guitars come from real high altitude. It tends to be "whiter" than Sitka. It is similar I think to the Alpine spruce that is german or italian, also from real high and also real white in color. My Lakewood is Englemann.
The carpathian is to just die for ...
I agree with Dave. You got a Legend that's half-n-half. |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | I was on a forum where there was an interesting debate about tonewoods , present were some Ace -Luthier`s ( one of whom I know is famous for his exellent guitars )incl. the participation of a tonewood supplier , where the use of lab. testing was mentioned in order to establish what/where the wood is from , checking the wood and leaves/needles/seeds/bark and even then ,the lab. is not absolutely sure .. the general consensus was ..
I quote :
" This sure makes some of the blanket statements that are tossed around by both luthiers and guitar players alike about tonewoods and their supposed sonic qualities seem a little foolish.
I don't doubt for a minute that a lot of the "Brazilian" rosewood and(insert favorite species here)spruce that's floating around may well be something else entirely. "
..end quote.
And here I was , wishing for a git. with carpathian spruce etc. ,..
Vic |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by stonebobbo:
I agree with Dave. You got a Legend that's half-n-half. It's just the way the light is hitting it. I was originally thinking that it was select sitka, but I'm startig to think that it's engelmann. I know it's not adirondack.
Some interesting reading here....
http://www.cbguitars.com/woods.htm |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | OK ... Here's another question to throw in ... Which is better, wide or narrower/tighter grain? or for that matter,sraight or bear claw, and/or the burl or other swirling grained wood tops? how do those differencs actually affect the guitar's sound? |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Originally posted by bvince:
OK ... Here's another question to throw in ... Which is better, wide or narrower/tighter grain? or for that matter,sraight or bear claw, and/or the burl or other swirling grained wood tops? how do those differencs actually affect the guitar's sound? Sonically this approaches the hornest nest :)
But I do wonder if tite-grained is the (better) stronger choice in the long run.
Vic |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Originally posted by FlicKreno aka Solid Top:
Originally posted by bvince:
OK ... Here's another question to throw in ... Which is better, wide or narrower/tighter grain? or for that matter,sraight or bear claw, and/or the burl or other swirling grained wood tops? how do those differencs actually affect the guitar's sound? Sonically this approaches the hornest nest :)
But I do wonder if tite-grained is the (better) stronger choice in the long run.
Vic |
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Location: Central Massachusetts | The legend has a bookmatched top, so no half-and-half. Did they use aging toner on the RI's, perhaps? |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I'm with Toby. Engleman rolls off the lips better than Sit-ka! So Engleman sounds better.
Those seedling pictures OMA posted don't do justice to either tree though...... |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by dvd:
The legend has a bookmatched top, so no half-and-half. Did they use aging toner on the RI's, perhaps? The RI is 3 years old and lives on a stand. The top has aged a bit (not a lot, but a bit).... |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Two articles that talk about spruce.
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/all-about-flat/apr-09/94559
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/the-troublesome-truth/Jun-07/27... |
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Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | The engleman is more harmonically complex, but more mellow and less loud than the sitka ... or so the experts say. I have a guitar with sitka top, and it's just fine. |
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Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
Originally posted by stonebobbo:
I agree with Dave. You got a Legend that's half-n-half. It's just the way the light is hitting it.
Maybe what you've got is half englemann and half sitka. Or maybe it's half carpathian? |
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Location: SoCal | That would be, ah, unique.... |
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Location: Tennessee | They know you well, moody ... |
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Location: Corning, NY | moody, I've been wondering the same about my rebuilt Legend 1756 12... It looks like yours and the grain pattern is very different than before with more figure. The color matches more closely than it appears. The slight angle makes the two pieces take the light differently with the figure.
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Posts: 494
Location: Location Location Location | Engelmann is lighter (appearance) than sitka, and will produce a rounder tone with more clarity, in my experience. In my opinion, both of your guitars have different grades of sitka spruce. |
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Posts: 103
Location: Verona,Italy | Supposely, the best spruce for musical instruments is from the italian alps, from a valley called Val di Fiemme.
Stradivari and the other masters used that variety of red spruce, now it seems that Martin is offering it as option but it's ridicously expensive, more than once I thought about going north and buy a table to send to the US for a custom guitar, but I seriously dubt that Ovation would make a custom instrument from wood purchased by the customer. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | There's an Idaho mandolin maker who gets his spruce from the woods around our cabin. The supply of spruce was one of the reasons he moved there. I cut a couple of spruce trees down that had beetle or worm infestation and cut it up for firewood. I guess I should have figured out if it would have been useful for guitar tops. |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
beetle or worm infestation Mother Nature's epi makers... |
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Differences in spruce?
