Author Topic: choosing a sinker redwood top  (Read 5083 times)

mea1970

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choosing a sinker redwood top
« on: January 25, 2012, 10:31:45 AM »
hey all, so i'm close to picking woods for my BTO GC (macassar ebony/sinker). i've seen so many shades of sinker and want to make sure i get the right one.

so my question is, does the sinker get stained to better match the b/s or are you kind of stuck with whatever hue is naturally there? i'm hoping for a dark, chocolatey brown top to match the ebony, as opposed to the more cedar-like, reddish ones you see sometimes.

they're gonna email me pics of raw wood with a little corner "wetted down" to see the color. so, is what you see what you get?

many thx!

miles
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'12 Taylor GC Macassar Ebony/Sinker
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DennisG

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2012, 10:51:09 AM »
You can get pretty dark sinker, but it's usually striped.  (I went the other direction and wanted a light sinker top with no striping.)  Sinker isn't often stained, but that doesn't mean you can't request it.
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'21 Goodall GC - master redwood/Macassar ebony
'18 Taylor K14-BE
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Satsuki

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2012, 10:59:14 AM »
What is the advantage of Redwood over Sitka. I remember years ago it was considered softer than Cedar and hard to work with because it would break or crack easily being so thin.

MRMTAYGA

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2012, 11:00:57 AM »
Sinker can come in many different colors and shades. You'll get a better idea when you get your pictures. I should be getting my BTO any day now. I ordered a Sinker with Cocobolo B/S. However I asked for an edgeburst on the top with ebony binding to blend the colors with the darker Coco. Not sure if this answers your question or not. Once I get it I'll post pictures to show what I mean.
2012 Taylor BTO 12 Fret Cocobolo/Sinker
2009 Taylor 714 Spring LTD Madagascar/Sitka
2008 Taylor DN8

Steve

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2012, 11:03:15 AM »
Taylor doesn't stain their sinker tops.
No one has ever been on their death-bed wishing they'd been more practical...

DennisG

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2012, 11:05:25 AM »
What is the advantage of Redwood over Sitka. I remember years ago it was considered softer than Cedar and hard to work with because it would break or crack easily being so thin.

This is a subject for a different thread -- not this one.  But Taylor has been working successfully with redwood for quite a while now, and I have to believe that if they had a large breakage problem, they'd give up on the wood.  But they haven't.

The benefit of redwood is that you get the warmth of cedar combined with the headroom, clarity, and note definition of spruce.  You can fingerpick it, flat pick it, and strum it and still get beautiful tone without muddiness.
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'21 Goodall GC - master redwood/Macassar ebony
'18 Taylor K14-BE
'18 Taylor 114e
'21 Taylor GT Urban Ash
'15 Martin uke

Cindy

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2012, 11:22:50 AM »
The combo sounds almost like the one I saw yesterday when I went to a dealer in New Jersey. They had a macassar ebony/sinker redwood GA BTO with a Florentine cutaway hanging on the wall. It was quite beautiful! And it sounded awesome although I didn't play it much. The two employees were standing guard. ;D
Cindy

michaelw

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Re: choosing a sinker redwood top
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2012, 01:08:11 PM »
from what i've seen, there are few woods that are stained as a standard feature
on standard models, such as the original GS5 (GS-MC) had a dark mahogany stain
(paste grain filler ???), the default finish on the 6/600 series is transparent amber
(back, sides & neck), the current 700s have a 'vintage sunburst' on the top & neck,
burst finish cedar top on the SCCSM, aged/aging toner on the sitka top of the DMSM,
the DDSM in black & various transparent stains, the current 214ce-SB & 214ce-BLK

redwood, macassar, ebony & mahogany are typically not stained 'by default -
Strumming has a sinker redwood/ovangkol BTO with macassar fretboard &
bridge, with figuring & variegation which seems, imho,  to flow 'seamlessly' :o

i believe that very subtle transparent 'natural' edgeburst could accentuate the figuring &
body shape & i'd like to see macassar as a BTO binding option, if it's structurally possible

i've seen Taylor models with redwood tops made back in the early 90's, among
them a 710 model & i think that there was a 'resurgence' of sorts around 02 or so ;)

sounds like you've got a great GC BTO in the works, Miles :)
if you'd to share any wood sets pics, please feel free :D


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