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The McPherson MG 3.5 XP
Serial # 1201




The beautifully crafted guitar is shelled with flamed black acacia and topped with Adirondack red spruce.

 

Red Spruce (also known as Adirondack Spruce, Blue Spruce or Canadian Spruce) is native to the Cape Breton Islands, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, west to Maine, southern Quebec and southeastern Ontario and south to central New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and Massachusetts. It also grows in the Appalachian Mountains of extreme western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, northern and western Virginia, western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Red Spruce was used for the tops on many of the great pre-war (now vintage or collectible) American guitars. Red Spruce exhibits a slightly lighter color than Sitka, but is generally not as white as Engelmann. Like Engelmann, Adirondack is a softer than Sitka and requires a bit more care, but this slightly softer wood results in a top that is a bit less "stiff" and offers a quicker response, with more "snap" to the note. Red Spruce, like Engelmann, is also slightly lighter in weight than Sitka Spruce, weighing approximately 26 pounds per cubic foot. Because of the genetic qualities of this wood, as well as the extreme rarity of guitar-width sets, Red Spruce will exhibit more grain width and color variation than either Sitka or Engelmann, and will often have a "striped" appearance along its exceptionally straight grain.

Many players and collectors believe that the use of this wood was a significant contributing factor to the strong, clear tone of those older instruments. Adirondack has been in short supply for decades (which is why the major makers seldom use it anymore), and is therefore far more expensive than other species of Spruce, but is considered essential to many collectors and players seeking the ultimate "vintage" sound.

 

 

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