Violin Forum/Message Board

Joseph Leahy · Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:17 am Post subject: Poor top wood.

I have a piece of Euwopean Spruce that was thrown in as a bonus when I bought some maple a couple of years ago. Supposed to be AAA wood per the dealer.

Density is high at .46 and there is a bit of runout so it's not in the range of what I would normally use and is not AAA wood.

I carved a top from the piece. I am at a point where I would normally stop based on flexibility but the top is still 3.2-3.5 mm thick and weights 88 gm with the f holes cut and no bass bar.

I'm thinking that this is one for the fire but am curious as to what is causing the wood to be flexible at this thickness and weight.

Would you attribute this mainly to density, runout or just lack of stiffness and poor wood overall?

Thanks.
Joe

L P Reedy · Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 6:35 pm Post subject:

Is it flexible longitudinally, or just cross grain? I have used Sitka spruce that was that dense and usually with a little runout with what I consider to be acceptable results. Your opinion might be different, but one of my best fiddles has severely off-quarter top grain, which is supposed to make it very flexible cross grain. Not European, though. If it were mine, I would continue to thin to a weight in the low 70's before giving up.

Joseph Leahy · Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:20 pm Post subject:

More flexible cross grain. Iâ€™m taking the thickness down and going to try the top on this fiddle but I donâ€™t think Iâ€™ll get the weight below the low 80â€™s. Except for the extra weight the wood feels pretty good.

DonLeister · Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:18 pm Post subject:

I'm thinking you'll gain more firsthand knowledge if you keep working with it and take notes on the archings, weight and all, than if you try to predict outcomes.
I just made a top that weighs 74gms and is a lot of 2.5 mm , 3.1 in the post area.

Dave Slight · Junior Member Joined: 11 Apr 2020 Posts: 6

Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 10:29 pm Post subject:

Checking in late here, if I were doing it, I would finish the violin and see what happens. I have often been surprised at how well wood that's "bad" can work and have learned a lot from finishing those instruments. One of the best guitars I made, by common acclaim, was a quick test for a new model so I grabbed a top with wide grain, off quarter, that I could actually roll up into a four-inch tube. So there. :-) It made me think that maybe lateral stiffness wasn't that important, and with a violin certainly a lot of that comes from the arching shape anyway. And in my own mental model a lot of sideways rocking is a good thing.
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