Torrefied tops.

Mellish

Cheers lads for the info and the link. Many thanks  

Tannin

artiebear said:

TBH I am not sure I totally buy into the whole thing. OK I only have one guitar with any kind of treatment, a Yamaha LJ56 which has some kind of wood development process which those clever sods originally used to open up their higher end classical stringed instruments. As for the guitar, it sounds heavenly, but I do suspect that is because it was well made on the top bench at the Japan custom shop.

On the other hand I have a heap of beautifully crafted / voiced guitars made by skilled hands from shelf stacked and properly dried bits of wood, which sound equally as lovely.

Who really knows ? 

I suspect that it is one of those many things which form a part of the successful recipe many builders follow, and is equally not a part of the recipe many other successful builders follow. It is perhaps like a tube of burnt umber oil paint - many a successful artist couldn't produce her best work without it, many another doesn't care for it and seldom uses it. Burnt umber paint is thus both an essential and an irrelevance, all depending on who is holding the brush. 

My conclusion from this comes down to my "never argue with the chef" rule. If the chef reckons that  a dish requires a dash of lemon, that's his business - he's far better qualified to know what works best in his dishes, cooked his way, than I am. And if I don't care for the finished dish, I'm always free to eat somewhere else next time. 

I have a guitar on order from a local luthier. Now I really like offset soundholes and believe that they make more sense both  structurally and and acoustically than centred ones right in the middle of the weakest part of a guitar body. I daresay Paul would build my new guitar that way if I insisted - but it wouldn't be his best work, and that's the point. I want his best work, and while I'm happy to say what I like and don't like, in the end I have to have the sense to stand back a bit and let him do it his way. If he was a torrified top man (which he isn't), I'd be happy with a torrified top. 

Mellish

So, decided against a trade, now going part ex. It's between an Atkin Essential D, Atkin J43 Cherry, Aged, or a Lowden in the same price window. Off to GG one day next week to do the deal TBH I'll be sad to see the HD-28 go but if you're fighting a guitar and losing because of nut width and neck profile, what else can you do? Apologies to OP for derailing. Sorry mate  

wellsyboy

Mellish said:

So, decided against a trade, now going part ex. It's between an Atkin Essential D, Atkin J43 Cherry, Aged, or a Lowden in the same price window. Off to GG one day next week to do the deal TBH I'll be sad to see the HD-28 go but if you're fighting a guitar and losing because of nut width and neck profile, what else can you do? Apologies to OP for derailing. Sorry mate  

Let us know what you go for

Mellish

@wellsyboy ; of course mate