Grain preference

[fiddler37]

Do you prefer a narrow or broad grain in a mandolin top?

[Tavy]

Yes

[almeriastrings]

Same here.

[houseworker]

Pretty much the same with a fiddle to be honest.

[afhusband]

Probably...

Okay, really though I like a wide grain soundboard on a mandolin. However, I seem to like the sound of tight grain guitar soundboards. And I won't even start on those banjo tops!

[Tom Cherubini]

Classical guitar players want narrow-grained, quarter-sawn spruce, cedar, etc.

[blauserk]

Cosmetically, I like the look of narrow and even grain. I had one oval-hole mandolin that had a beautiful, even, narrow-grained top. But I've also owned mandos with wide-grained tops (and one that appears not even to be especially evenly-grained) from the same maker that sound just magical. So I guess I'd agree with Tavy: "Yes."

[Mike Scott]

My favorite grain is single malt............................oh we are talking wood. Doesn't matter the tone is the thing

[JeffD]

Which ever sounds better.

[Jeffff]

I want a luthier who knows what to do with the piece of wood chosen for the top.

[pefjr]

The best fiddle I played was a wide grain, but I had always heard the opposite, in fact books are written on how and where to get your spruce, on what side of the mountain and etc. I will soon have an old piano(100 yr old) sound board available if anyone is interested PM me.

[OU1]

Both...both are great looking..I have not decided which one makes me play better....

GO SOONERS!

[Spruce]

...in fact books are written on how and where to get your spruce, on what side of the mountain and etc.

Can you post a few links??
Thanks!

[Tony Sz]

Coming from a guitar playing background, I always had a preference for tight grain, but when I started playing mandolin, I was surprised when I found that so many of the instruments that impressed me had such wide grain tops. There's so many factors that contribute to the sound that I can't say wide grain is some kind of answer, but I do know one thing, I have no problem with wide grain tops. No problem at all.

[Jim Garber]

I believe that it doesn't matter -- it really depends on what the luthier does with the top, the bracing etc. Same goes for the back and side woods. beautiful woods don't necessarily sound any better.

[Mike Snyder]

I am so accustomed to 40 lpi that I find the wide grain tops very attractive. Funny, though; You can't really hear those lines

[Spruce]

I am so accustomed to 40 lpi that I find the wide grain tops very attractive.

Me too....
I always dug the boldness of some of the old Gibson tops....
3-piece cobbled together tops, off-quarter, whatever...
I'd like to think this thing sounds wonderful:

[pefjr]

Can you post a few links??
Thanks!

I don't remember, it's been few years. One was the Tyrolean mountains. These were old violin making books, and the luthiers were 19th century, or earlier.

[mandroid]

Barley, preferably Malted, before Brewing..

[P.D. Kirby]

If I had to choose Everclear would be my favorite Grain..

[dcoventry]

If I had to choose Everclear would be my favorite Grain..

Oh my! You like the high octane stuff that runs you AND your motorcycle?

Nice.

[Spruce]

If I had to choose Everclear would be my favorite Grain..

....for French Polishing that wide grain top...

[Max Girouard]

I like both, but if it were to be my mandolin I'd pick wide grain, just because I like the look. Here is a photo of a nice piece I can't wait to use. It is a wide grain piece of Sitka that looks spectacular. Just FYI, this wide grain piece of Sitka is actually harder and stiffer than the tighter grained piece of Red Spruce in the next photo, so you have to take all that wide grain stuff is softer than the tight grained stuff and toss it out the window.

[John Kinn]

My favorite grain is single malt............................oh we are talking wood. Doesn't matter the tone is the thing

We're talking single malt AND mandolins.

http://www.fyldeguitars.com/mandolins.html

[Hendrik Ahrend]

In contrast to Spruce's above posted cruel reality, here's Gibson's theoretical approach from times before the F5: