Dear ones, I had an accident with my 11-course lute 2 months ago; the top was shattered. My instrument is one made by Daniel Larson, and it is 67 cm, the Frei C34 design. The lute was firstly made in 1995 as a 7-course Frei, and it was in 1997 converted into an 11-course Frei. This lute had a most beautiful sound, and I am very fortunate to have recorded my CD "Allemande" on it, as a testament to its gorgeous sound, so I can have this sound to make reference.
The instrument is not a total loss, and it is the soundboard where the damage occurred. As it was not repairable, Dan has constructed a new top for it. The original top was made of Italian spruce, but for the replacement, it is made of Adirondack spruce. It is very near completion, and the finish merely needs to be polished (French polish). Sitka, Engelmann, and European spruce varieties are the most commonly used for today's instruments, but I have never heard of Adirondack spruce used for lute tops. Wikipedia makes this description of Adirondack spruce: "Adirondack <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce>Spruce aka Red Spruce (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picea_rubens>Picea rubens). This legendary wood that Martin used for its tops throughout its golden years came from the East Coast, from the Southern Mountains into New England and upper New York State. Called both Appalachian and Adirondack spruce, it has a creamy white color. Similar to Sitka, Adirondack responds well to either a light or firm touch. It has more overall resonance than Sitka. Interesting grain color variations make this another visually desirable top. Adirondack has been unavailable since the mid-1940s. Virgin growth has been (fortunately) preserved in national parks; the rest is all second growth, plentiful but too small to be usable for guitar tops until recently. Guitar makers have started finding second growth of at least 100 years old that is big enough to be used for tops again. Adirondack is, like Alpine spruce, very expensive and mainly used for top of the range acoustic guitars." I looked at the Martin guitar page, where they state that Adirondack spruce is used on their extreme top-end models. Dan tells me that this wood is very difficult to obtain, but he obviously does have some of it. In talking with some guitar friends, they state it is wide grained, not straight grained; they also tell me it is the absolutely best top wood for guitars, but it is rare, as availability makes it so scarce. Mine is very tight and straight-grained. If one were to compare its appearance, it mostly resembles German spruce, in my estimation. Dan has made 2 batches of 4 modern guitars; in each batch, he used Italian spruce on 3, and Adirondack in 1. He rates the best results were startling; in both batches, the Adirondack top yielded the best result in all areas - volume, complexity of sound, clearness, singing trebles, and depth. Obviously, I am very excited to hear what the final result is on my old lute. My question is: has anyone on the list constructed, owned, or played a lute with an Adirondack top? This very well may be the first lute with this top, as I have never heard of it prior to this project. Thanks! ed Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [email protected] voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
