Trivia Time

[Queequeg]

Don't even THINK about 'googling' this. 
I will divulge the answer on Monday.

[William2]

I heard that Jean Larrivee said it wasn't necessary for a top to have tight grain to sound good.

[unclrob]

I don't know or who or why..if sounds good to you what does it matter.

[unclrob]

I don't know or who or why..if sounds good to you what does it matter.

[B0WIE]

I am certain one of them said they like wide grain, though I don't know if they also said tight was terrible. I'll have to go with them.

[Gill]

Are we talking tops,or backs?

[StringPicker6]

Tops

[Gill]

I've got an OM-10 with a tight grain top, it sustains like nobody's business, one of the guys I play with has an OM-03 with a beautiful honeyed wide grained top,its got sustain up the wazoo,so I don't get the tight grain thing.

[B0WIE]

I've got an OM-10 with a tight grain top, it sustains like nobody's business, one of the guys I play with has an OM-03 with a beautiful honeyed wide grained top,its got sustain up the wazoo,so I don't get the tight grain thing.

The wide grain trees grew faster and, on paper, should be less stiff. So, they are likely to sound warmer and favor bass. But, that's not the only thing that determines the tone. When you get into old growth vs new growth, the differences can be pretty meaningful. And, most builders will boast about tighter grained spruce. But, every builder has their way. They are the ones who are bracing it so that's really the most important thing. My best guitars have had both, though more of them have had tight grained spruce.

[Queequeg]

Good Monday Morning to you all.
Well, ten Larrivee Forum Members voted and five of you got it right, so give yourselves a hand.
It was of course our favorite luthier and Founder, Jean-Claude Larrivée in a 2008 interview with Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Here is the relevant passage:
Larrivée occasionally also uses European or Adirondack spruce, but he's also quick to point out that properly selected Sitka can have similar tonal qualities. He also wishes that players would develop a similar acceptance for wider grain in Sitka, similar to the way Adirondack is now viewed. "Three millimeters [between grain lines] makes by far the best guitar," he says. "Tight grain sounds terrible."

You can read the entire interview here.

[StringPicker6]

Fascinating, and I guessed wrong. My P-03 has super wide grain which looks lovely and sounds better the more I play it.

[Silence Dogood]

The spruce on my D-03BW is pretty wide.  I've never known anything about this topic (and till now didn't even know "it was a thing") but always thought the wider grain looked better than tighter. 

[William2]

I wonder if the wider grain on Adirondack is a factor in the sound it has. I have a very tight grained SD-40R special run. I can't say it has a better sound than the other three guitars. It is very appealing to look at. Of my 4 Larrivee's, the sustain winner is either my wide grained D-03R with Sitka spruce or my D-40R with moon spruce top. Yes, sustain up the wazoo LOL!

[B0WIE]

I wonder if the wider grain on Adirondack is a factor in the sound it has.

It would usually indicate new growth. Old-growth adi is pretty rare now. The stuff that started growing 80 years ago came up pretty fast because it wasn't trying to grow in a forest underneath a canopy.
Old-growth Sitka is still being harvested so you can still get tight grained Sitka without it costing a fortune.

Again, the bracing and top thickness are what matters most. A builder can offset slightly softer or stiffer tops with bracing and thickness changes. That makes it harder to draw conclusions about what influence the grain has in a particular guitar.