<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Phillip Ford wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>This just in.  The latest issue of The Catgut Acoustical Society Journal reports</blockquote> And from the site <A HREF="http://www.soundboards.co.uk/">http://www.soundboards.co.uk/</A>  we have the following except. I just love all the agreement there is in the world. :)   <blockquote>"It is becoming far more difficult for any acoustic musical instrument making establishment to hold stocks of aged softwood timbers such as Sitka Spruce. It is costly to store timbers and ties up capital.   In general, stored softwood timbers tend to become darker over time thus making it hard to match joined sheets.  Ageing of timber in the musical instrument-making field usually means simply that the timber becomes harder, thus giving the timber far better structure   to distribute vibrations evenly throughout the whole soundboard area. Sitka Spruce stands along the northwest coast of North America.  For musical instrument making it  is generally (1/4 ) quarter sawn after the timbers been felled making the timber more desirable for acoustic instruments.  In general, the tighter the timbers annual rings the better resonating qualities the timber will have. Shakes and knots are undesirable as they impede the pure musical vibrations through the timbers structure. Our width of soundboard timber do not exceed 6" (153mm) . To have a consistent and even grain span over a given area we suggest 4" (102mm) widths.  Boards more than 6" (153mm ) tend to have the annual rings too wide on one side of the board. This reduces the potential of finest sound production. For example: 15 to 21 growth rings per inch is good for most instruments but 21 to 27 growth rings  per inch is ideal but usually hard to find and will cost you more. We like to try for between 18 to 24 annual rings to the inch.   Guidelines in choosing Musical Instrument Grade Timbers a) If you are using newly felled timbers..  Make sure it has been kiln dried and the moisture content is around 10%  to 14% b) Do not use Air Dried timbers unless you know  it has been many months in storage and the moisture content is around 15% or less c) The tighter the timbers annual growth rings, the harder and better the resonating power of the timber d) Only purchase 1/4 sawn timbers for Soundboards or Tonewood e) If you can afford the extra expense of Knot Free Soundboard Timbers, stick to it."</blockquote> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A>  </html>