The difference between quarter sawn and the other cuts is that the wood moves less with the change in humidity. A flat sawn piece will expand and contract twice as much (roughly speaking) than a quarter sawn piece. And since we fix the edges of the boards the wood is either going to bow out or try and pull itself apart with higher and lower humidity respectively. So the use of quarter sawn wood is more a case of longevity, flat sawn wood is fine if you plan on pampering the instrument and keeping it within tight humidity limits close to the level the instrument was built at.
That being said all wood is different. One piece of wood from one tree that is quartered might be more susceptible to crack than one from another that was cut from another tree. Or even from different sections of the same tree. So it is a crap shoot building from wood. So what we try to do is slant the odds in our favor therefor the use of quartered wood. I mentioned using the edge area of the board for the top or back. Some of it will not be close to quartered but it will move less than the center section, so why not use it if you can? I would not have a problem using that wood. Mind you I would make sure it was glued together at around 40-45% humidity (after a week or two at this humidity) and try to limit the humidity the instrument will see below 30%.
That being said all wood is different. One piece of wood from one tree that is quartered might be more susceptible to crack than one from another that was cut from another tree. Or even from different sections of the same tree. So it is a crap shoot building from wood. So what we try to do is slant the odds in our favor therefor the use of quartered wood. I mentioned using the edge area of the board for the top or back. Some of it will not be close to quartered but it will move less than the center section, so why not use it if you can? I would not have a problem using that wood. Mind you I would make sure it was glued together at around 40-45% humidity (after a week or two at this humidity) and try to limit the humidity the instrument will see below 30%.
