I got a grant from Finnish Cultural Foundation to promote and develop Finish woods in guitar making. My goal is to get some of the most promising Finnish wood species to use in my classical guitar  making. One of the most promising wood is flamed birch (also called as Arctic birch), which is looking outstanding and has very good sound qualities. Birch is common wood in Finland and it is slowly grown in arctic northern climate. Finish woods are also very, very ethical, as our forests aren’t in any danger. In fact, we have more forest than we had 100 years ago.  Some others woods species  I will work on are rowen, elm, maple and aspen. A group of Finish wise men have developed thermo treatment for woods used in instrument making, this treatment gives wood the same effect as 50 years of storage. I will use these treatment for the woods I will use.

Here is an example of what flamed birch look like. The instrument is domra prima, build in 1936 by J.Galinis. It has flamed birch body (coloured red), spruce top and Brazilian rosewood neck/fingerboard.

I am very exited about this project and can´t wait to play the first double top model with back and sides made of Finish flamed birch.