[pianotech] Sitka spruce?

[John Delacour]

At 23:27 -0400 30/6/10, Terry Farrell wrote:

>Well, Sitka is preferable because it is the highest strength/weight 
>ratio wood out there.

Well, to be exact, stiffness/density is the ratio in question -- 
"strength" could mean all sorts of things -- and if this is highest 
in Sitka spruce then Sitka spruce is the best, because nothing else 
is of any relevance at all, no matter what the old books say.  I 
think I ought to put in a word for one or two lowly European trees as 
well, though, which are probably sometimes just as good!

JD