Is torrefied wood better?

Not only does a torrefied top offer greater stability and tone, the thermo-curing process dramatically speeds up the natural aging of wood that results in a vintage-looking, golden-caramel hue.

What is a torrefied spruce top?

Torrefied Tops It’s the result of a natural molecular change in the cell structure of the wood. Torrefaction is a roasting technique that greatly accelerates this process, enabling a new guitar to sound much older. Andy Powers developed his own recipe for torrefying spruce tops on the 600 Series.

What does torrefied wood mean?

A: Torrefaction is a process of heating wood in an oxygen-free environment to remove oils, pitch, sugars, resins, and other vibration-damping volatiles. Under a microscope, torrefied wood looks much like wood that was naturally cured for many decades.

What is torrefied Adirondack spruce?

Torrefaction is a specialized heating process used on Recording King Adirondack spruce tops in which the wood is heated at a low temperature in an oxygen-free environment. The curing process reduces Show More.

Is Adirondack better than Sitka?

For the most part, Adirondack spruce can be found on select high-end instruments. It’s a relatively heavy and stiff wood, having strong fundamentals, but a greater overtone content than Sitka, and it tends to be the loudest and liveliest of spruces as well. to the tone.”

Does torrefied wood age?

Do torrefied guitars wear out sooner? Probably not. After many years, wood can ‘wear out’, but that can take centuries. We have had a Torres Guitar in the store, which was over a hundred years old and still very much alive.

What does torrefied spruce mean?

Torrefaction, all in all, is the process of baking the woods used in the construction of the guitar, most often the top. This process is typically done with high-quality pieces of wood such as Adirondack Spruce or Sitka. After 20 hours, the temperature is lowered which removes the moisture from the wood.

Are torrefied guitars better?

Since it’s non-hygroscopic, torrefied wood is far less likely to expand or contract, meaning guitars will be less vulnerable to atmospheric conditions and less likely to crack. Compared to seasoned but non-torrefied wood the tone is more consistent because it’s less susceptible to atmospheric conditions.

Is Sitka spruce expensive?

Pricing/Availability: Construction grade spruce is cheap and easy to find. However, old growth and/or quartersawn clear pieces—free from knots—can be more expensive. Quartersawn billets of instrument-grade Sitka Spruce can easily exceed the cost of most all domestic hardwoods in terms of per board-foot cost.

Is Sitka spruce top good?

Sitka Spruce: (picea sitchensis) It is a very stiff wood, durable and strong. Flamenco guitarists also prefer this top wood, because it can produce less “sustain” (a sharper note) than cedar or other spruce tonewoods.

Is Sitka spruce good for guitars?

The most commonly used wood for guitar tops, Sitka generates a broad dynamic range and accommodates numerous playing styles, from aggressive strumming to fingerpicking. As a guitar soundboard, or top, Sitka spruce is the tonewood standard of the modern era. It’s used on 85-90 percent of the guitars that Taylor makes.

Is Sitka spruce strong?

Sitka spruce is valued for its wood, which is light, soft, and relatively strong and flexible. It is used for general construction, ship building and plywood. The wood has excellent acoustic properties and is used to make sounding boards in pianos and other musical instruments such as violins and guitars.

What’s the difference between Sitka and torrefied Sitka spruce?

In short, torrefied Sitka spruce is lighter and weaker than the Sitka on all the guitars I’ve tried and disliked in the past. To be honest it’s no longer Sitka. It’s more like a completely dimensionally stable sheet of wood-like material that looks a bit like Sitka spruce. But darker.

How does torrefaction work on Sitka spruce guitar?

This is torrefied sitka spruce. Torrefaction is a process that’s been around for years but it’s only had a recent introduction to the guitar world. The wood is heated to a high temperature in an oxygen-free environment. This not only rids the wood of all moisture, both free and held, it changes the chemical composition of the wood.

Is the Sitka spruce guitar a good colour?

And Sitka has particularly pronounced medullary rays. It looks great. It’s often a nice colour. And never forget, whilst the ears are important, the eyes come first when it comes to buying guitars. If it doesn’t get past the eyes it will never get as far as the ears.

Which is cheaper Adirondack spruce or Sitka spruce?

Sitka is a lot cheaper than European spruce, which is cheaper again than Adirondack spruce. Both European spruce and Adirondack spruce are usually smaller trees, more scarce and more highly regarded by makers.

Is torrefied wood better? Not only does a torrefied top offer greater stability and tone, the thermo-curing process dramatically speeds up the natural aging of wood that results in a vintage-looking, golden-caramel hue. What is a torrefied spruce top? Torrefied Tops It’s the result of a natural molecular change in the cell structure of the…