PRE-WAR ADIRONDACK RED SPRUCE - Amazing Picea rubens from The Hampton Brothers - INCREDIBLE tonewood

In this video we look at some extremely high quality Adirondack red spruce from Matt and Nate Hampton, red spruce hunters from Tennessee, USA.
This is red spruce of pre-war martin, golden era Martin guitars prior to their switch to Sitka spruce in 1946. Harvested high in the mountains along the Appalachian trail, its the good stuff! They don't make it like this anymore!

[@AcousticGuitarIO]

Love these Tommy's Tonewoods episodes! You've inspired me to get my Kim Walker out its case for an airing.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

cheers cams!

[@amymccarty5098]

That’s for sure master grade almost looks like master carpathian great find we love your channel

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@kevingreene6893]

Adi is known for its richness and dynamic tone - I do hear those metallic shimmers but overall there is quite a range of tone with sustain and presence. I reckon that piece of tonewood will have quite a bit of headroom and some nice note clarity. There is evidence of that brightness, which Adi is known for, and it does look like a nice, fresh and clean set, which will no doubt make a lovely guitar top. Interestingly - it is more difficult to describe the tonal qualities from the tap-tone exercise compared to the cedar... and even more-so with the Madagascar or Cocobolo - so on that basis, you have to wonder just how much of an influence the back and sides actually has on the final tonal qualities of a finished guitar... let the conversation develop... K.

[@kinsellt]

What do I hear when you tap the Adirondack spruce you ask? There’s a little bit of snare drum from Mr. Melville‘s band from when I was playing in the Saint Margaret Mary’s junior band. It’s a fleeting memory of the drum line behind me; I was a very bad first trombone. You can tell when you tap the wood it’s going to make a drum.

[@amymccarty5098]

We have a good bit of old growth red her in wv

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I love it!

[@PotPoet]

When you tap a sound board wood sample, you do it so YOU can hear it. Could you please do the same thing with the board facing the microphone so WE can hear it?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

The board is equidistant from my ear and the lav mic clipped to my apron. Try listening with headphones 🎧 👍

[@PotPoet]

@@TomSandsGuitars OK. Thanks for the quick reply.

[@bloxa]

super nice! but the luthiers I've talked to in Europe say that grain space are not important when it comes to sound? they claim it's a misconception. That goes at least for the alpine spruce.

[@el34glo59]

It's definitely a misconception. Especially with Adirondack

[@natemink572]

@@el34glo59 Amen. I have a handful of adi topped guitars and the two that sound the best are so irregular that Martin would throw them away lol

[@paulboden7850]

That's some nice spruce. Is it torrefied? The tap tone would be different natural state vs. baked? At times I feel like Adirondack has too much horsepower!

[@amymccarty5098]

I agree out of the gate it’s a bit overpowering but once it settles in look out

[@TomSandsGuitars]

No just very dense and quite oxidised. yep, gotta handle adi with care, its a beast!

[@naiman4535]

I am the proud owner of a folk Dreadnought guitar with a soundboard of Adirondack Spruce. In my opinion, it is clearly superior to Sitka Spruce - its tone is so much deeper, richer and more robust. Sitka Spruce's tone is clear and tansparent, but it's kind of wimpy.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Interesting! Perhaps I should compare them in a video