arrow icon-cart icon-email icon-facebook icon-g-plus icon-instagram No-Audio Pause icon-pin Untitled-1 icon-print icon-search icon-show-hide icon-tiktok icon-twitter Audio icon-youtube-play icon-youtube logo-mobile
Adirondack Spruce

Available in: Customs Program

Shown: Custom #35

taylor-features-top-woods-adirondack-spruce-custom-35

 

Overview: Also known as Eastern red or Appalachian spruce, Adirondack defined guitars of the pre-WWII era. Its availability is beginning to increase slightly, as another generation of trees matures, although they’re still considerably smaller than their old growth forebears. Current supplies of Adirondack tend to lack a certain aesthetic purity of look (they tend to be wider-grained and more irregular in color and grain patterns), but tonally, Adirondack is even more dynamic than Sitka, with a higher ceiling for volume. The payoff is the ability to drive an Addie top hard and hear it get louder and louder without losing clarity; it’s hard to outplay it.

Another sonic nuance that Bob Taylor loves about Adirondack is "an undeniable sweetness in every note, especially in the mids."

Origin: Canada

Goes Well With: Aggressive flatpickers or strummers. It would be a great fit for a GS or Dreadnought.

 

Learn About Top Woods

Hard Woods vs. Soft Woods

Guitar top woods fall into two general categories: hardwoods and softwoods. So what are softwoods and hardwoods, and what’s the difference between a softwood top and a hardwood top?

Topwoods

The unique acoustic properties of top woods help color a body shape’s fundamental sound. The key is to find the wood that matches up best with your playing style, like the warmth of a cedar top for fingerpicking and the feeling of responsiveness in your hands.

Explore All Acoustic Features