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After spending the last several years trying and collecting a variety of instrument woods, I have come to a few conclusions about what works and what doesn't. I have been using and continue to use domestic maples and englemann spruce - they make a fine instrument. But I have been encouraging my customers to choose European varieties, as they come together to create a sound that I would like my instruments to be remembered for. It is my intention to use European woods on all my instruments someday.

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In 2000, myself and a few friends bought a spruce tree. We chose it from the Sumava forest in southern Bohemia, had it felled, and transported to a mill about 1 hour out of Prague. There we rented a sawmill for the afternoon, where we had the log split and rough sawed. A few weeks later we resliced the billets at the home of Paul Mcnaulty, a pianoforte maker with a wood mizer. Since then, about 30 tops have been drying in my father in law's attic, and I plan to start using them around 2010.

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I travel to central Europe once a year, and on each trip I visit a number of friends I have made in the woodcutting business, including the Gleissner family in Bubenreuth, Germany. There I hand pick a selection of tops and backs, ship them to Seattle, stack them for a few years, until they are ready to use. This is the best wood I have found, and I encourage any who are considering a truly fine instrument to consider them in your choice.

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