Buying Another Guitar Maker's Wood Cache

A good rule is to buy as much as you can sensibly afford of any wood that excites you and then, quickly, buy a little more . James Krenov, The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking , 1977 I received a call from a gentleman the other day asking if I would come to his house and start the appraisal of a classical guitar that his late son built in 2012. It turned out that his son was John Weissenrieder , an American guitar maker who moved to Florence, Italy and learned to make guitars under the tutelage of the Italian maker, Andrew Tacchi . Mr. Weissenrieder asked me to appraise the guitar because he wants to loan it to the classical guitar program at University of Colorado, Boulder, so a young guitarist can have the chance to play a wonderful guitar that can help them grow as a musician. Nicolo Spera , who is head of the program, had referred me to Mr. Weissenrieder, several of Professor Spera's students own and play guitars that I made. When I arrived at Mr. Weissenrieder's house, I