At Pacific Rim Tonewoods, we personally select all of our spruce logs. We split those logs into guitar top blocks, focusing on maximizing quality while minimizing any twist that a log might have. The sawyer then cuts the blocks into quartered boards, locking in the radial stiffness. From here the boards are air dried, then “finished” over a period of 3-4 weeks in our dehumidification kiln, to a final moisture content of 8.5%. The boards are then resawn into bookmatched sets and graded into one of three traditional grades.
Details:
AAAA – our best soundboard visually; stiff, silky and uniform in color across the whole pattern of the guitar
AAA – clean top, minimal color bands and light compression rings, uniform grain
AA – color bands and compression rings allowed; light shadow towards the waist to upper bout of the pattern; uniform grain to wider grain