Grain Runout

[TKAY]

How important is grain runout when choosing bellies ? I have only made a Lute with AAA Sitka. Beautiful timber with over 40 rings /inch but certainly not a split belly. As the Rose is carved into the top one certainly needs the superglue handy. Any thoughts appreciated

Thanks
Tom.

[kiwigeo]

Run out can be a pain if you thickness your tops mainly with hand tools.....I always had planing direction penciled clearly on each side of the top. These days I use drum sander for most of my thicknessing.

[Mark McLean]

Runout is not thought to have bad effects on sound quality of instruments. If you book match a two piece soundboard with runout you get a different appearance of the colour of the timber under finish in each half.

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This is a cosmetic problem rather than a structural one, but some people would not buy a guitar with such a top because they don’t like the way that it looks. Extreme runout could make the soundboard weaker or make a glued bridge more likely to detach.
There is a useful discussion by Frank Ford at trets.com
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/General ... unout.html