Sitka Spruce

Sitka Spruce: Picea Sitchensis Gs.  Sitka spruce trees grow to gigantic sizes in the Pacific Northwest. These days most of the harvest is sent to Japan for building materials; about 10% comes to the musical instrument business and this is the wood used in most guitars built today. It is pinkish white to light brown in color; the grain is straight and even.  Sitka spruce has good balance, clarity and resonating qualities.  It is moderately stiff and accentuates the warm round aspects of the guitar’s fundamental tone; the note cuts through loud and clear without many overtones. Photo of Kate dwarfed by a Sitka tree in –Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon.  This tree is next to the world’s biggest Sitka.  We couldn’t get next to the biggest as a storm had rendered her unsafe to stand under what with the occasional giant falling limb.  However the dimensions on this tree are so huge that they are worth reporting: 216’ tall, 56’ in circumference, and around 750 years  old, having started as a seedling about the time of the signing of the Magna Carta.