Lost Tunnel Redwood set No.2

These ‘Lost Tunnel’ sets are reclaimed from an abandoned railway tunnel in Northern California by the luthiers Butch Boswell and Adam Mendel, here is the description from the Boswell Guitars site:

‘A little while back, my partner Adam Mendel and I embarked on an amazing venture.  I got a tip from a good friend and client, Bill Irwin, about a long abandoned train line in Northern CA that was dotted with tunnels.  With all the excitement surrounding Tunnel 13 and 14, and all the incredible guitar wood they both had already yielded, Bill thought there might be a chance that these abandoned tunnels may be the next source for redwood guitar tops.  I drove down and picked up the first of what would end up being many huge redwood timbers, to see what we had.  This first beam we ended up calling 1-A and 1-B since it had to be cut in half to process.  It didn’t look like much, but, once the rough outer layer had been removed and we started cutting into it, we instantly realized we had something special.  We got around 30 tops from that first beam, and I was fortunate to be the one to build the first completed guitar with what we dubbed a “Lost Tunnel Redwood” top.  The description “old growth” is used rather loosely these days, but this stuff is just that.  First growth redwood, from giant, mature trees.  They were cut down over 150 years ago, milled and put in place by rail workers (probably of Chinese decent).  The line has been abandoned for 25+ years now, and these truly old growth timbers have sat in place all that time.  Getting them out isn’t easy, and is just the beginning.  It can be dangerous, and it is incredibly difficult and labor intensive work.  Each 4’ section can weigh up to 80lbs., and it’s quite common to have to haul around much larger sections, up to 20’!  Then, they’re transported back to my shop where they are “skinned” (removal of the outer layer to see what we can see), rough milled into quartered billets, resawn, sanded clean to 150grit, templated, graded, and provided to you. I have been working in the guitar world for 30 years now, and these are some of the most special tops I have ever encountered.’