Red Spruce (Adirondack?)

I’m quite excited, I’ve just received a batch of ten Red Spruce mandolin soundboards from the US. Buying tonewoods unseen is always a bit risky but who dares wins! They were described as “master grade” and they certainly are- some of the best I’ve seen for a long while.

Red spruce was used by Martin and Gibson on many of their best pre WWII guitars and mandolins. It seems to be re-gaining its popularity even though it’s quite pricey. The terms red spruce and Adirondack seem to be interchangeable, but as far as I can tell Adirondack is red spruce but from that particular area of the States.

These boards are very stiff and have a great resonant tap tone. The stiffness of red spruce makes it ideal for mandolins as the soundboard is subjected to downward forces.

Looking forward to using these! Brendan’s twin-pointer will be the first, watch this space.......