| The south face of the Alps that lies in France,
Switzerland & Italy, trailing down through the mountainous parts
of Bosnia, Herzegovina & Serbia, has historically been
the source for a good percentage of wood sold as "German", "European" or
"Alpine" spruce for the luthier trade. Picea abies, as with
most of the spruces, thrive in the cooler higher elevations that
provide lots of moisture and somewhat acid soil conditions.
Italian Alpine Spruce is a very stiff soundboard
material that is slightly warmer in color than some European spruce. It
has a deep, focused tap tone that in the hands of a talented instrument
builder, translates into outstanding overall sonic clarity ... with
a well defined point to the attack transient and a dense note core that
unleashes an engaging overtone series!
In the last decade, Dana Bourgeois
dreadnoughts have captured a large market share of the Bluegrass elite,
but the first fifteen years of this luthier's career were successful because
of the notoriety of his OM model. This Custom OMC Italian spruce
/ Madagascar rosewood guitar is very definitely proof positive that this
gifted instrument builder has not lost his touch with the Orchestra Model! |
