Sitka Spruce Tonewood

Spruce tops achieve a volume and "punch" that is simply not available to the redwood top.

Spruce, on the other hand, has a "brash" sound to go with that punch, and will never achieve the dark chocolaty sweetness of a redwood top. But spruce will "play in" over a year or so of steady playing, and finally achieve a sweetness to replace the original brashness of the new wood. Choose spruce if you want maximum volume and like to play your dulcimer in a muscular style.

The spruce used at Bear Meadow is Alaskan virgin growth Sitka spruce that has been blown down in storms, harvested by hand in a way that is very respectful of this resource and the surrounding environment. Our sawyer selects Master Grade baulks to our specifications and sends it in large quartersawn billetssitka S of Master Grade, enabling me to do my own resawing. This yields a high degree of control over the acoustic and aesthetic choices for our spruce tops. To see more about the spruce resawing process see quatersawing.

For price see the Price List.