Re: torrified wood woes
As a non-builder, but long time player of stringed instruments, I find this discussion very interesting. I have been at this long enough to have gone through various fads and changes in wood construction and composition (old growth versus newer; Brazilian versus Indian; Sitka versus Adirondack; bearclaw versus clear; wide versus narrow grain; PVA versus hide glue; scalloped versus shaped braces; single-ply versus nomex sandwich; "sinker' versus not). What I have learned is that many, although not all, of the various material or construction changes result in a different sounding instruments. Not necessarily better or worse, but different. Some, at least to my ears, have no effect.
So far as torrefied wood giving the sound of a 75 year old instrument...Dunno, seems to me that not all 75 year old instruments sound that great. When I went looking for a small body short scale guitar recently, I tried a few with torrefied tops. None sounded as "played in" or "vintage" as my 80 year old Martin. They didn't sound bad, but ultimately, I ended getting one with an air-dried European spruce top. Yeah, it's "bearclaw," but honestly, that had nothing to do with the decision. As always, the combination of all of the woods in the guitar, the construction, the bracing and everything else gives the final sound product.
As has been mentioned before, it's not necessarily easy to predict what a bunch of dissimilar pieces of wood glued together and then put under tension by steel wires is going to do over the long run. Reading the comments above about splits, cracks and swelling would make me a bit nervous if I had one with torrefied wood.
As always, YMMV. The big boys (Collings, Martin) and the medium boys (Bourgeois, Huss & Dalton) seem to be comfortable with it.
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