This is not a secret, I love woods. When I discovered that a private source of Red Spruce (aka Adirondack) was close from my workshop, I decided to contact him. I didn't know Steve Gosselin 2 months ago, and he came to the workshop on a post confinement day, with a stash of his soundboard & bracings. I should admit that I've had a few numbers of Adirondack tops in my hands, but for years, I've been able to grab a good number of tops... and I was pretty impressed, by Steve's wood. He came back to the workshop again, to bring some parlor soundboards because this is what some friends of mine wanted (and I love small-body guitars)... and it was a delight. Those tops are stiff, straight, and basically have no run out... because they are handsplit from Steve. He is a one man's workshop, and he prefers quality to quantity. It is definitely not easy to harvest Red Spruce because it is so damn hard to cut, and it tends to twist when the tree is growing. So, after his visits and the great talks we had, an idea hit me: why shouldn't we create a project with Steve, to bring his wood to all of the builders on the market? I know that like myself tons of builders want to find the best Red Spruce, and that it is very difficult to supply. Every kind of GREAT spruce are not easy to find, but Picea Rubens is something else. For weeks, we talked about this possibility to bring this project to life and finally, Steve decided to let me bring a lot of his tops to my workshop, for me to: - Be his showroom At Quebec City, for local luthiers
- Let me represent his brand Gams Tonewood, and to organize the way to sell his Red Spruce/select all the woods myself/create his branding (social medias & visibility)/find customers/pack & send all the tops. The way I decided to go (with Steve's agreement, of course), is to take pictures of each top individually. I will join a lot of datas with it like weight, dimensions (width, length & thickness), the year of the cut, grade, size. The way we decided to sell this amazing wood, will be very different than the usual way. Our goal and it is VERY important, is to put everyone on an equal footing. The quantity is pretty limited because Steve is alone in his shop to cut & season the wood... and I am very picky during the selection, about the wood I'm bringing to the Showroom. We want to be able to offer great wood, until the next batch which is drying peacefully right now. One of the coolest things of this wood, is its grading. Michel Pellerin, is taking care of it. He have more than 2 decades of experience as luthier, and his knowledge about wood is incredible. So, this is a 3 men project: - Steve is taking care of the wood from cutting to seasoning; - Michel is grading it;
- I am taking care of the selection for the showroom & customers. With this project, Gams Tonewood will be able to supply luthiers for a long time, year after year. We are very impatient to be able to supply people, with this beautiful wood! Don't hesitate to contact Steve Gosselin, his brand, or myself if you have any question! Benjamin Paldacci
Benjamin Paldacci Guitars Steve Gosselin Gams Tonewood gams-tonewood@outlook.com
Facebook: @gamstonewood
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