Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) known as yellow spruce, tideland spruce or coast spruce.
The most important part of any acoustic instrument is not only the timber quality but the species of the timber used. We sell to the public or the music instrument trade, quality select quarter sawn fine grain Sitka Spruce in small or large quantities.
If you have a musical instrument with a cracked soundboard, or are making
your own musical instrument and need quality Sitka Spruce, we can supply
you with the sheets accurately machined, thicknessed and edged virtually
ready to cut to size and glue together for making your new soundboard
/ toneboard. Sitka Spruce is recognised in the trade as being the finest
soundboard available. We are also pleased to supply professional instrument
makers who find it difficult to acquire this specialist product.
We ship quality soundboard material anywhere in the world and are pleased to discuss your requirements. Send for a sample of our soundboard timbers. Our Sitka Spruce is available in either rough sawn planks, rough sawn sheets, or accurately machined sheets.
The manufacturing of instruments over some 40 years has given us the expertise
to understand fully the timbers structure, stability, performance under
tension, and adjustment to varying climatic conditions. A true craftsman's
skills is required for machining and preparation of especially Sitka Spruce
for soundboards. We hand select and supply quality kiln-dried fine grain
1/4 sawn Sitka Spruce.
Through years of acoustic musical instrument making we have found soundboard
timbers, being a softwood, have a tendency to have the resonating quality
torn out by poorly set-up or blunt machinery. Planing machines with blunt
cutters and over enthusiastic machine operators trying to cut and thickness
too much timber off at a time can knock the heart out of the finest spruce,
making it redundant as a quality sound producer. We at Hugh Craig Soundboard
/ Tonewood Timber Supplies take great care in the preparation of all our
tonewood material. When ordering any soundboard timber from us you can
be sure, from the selection of your timber to the delivery of the finished
product, you will have the best soundboard / tonewood timber to place
on or in your instrument.
We have been asked the same question many times, "What produces the
sound on a musical instrument ?" String wire alone will not produce
a desired musical sound, but run a wire across a fixed sheet of softwood
that has a 'bridge' and 'nut' attached and you now have the potential
making of a crude audible musical sound - the fundamental start of an
acoustic musical instrument.
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. . To
have a consistent and even grain span over a given area we suggest around
6" (I 52mm) widths. Boards more than 8" ( ) tend to have the
annual rings running wide on one side of the board. This reduces the potential
finest sound production. For example: 12 to 15 growth rings per inch is
good for most instruments but 15 to 24 growth rings per inch is ideal
but usually hard to find and will cost you more. We like to try for between
15 to 20 annual rings to the inch.
Tonewood - Soundbars
All tonewood faces have supporting strips called soundbars or facebars. These strips of timber are glued to the under side of the face in all different configurations. The design depends on the desired sound quality and strength, that particular maker requires. Soundbars need not only to be made of the best quality spruce but it is most vital that the annual rings, or grain runs down the width of the bar. This allows the tonal vibrations to reverberate freely without being stifled (muffled) by inferior spruce or badly positioned bars. We can supply all sizes of tonewood soundbars for all instruments. Give us the length, height and width of the bars.
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 / Tonewood.
Air Drying
Air drying of timbers is an age old method of storing planks between slats
for a number of months or years.
Remember, freshly felled timber which is going to be used for soundboards
is far from ideal. Air dried spruce is great if one has the time and the
investment to wait many months or years until the timber has dried and
matured. Most soundboards or faces are visually seen when in a musical
instrument. When air drying, the timber is stored over a long period of
time and there can be colour distortion unless the timbers are carefully
stacked. A dark airy shed where the sun will not penetrate on the timber
is ideal. Over time the timber will become harder, less flexible and more
brittle, making it very close to ideal for acoustic instrument making.
Most of the hardening and brittleness occurs because the resins solidify
in the timber over this time.
Kiln Drying
Today most Sitka Spruce is kiln dried. Kiln dried timber is a superb process
for speed and manufacturing efficiency in our industry. The majority of
musical instrument makers are small establishments that can't afford the
cost and space that large amounts of spruce take up with air drying. The
main draw back of kiln dried timber is that the natural ageing process
is not applicable. But on the plus side the instrument maker is accurately
in control of the timbers moisture content. This should be around 10 -
12% and not more than 15%. An 8 - 10%
water content is desirable before the soundboard (or face) is permanently
fixed onto a frame to resonate, and thus, the main unit to make an acoustic
musical instrument Remember, in general, the tighter the growth rings,
the harder the timber. A hard soundboard with tight annual ring will always
out-shine musically a wide ring soft board.
- Soundboard timbers shipped worldwide
- Send for a sample of our sound board timber. Special prices for larger quantities
- We supply Aliphatic Resin Glue- clear setting- for joining your new spruce timber
Code:-
Standard Grade - Good quality, knot free. 9 and up to 15 annual
rings per inch
Fine Grade -
Clear, good quality, knot free. 12 and up to 20 annual rings
per inch.
Please Note; - Boards over 7" (177mm) wide may have less than the above annual rings per inch.