The Collings Forum

Thoughts about runout. Anything different or just the look?

Here is a good link describing and illustrating Runout.
http://www.lutherie.net/frankford.runout.html

Great link Haasome. Very informative.

Sometimes it adds character. It has to only be a little run out though. If the piece of wood was too far out then I am not a fan.

I have a question regarding spruce tops that I believe is related to runout. As the excellent link to the Frank Ford website demonstrated (thanks Haasome), runout is the result of differences in how light is being reflected by wood. Slight differences in how perpendicular the wood grain is with respect to the top surface cause the change in reflected light. Clearly the example of the guitar top shown on the Ford website illustrates how the treble and bass sides of a top appear to reflect light differently (“lighter” and “darker”) due the differences in grain orientation of the two non-perpendicularly cut sides.

I have observed some guitar tops where there are differences in how light is being reflected due to more localized grain (or more appropriately “cross-grain” or “silk” or “bear claw”) variations. In other words, rather than the entire treble or bass side exhibiting different amounts of light reflection, limited portions of the tops show these variations.

I hope my explanation makes sense... Is this localized variation in light reflection still considered runout? My understanding about spruce tops that exhibit these localized variations in light reflection is that they tend to be stiffer due to differences in wood growth. Thoughts on any acoustical differences?