Red Spruce uses in musical instruments question

[dukeblue4]

Good morning! I'm doing a project for forestry school and have plenty of red spruce on one of my stands. Does anyone know who or how I'd obtain information on red spruce being used for musical instruments? I'd like to include this in my final report in case we can get some of the spruce removed from the stand. We are located in western North Carolina.

Any help and assistance is greatly appreciated!

Best,

Brian

[CES]

Wrong color blue, you get no help from me

J/k, I’m a Wofford grad. Red spruce has been used extensively in instrument building, primarily as tops and braces. If you’d like more info on harvesting, quarter sawing, how large the trees need to be, etc, you may want to contact Bruce at Orcas Island Tonewoods (Spruce used to be his user name on here). He’s always been very helpful on such matters and has experience supplying both larger manufacturers and individual luthiers.

Good luck with your project!

[MikeEdgerton]

Hi Brian,

+1 for Bruce. E-mail Bruce Harvie at Orcas Islands Tone woods. Bruce should be able to give you an idea of how widespread the use is in the industry.

[fatt-dad]

Wayne Henderson uses it! He's in Virginia though, just west of Galax. I think it's up on Mt. Rogers. I also think he's getting red spruce from around Hasai too?

Interesting project!

f-d

[Stephen Perry]

Some of us will quietly slip red spruce into violins as bass bar material, without mentioning it. Just an example!

[sunburst]

Wrong color blue, you get no help from me

+1

Don't let my location fool you though, I'm not so fond of that blue either. I moved here from Virginia...

Send me an email and when I have time I can discus it with you. I was involved in the resurgence of red spruce as a "tonewood" simply by being in the right place at the right time in the late '80s. Before that, I was involved with Dr. Adams and Dr. Stevenson's scientific work on the red spruce decline in the Southern Appalachians (field work). I've taken core samples from red spruce trees from Mt. Rogers to White Top, the Smokey mountains to West Virginia. I might be able to fill in some gaps for you.

[HappyPickin]

Lawrence K. Brown is a luthier in Weaverville, NC that uses a lot of red spruce. I have one of his guitars and it has a red spruce top. He has also built mandolins, lutes, violins, cellos and banjos. He is extremely knowledgeable about tone woods. Nice guy too.

https://larrybrownguitars.wixsite.co...Vgt9_6sx3xwAk0

[dukeblue4]

HappyPickin - just dropped him an email. Thank you! I'll see if he can help and go from there.

Thanks again!

[QUOTE=HappyPickin;1706231]Lawrence K. Brown is a luthier in Weaverville, NC that uses a lot of red spruce. I have one of his guitars and it has a red spruce top. He has also built mandolins, lutes, violins, cellos and banjos. He is extremely knowledgeable about tone woods. Nice guy too.

[dukeblue4]

John,
Thank you for responding. Dropping you an email now.

Brian