Torrefied AAA Grade European Spruce Classical Guitar Soundboard

Description of Torrefied AAA Grade European Spruce Classical Guitar Soundboard

European Spruce (Picea abies) is an evergreen tree and is considered one of the best tonewoods. By definition, a tonewood is any wood that is used for its properties to make a musical instrument. Spruce is highly prized as a tonewood for many and varied reasons. It has a very good stiffness to weight ratio, which means that although it is light and needs to be calibrated to the right thickness to make a soundboard, it is still very strong.

How do we grade European AAA Spruce tops?

The AAA grade european spruce tops have a combination of the following characteristics: Straight grain, with very tight growth rings, approximately 1-2 mm on average between the rings, opening up as we move away from the center of the top. No apparent knots or defects in the part used for the top. If there is any defect it will be minimal and will be in the outer areas of the piece and will be discarded when working it. We always try, when cutting, that the grain in the radial cut is at 90º. If this is not the case, the variation will be only a few degrees in any case.

Quality grading of our woods

What is the torrefaction process?

Torrefaction is a thermochemical treatment of the wood carried out in vacuum. During the torrefaction process, the water contained in the wood and other volatiles are eliminated, while the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin maintain their structure. The result is a solid, dry wood with an attractive toasted color.

During the process, the wood loses approximately 20% of its mass without an appreciable change in volume, so that more stable and suitable pieces are obtained for the construction of guitars than that offered by traditional kiln-drying or air-drying, giving a result similar to the oldest wood, much appreciated in the construction of instruments with vintage aesthetics.

Features

• Size: 550x200x4 mm x2
• Botanical Name: Picea abies
• Origin: Europe
• Density: 440-470Kg/m3