California coastal REDWOOD - Sequoia sempervirens - My FAVOURITE acoustic guitar top tonewood?!?

[@DanBurne]

Picky? Moi? Ok, yes, very picky. But then that is why I picked you as the luthier, Tom! Sorry - you'll have to bear with me. Very excited about this one! The body size is still up for grabs ... Great video - and really lovely to have this as part of documenting the build :) Thank you buddy!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

You're welcome!

[@xxxZenxxxZen]

Picky is another word for high expectation

[@mattnelson8325]

I have an East Indian Rosewood back and sides with a Redwood top... Absolutely my favorite acoustic combo ever. I love your videos.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Thank you!!

One more thing. The barns or sheds from the 19th and early 20th century here in central or northern California are made of Redwood. The structure beams are of HUGE Redwood!

[@eddiesguitars]

I could listen to homeboy talk about tonewoods endlessly!

[@andrewbowen8122]

Lol homeboy I like it

[@TomSandsGuitars]

we're going to need a bigger tonewood boat

[@slbolfing56]

Wow! Even with my cheap headphones, I could hear both deep, resonant bass & crystalline trebles. Sounds like both a drum & a bell. Wonderful wood. Awesome video!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Thanks steven!

[@soberisbetter6904]

Just got my fist redwood guitar - very interesting and powerful! Great video!

Hello Tom. Redwood trees are huge and are found North of San Francisco along the coast! Great and awesome view via the Pacific Ocean Highway. Sequoia trees are on the Eastern side of California on the Sierra Nevada. I grew up on the foothills if the great Sequoia National Park!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Yep, Redwoods are sequoias, amazing to see them on the coastal roads. I used to enjoy walking amongst the redwoods in Santa Cruz

[@markusanger]

I had the opportunity to examine a pile of Sinker redwood tops aside of Adirondack AAA spruce tops. We started tapping tops and we all looked at each other with smiles. The redwood was just so responsive in every way. Hands down, redwood really surprised me.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Yeah I build with it a lot. Probably more than anything else honestly!

[@kevingreene6893]

Now we’re talking... that is a seriously vocal and balanced piece of tonewood. Lovely, strong low end with fabulous sustain and vibrancy, and nice top end pitches clearly present. You get the feeling this set is going to push the boundaries of the “fire-side” warmth concept to the limits, while mixing it up nicely via those crisp pitchy trebles that are fairly evident. All this before it’s even partnered with the accompanying back and sides! Of course, I am somewhat biased here... having experienced tap-toning a set of cedar for my own guitar build - the sheer excitement and joy - total elation. Have to say Tom, I really enjoyed this one - great series my man, and delighted now to have both the Cedar and the Madagascar reviewed... okay, what’s next??

[@DanBurne]

This bodes very well for how this guitar's going to shape up! Can't wait :)

[@RemoSforza]

Very responsive tap tone and good fondamentals and amazing sustain... Thanks

[@neilmc59MK]

Love Redwood. Love Ophelia. Love Dan. Love you Buddy.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I think so too!

[@DanBurne]

That's a whole lotta love! Right back attcha ​ @Neil Hutchison ! :)

[@andrewbowen8122]

Having never been to America I have always had an idealised picture of the place from reading Kerouacs on the road and Steinbeck. There’s such a great passage in Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charlie” he mentioned that these Redwoods were alive when a political assassination took place in Jerusalem. Magic stuff in every sense if you take into account the tiny seed it sprang from to ending up making music to our ears🤯

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I love travels with Charlie!

[@vanrozay8871]

When you describe a response like that of a classical guitar, I think of building one with this wood and 1 and 7/8 at the nut, allowing a less radical adjustment for a classic player who wants to play some on steel strings. Just a thought.

[@kenpark7427]

I have same tonewood with sinker one. sounds dark, deep, rich. I recommend solo finger style player. best backside combination is hard wood like blackwood, macassar ebony. Really good sounds.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Ever build an acoustic guitar using sinker redwood? The curly/flamed redwood is awesome too.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Neither sinker nor curly! I love the colours you get with sinker

[@stephen3073]

Redwood is my favorite top wood; or in my mind, at least equal in status to high-grade Adirondack Red Spruce or any of the variants of Picea abies (Euro Spruce). I love those too, but redwood topped guitars, intelligently designed an built, have these mysterious and profound, almost mystical resonances that are singular to Redwood alone. I have a stash of redwood recycled from a roof beam of a 150-yr-old church in southern Oregon; I've used a couple dozen sets of spectacular Sinker Redwood; and also, some stacks of the famous Tunnel 13 and Tunnel 14 sets. I've built more redwood-topped guitars than any other species of top woods.The coolest thing about these woods is the resins are fully crystallized, since the trees were harvested in the late 1880s to early 1920s. That is some well seasoned wood! Instant vintage tone! Another thing I LOVE about it is, this is all recycled timber, and that means we don't have to incur a great Karmic debt by molesting any of the very few remaining majestic forest giants. Tommy, I love your vids. As a fellow luthier of 23 years, I really admire your intrepid spirit and your passion for your craft. Not to mention, your instruments sound magnificent, and they are the very embodiment of pure elegance in every aspect. I wish I could afford to commission one.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Thank you so much Stephen! I really appreciate you kind words and share a love for Redwood!!!

[@onehandslinger1475]

Semper virens. It means always (sempre in Italian) green.

[@alexryder2046]

Beautiful sound board for sure. Maybe Western Red Cedar next?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Possibly!

[@emmsone]

I'm such big redwood fan!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

,e too!

[@jeremysnead9233]

Astetics vs Accustics vs Performance. Do are they congruent or do they conflict in guitar crafting.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

A great guitar should be a perfect blend of these

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

Do you think you'll plant a redwood grove, or is the climate not right for it? (Giants need about the climate that prevails in most of England, Wales and Scotland, and coastal has the potential to become invasive in the Celtic rainforest, which has a similar climate to that which it knows and loves back in California and Oregon, where it's starting to suffer due to climate change)

[@kevinanderson7536]

What do you think about pairing redwood with sassafras? I'm considering a taylor that has sinkwood top with sass back and sides. It's beautiful but a wee bit out of my price range.

[@carlosreira2189]

I've never used it, but having played around with chunks, sticks, bits and pieces of redwood and Western red-cedar, I can say I prefer redwood. It's just better, brighter. I think Ramirez popularized WRC, and redwood was not used, simply because classical guitarists were used to a light colored top. Redwood is almost always darker red than cedar, but not always.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I’m definitely in the redwood camp

[@nuendo2496]

Showing the end grain would be fun…..perfectly quarter sawn?

[@zakr72]

Where do you order redwood from? I was looking to make string instruments using it but I need a thicker cut than would be used for a guitar top.

[@ceferinocarpio]

Is the approach in voicing redwood tops different from spruce tops? I know there's no formula in voicing but in terms of bracing patterns or shapes of the braces, is there a difference in what you do?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

The process is the same. 👍

[@Sams911]

Thoughts on the "Sunken" Redwood? vs normal redwood?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I’ve not worked with any although I think sinker woods are very cool, the colours are awesome.

[@brunofonseca5004]

Hello! Redwood is good with mahogany ?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I really like it, you can here sound clips of many we’ve made

[@NoahHormann]

Hi tommy: Hobby builder prepping for my first redwood build. When you say you can't take it as thin as spruce, how thin is too thin? What a good ballpark to shoot for?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Really depends on your building style. How thin would you take a spruce top?

[@NoahHormann]

@@TomSandsGuitars I mean... I'm a baby guitar builder. Barely off the breast milk. I suppose it depends on the guitar size/shape. But I've started with around .10 inches. (2.5mm)

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Rather than thinking about thickness, think about stiffness. Take a piece of spruce and a piece of redwood of the same dimensions, make a note of the difference in deflection under a known load and make your judgement from there. Redwood is so variable so that’s probably the most useful advice I can give you. 🙌

[@NoahHormann]

@@TomSandsGuitars thank you sir!

[@aaronflinner6431]

Do you think a sinker redwood top would go well with Bolivian rosewood back and sides?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

i've not a huge amount of experience with sinker, do you have a builder in mind?

[@aaronflinner6431]

Well, it's actually for a mountain dulcimer from a builder in Indiana USA. (New Harmony Dulcimers). I ended up ordering a baritone dulcimer from them with the wood combo that I mentioned, and it sounds beautiful. Very rich and clear sound. I'm loving it. I really like your videos, keep up the good work.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

@@aaronflinner6431 thank you Betsy!

[@24elvan]

Hi Tom, A question about redwood. Would you brace these guitars differently from a spruce top? Would you scallop the braces on redwood tops? I have suggestion for a few episodes on bracing and another on fretboad woods!

[@EliominDZ]

cuánto cuesta la tapa de secuoya?

[@peterjames2580]

Bubinga please...... great show.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I need to get some!

[@jan_phd]

The best tonewood for guitars, is 'balsa'. Most people are horrible at playing guitar, so 'balsa', is perfect for them.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Balsa is a real species.

[@ktrak2171]

Tasmanian King William Pine. Same blood lines...

[@nicholash8021]

OMG, if you have a subwoofer...