Do red streaks make any difference in the tone of Adirondack spruce or is it merely cosmetic?

I'm looking at pictures of a CW which has streaks and by the way, it has wide grain.

I guess you could look at them as very fine racing stripes.

I personally take the red streaks as a good sign, my D2HA has them and it sounds incredible.
I have always associated wide grain with less tightness and better bass response, but those have just been my own personal observations.
I have played only one CW Hog, it was brand new and sounded OK but nothing special. It didn't have any of the above characteristics.
Good luck Jefe.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Papi,

quote:

Originally posted by El Jefe:
I guess you could look at them as very fine racing stripes.

Did someone say "racing stripes"???



Ahhhh, I couldn't resist...

Did I mention that I *love* red spruce?

Gary
Albany, Ga.

AAHHHHHH!!! I LOVE THAT TOP.

Hmmm perhaps that's why they call Adirondack "red spruce"... ?

Mineral deposits. Natural. Like green streaks in Brazilian.

Just me, personally I don't like it cosmetically. SB is a good approach, witness photos. Doubtful it has an effect on tone and if it does I think I'd go for a Collings anyway just based on it being a Collings, not on if it has streaks.

Anyway those red streaks mean you probably have a higher degree of certainty that it is indeed Adirondack. ML.

tone, no. cosmetic, yes. If I'm paying a grand for top wood, I do not want random racing stripes. Even, dramatic grain is nice. erratic tagging, not so much. I'm too old to settle. Collings doesn't hide stripey wood under a burst. The rarer Adirondack becomes, the less this will come up for discussion. For now, I want even, medium grain, no unevenly distributed red streaks.
As far as why it's called red spruce, someone here has said it has nothing to do with the colors appearing in the milled wood. I dunno personally. tom

It's funny, this came up last week (or so) when I was doing extensive A/B testing with my D1A. It has red streaking on both sides.

One of the guys at the local Collings dealer was doing some of the testing with me, and he takes a look at the top of my guitar and kind of shakes his head and goes, "Huh". I asked him what he was thinking, and he said, "Well, the top on this thing isn't...you know... perfect--it's got the streaking in it. But just kind of proves how it doesn't matter. This thing kicks ass."

I'd say if you're buying off the internet, ask which one sounds better, or get the purty one. But if you're buying in person, get the one that sounds better and ignore the cosmetics. On a Collings that is--my streaky top doesn't look half bad, with even, medium grain and lots of cross-silking.

quote:

Originally posted by sonoman: Collings doesn't hide stripey wood under a burst.

Are you sure?

I would say it's perfectly natural for a guitar maker, on occasion, to assign an 'acquired taste' top to a sunburst order. I wouldn't blame Collings for doing it, not one bit. I'm pretty damn sure they did it on mine.

After all, they have pretty stringent requirements for tops to begin with: stiffness across the grain, tap tone, and so on. Why not take a top that exhibits those desirable qualities... but has a streak... and assign it to a sunburst guitar?

This links up to my only-partly-tongue-in-cheek theory about sunburst guitars sounding better. I posted this once on another forum and got riddled with bullet-holes. No-one got my point: that a sunburst guitar MIGHT sometimes be the recipient of a top that had a magnificent tap tone, and had got through the selection process on that alone.

Ages later - much too late to help my annihilation in that thread, alas - I ran across some support from someone who knows some stuff...

"I'll submit a theory that the very BEST tops are under sunbursts, especially when its Adirondack spruce. I'm the business manager at Pantheon Guitars, who makes Bourgeois guitars. A large percentage of the Adirondack spruce tops that we receive have too much color, hard red line, or wide grain ro be used on a natural top guitar. Even though some of these tops sound fantastic, we reject a large number of them because they are "ugly" and would be hard to sell. Enter the sunburst... we can select a top solely on the basis of tap tone rather than how straight and regular the grain is and how white the color is. Therefore, some of our best tops go on sunbursts. Note that this is not true of sitka, as the appearance is much more consistent." Dana Bourgeois

This message has been edited. Last edited by: peghead,

my D-2HA has a wide grain top and no racing stripes. it's a great guitar. my 0-1A has a wide grain top, not as evenly spaced, with racing stripes. it's a great guitar... it sounds too good to dislike for any reason.

Cosmetic.

When I was picking up my D2G, I played a used CW (MhA) for a while. It was a few years old, and the top had almost yellowed. But as for the sound - the thing could cut glass.

Papi,
This month marks the completion of my "Collings Rookie Year", so my remarks will be purely sophomore status.

For me, I do not like the red streaks...it almost looks like a defect. Given that I am still learning about Adirondack, I always wonder why it is there. But heck, they all sound great to me!

Can somebody show me a picture of what Adi "Cross Silking" looks like.

Now that sounds like something that would add tons of character to the Adi top...once again, it would probably sound great to me.

Any Adi "Cross Silking" pictues out there?

Thanks,
Mike

Mike: adi usually isn't big on cross-silking. This D3Ba??A has some pretty medullary rays, though.