Italian Spruce

Italian Alpine Spruce

Sound Boards

Botanical name: Picea Excelsa o Picea Abies)

ITALIAN ALPINE SPRUCE

Italian Spruce has always been used in the Italian tradition of violin making: Stradivari himself used that wood to construct his instruments.
“Red Spruce” (Botanical name: Picea Excelsa o Picea Abies) comes from the North Eastern area of the Italian Alps. The trees grow at high altitude, above 1400 up to 1800 meters. The vegetative time is only 100 days a year; the winters are long and cold, so the trees grow slowly and regularly. The growth to obtain a violin or guitar log is about 150 to 200 years, and even more for a cello log. This wood is very stiff and light: 400 kg/m3 as some studies have established. The average size of the Italian Spruce is much smaller and less regular than others kinds of Spruce, like Sitka Spruce for example. Many studies have been conducted to give a scientific explanation on why Spruce from the Italian Alps has exceptional acoustic qualities. Our experience has demonstrated that stiffness and lightness are the essential properties of Italian Spruce.

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All sets sanded to 100 grit.

There are 2 pictures of each set. 1 closeup , 1 full shot.

Fantastic tap tone! Grain lines from 40+ to 12-16 Very very stiff with good cross silking . All sets large enough for at least a dreadnaught. Color is a very beautiful creamy white even though the photos vary. We are offering three grades. Master grade, AAAA and AAA. Master grade a few and far between and priced accordingly. The 4A sets are very good but have some darker grain lines. 3A sets have some color variations. it is not uncommon with this species to find some small, isolated bits of bearclaw figure in all grades except Master grade. From time to time we will have a few Bearclaw sets. Italian spruce has a great tap tone and is highly praised by many builders.

ITALIAN AAA (FINE GRADE)

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_001_3A
Price: $75

Ital_001 Dim: 8 1/8" x 23 1/2" x .180

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_002_3A
Price: $75

Ital_002 Dim: 8 3/4" x 23 1/2" x .195

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_006_3A
Price: $75

Ital_006 3A Dim: 8 3/8" x 23 1/2" x .190

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_007_3A
Price: $75

Ital_007 Dim: 8 3/8" x 23 " x .185

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_008_3A
Price: $75

Ital_008 3A Dim: 8 1/2" x 23" x .180

Italian Spruce OM/CL

Item Name: Italian Spruce 4A
Item Number: OM_CL_001
Price: $85

Ital_0M_001 Dim: 7 5/8" x 23" x .180

Item Name: Italian Spruce 4A
Item Number: OM/CL_002
Price: $85

Ital_0M_001 3ADim: 7 7/8" x 20 3/4" x .155

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: 00_3A_001
Price: $75 SOLD BC

Ital_00_3A Dim: 7 3/8" x 23 1/2" x .155

Italian Spruce AAAA Fine grain lines. May have a few isolated bits of Bearclaw and or some darker grain lines.

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_003_4A
Price: $95

Ital_003_4A Dim: 8 1/8" x 23 1/2" x .180

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_004_4A
Price: $95

Ital_004_4A Dim: 8 1/8" x 23 x .150

Item Name: Italian Spruce
Item Number: Ital_005_4A
Price: $95 SOLD JS

Ital_005_4A Dim: 8 7/8" x 22 1/2 x .175

Italian AAA Bearclaw

Item Name: Italian Spruce Mild Bearclaw
Item Number: Ital_001_BC
Price: $80

Ital_001_BC Dim: 8 3/8" x 23 1/2 x .170

Item Name: Italian Spruce Mild Bearclaw
Item Number: Ital_002_BC
Price: $80

Ital_002_BC Dim: 8 1/8" x 23 x .175

Master Grade: Not many sets make the grade here as they are few and far between. May have some very slight isolated bearclaw. Uniform grain lines from edge to edge.

SOUNDBOARDS
WR Cedar	LUTZ Spruce	Italian Spruce	Carpathian Spruce
Curly Spanish Cedar	Port Orford Cedar	Sitka Spruce	Bear Claw Sitka
Engleman Spruce	German Spruce	Adirondack Spruce	Curly Redwood
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