Choosing a Spruce Top for Larry’s Guitar

Larry liked (loved, bonded, enjoyed…) his guitar that he immediatlely (after a pause to ask himself if he was crazy) ordered a second. It will have a smaller body, like a Romanillos plan, again with some awesome rosewood. But choosing the top is important. For a top of the line guitar, I choose my best wood. How do I do that?
First, obviously defects are discarded. Knots, pitch pockets, cracks, non-vertical grain, twist potato chips… the list goes on. The wood does not become topwood by accident.

I like older wood. All things being equal, I like wood that I have had in my possession. I’ve probably looked at and handled it dozens of times over the years. All the spruce I’m looking at in this post, I’ve had many years.

I like taptones and flexing. Flexing gives a good indication of what the tap tones will be.

I like pretty wood, with lots of cross-grain silk.

: A beautiful set given to me in partial payment of some work I did for Dake Traphagen. Bear Claw.

: The bear claw top under the Ganzanillos shape… and a sunny/cloudy day.

: A beautiful set that my son Micah joined when he was staying with me in 2011. Up until now, I had been saving for the return of the prodigal, but I wanted to consider it for a great guitar. When I had him join it, I told him it was perhaps my best top. The knots are out of the pattern.