Our StewMac Red Spruce Top Wood for Mandolin or Violin is supplied as air-dried wedges that are ready for edge joining, gluing and carving in your shop. Suitable for making one F-style or A-style mandolin top, or one violin top.
Shipped as Grade AAA bookmatched sets of two quartersawn halves, each half measuring approximately:
Red Spruce was used on the most prized Martins from the late 1920s through 1945, and Gibson also used it until 1945. For many collectors today, there is simply no comparison to the Red Spruce tops from that Golden Era.
Red Spruce (also called Adirondack Spruce) responds to the full range of attack on the strings. Where other top woods decay or sound muffled when played hard, Red Spruce stays clear and powerful. It looks like other Spruce varieties, with wider (and often more pronounced) grain lines, warmer color and more color variation. Higher grades have more even color and closer grain lines.