I'm looking for material to be used for making a soundboard for a new instrument. Most guitar soundboards are 3/16" thick; this one needs to be 1/4" thick as it's being shaped with a bit of an arch to it. Archtop guitars use a board that starts out at least one inch thick.
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I'd like to use a wood species known as Eastern red spruce (Adirondack spruce) which is available these days, though not extremely common. The Martin and Gibson companies are using heat treated soundboards on some of their instruments these days, as are some of the custom guitar shops. The process is called torrefaction; it bakes the oxygen and volatile compounds out of the wood, aging the wood artificially and creating a very stable soundboard that is relatively impervious to variations in humidity, which is a big advantage when it comes to preserving wooden musical instruments.
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There are a few places that have some torrefied Adirondack soundboards available, but not in the size I need. If anyone out there knows of a source of treated or untreated instrument grade material, I'd appreciate any actual leads you might provide. Also if you know of anyone experimenting with this process who might be willing to add a few small pieces of material to their oven when they're treating a larger batch of material, that would be quite helpful.
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Thanks for taking the time to read this.
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I'd like to use a wood species known as Eastern red spruce (Adirondack spruce) which is available these days, though not extremely common. The Martin and Gibson companies are using heat treated soundboards on some of their instruments these days, as are some of the custom guitar shops. The process is called torrefaction; it bakes the oxygen and volatile compounds out of the wood, aging the wood artificially and creating a very stable soundboard that is relatively impervious to variations in humidity, which is a big advantage when it comes to preserving wooden musical instruments.
-
There are a few places that have some torrefied Adirondack soundboards available, but not in the size I need. If anyone out there knows of a source of treated or untreated instrument grade material, I'd appreciate any actual leads you might provide. Also if you know of anyone experimenting with this process who might be willing to add a few small pieces of material to their oven when they're treating a larger batch of material, that would be quite helpful.
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Thanks for taking the time to read this.
