If they're not using Adirondack or Engelmann spruce on the lower model Asian imports like Eastman or Kentucky then what type of Spruce is it????
If they're not using Adirondack or Engelmann spruce on the lower model Asian imports like Eastman or Kentucky then what type of Spruce is it????
Don't know that a 'blanket' statement is possible regarding all of them, but some of them use Sitka.
In my uneducated and novice experience, I find it difficult to determine voicing as much from the type of wood as I do from an individual instrument. I'm only commenting on this as I have often posed that same question to myself and would like to hear a more expert opinion.
Along this same vane of question I also question the negatives associated with a laminated top vs a solid wood top. I have a Kentucky KM-620 with a laminate top that sounds quite good. In fact it sounds much better than my first mandolin, a Rover RM-50. (of course it does not match my Collings, but it came in at a much lower price point)The Rover's are often mentioned as being a great sounding beginners mandolin due to it's solid wood, yet mine didn't hold a candle to my Kentucky KM-620 in tone or volume. At one point someone on this site had mentioned that laminate tops are often more desirable for amplification.
Me, I have no idea, but will be watching for more knowledgeable and logical responses to the questions posed here.
Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
Kentucky KM-950
Weber Gallatin A Mandola "D hole"
Rogue 100A (current campfire tool & emergency canoe paddle)
I'm mainly talking about the ones that just say "solid spruce top" and don't specify like most of the lower end imports. So some of those are Engelmann and they just don't tell you?
Blue Spruce... also known as Spluce...
The cheapest source of spruce they can find at the moment, would be my guess.
I have heard that. Or actually for electric/acoustic mandolins. And I just assumed the reason is that if you plan on playing mostly electric the tone is for the most part in the hands of the electrics and there is no point in spending a lot on solid tone woods.
I could be way off base, but that is what I assumed.
They do??
Is this their literature, speculation, or ?...
Would love to know if Engelmann is indeed making it's way over there....
Customs and red tape is pretty difficult, both importing and exporting...
Yep, which would be their own species of spruce...
Lovely stuff.
Very much like European, and it probably could be a similar species...
I believe it's Picea obovata, and it hybridizes with Euro....
There's a huge tonewood biz in China which has remained under the radar on the 'net and elsewhere, and I'd love to know more about it...
I've threatened to go over there and do a little research, but it's down to #7 on my bucket list...
Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
Yup. Some mystery "maple" with a regular pattern of dark short lines that always makes good instruments. I've heard tales of wandering through stacks and stacks of superlative wood!
Stephen Perry
Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
Well, I didn't suggest trying to get it home! I sadly suspect that shipping junk in crates of the desired wood is easier than shipping the wood as cargo!
Stephen Perry
Well, I just had an interesting conversation with a friend who cuts Engelmann, and who has been approached to send an entire shipping container of Engelmann logs to China....
Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
Last time I stopped at Old Standard, John showed me racks of cosmetically impaired red spruce that was going to Saga, mostly red streaked uneven grain mando wood.
Which is part of the problem. This is akin to "mercantilism" that European powers used in relation to their colonies. Japan and China buy low-value raw materials from the USA and sends back finished products with higher value added. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism
I would rather see our luthiers exporting finished instruments to China. And our furniture builders export finished chairs and tables. And etc. But China keeps their currency artificially low so that they can undercut American labor wages.
"Those who know don't have the words to tell, and the ones with the words don't know so well." - Bruce Cockburn
Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
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