Last week I took advantage of some early spring sunshine and drove out to Dykes luthiers Supplies in East Sussex. Dave Dyke is one of the most established tonewoods and musical instrument parts supplier in the UK, having been in operation since the early 1970's. I always enjoy going out there as he lives in a beautiful part of rural Sussex and on this occasion the landscape looked neat and full of activity. My main reason for the visit was to pick up a few bits and pieces for repair work that I had in hand; tuners, nuts and saddles and fretwire. However on a previous trip last year, I had spotted a couple of sets of really nice satinwood and had vowed to return for them. Satinwood is a lovely timber and has been used for fine furniture and decorative objects for years. Lacote used it for the backs and ribs of some of his guitars and in the early 20th century, Fransisco Simplicio used it for some of his stunningly ornate guitars and just recently some makers, including myself, have begun to favour it again.
The set pictured ( and as always it is hard to do it justice) has a lovely beeswing figure as well as the warm golden colour. I am very much looking forward to using these sets. One is already spoken for and I wouldn't be surprised if the second set goes fairly quickly as well.
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