Luthiers Mercantile is occasionally interested in buying guitar wood being sold by estates, retiring luthiers, and those who have material they know they will not be working with in the future. We call this wood ‘Legacy Wood’. We need these woods to fit cleanly alongside our current offerings.

Please look over these guidelines carefully. If the wood you want to sell fits our requirements the next step would be to reach out to our purchasing department with a detailed list of the items you’re selling, listing the species, sizes, approximate grade, age, and any other pertinent information. This can be sent to: Purchasing@lmii.com
1) Right now, we are only buying back and side sets, soundboards, solid body top plates, and neck blanks.
2) Assuring the legal harvest of Brazilian Rosewood (with a thorough paper trail) is of paramount importance, no matter how old it is. This is because the wood is heavily poached, and accordingly, heavily protected. We are happy to work with you on any CITES restricted woods. Please inquire for more information.
3) All parts must be cut to the sizes (or very near to the sizes) that we advertise. See below.
4) All parts should be professionally machined. Thicknesses must be consistent (no thin areas or tapers). Parts described as ‘quartersawn’ must be within 20 degrees of perfect quarter. Bookmatched plates should exhibit a perfect bookmatch unless otherwise agreed upon in advance of receipt.
5) We do not allow the following defects: warped, cracks, water damage, insect damage, chip-out, bark inclusion, or spikes.
6) All species must be accurately identified.
7) Any parts sent without prior notice and approval by LMI, or that are not in accordance with these guidelines, will be returned at the seller’s expense.
8) If you are sending wood without first establishing a selling price, and we do not agree to terms, the wood will be returned at the seller’s expense.
9) Grading standards are determined by LMI. We will work with you (as we do with all vendors) to come to a common understanding of grading terms and definitions.
10) Once an agreement is made about the value of the wood being purchased, we will submit payment within 60 days by check.
11) We will offer you a fair market price for your wood. In some cases, we may increase the price of the wood when we resell it based on its age/legacy, and we will do so at our own discretion. Doing so does not alter the original purchase agreement with the seller.
12) Sellers must agree to be ‘profiled’ as part of our presentation of the product as we would like to, in some cases, tell the wood’s “story”.

Backs and sides
Backs and sides must cleanly meet the specs advertised on our website (www.lmii.com)
after we dry and skim sand. We typically find that .020 to .040 thousandths over our advertised dimensions is required depending on the depth of the saw marks on the material in order to achieve a clean .140 final dimension.
Steel String sets:
Backs: 22” x 8 1/2”+ x .140” / 55.9cm x 21.6cm x 3.5mm
Sides: 32” x 5”x .120” / 81.3cm x 12.7 x 3mm
Classical/OM sets:
Backs: 21” x 7¾ x .140” / 53.3cm x 19.7cm x 3.5mm Sides: 30” x 4½ x .120” / 76.2cm x 11.4cm x 3mm

Soundboards
Soundboards must cleanly meet the specs below after we dry and skim sand. We typically find that 0.020”to 0.040” over our advertised dimension is required depending on the depth of the saw marks on the material to achieve a clean 0.140” final dimension.
Steel String sets:
22” x 8 1/4 ”+ x .140” / 55.9cm x 21cm x 3.5mm
Classical/OM sets:
21” x 8” x .140” / 53.3cm x 20.3 cm x 3.5mm

Neck wood
We currently offer the following sizes. Slightly larger pieces would be acceptable
7/8 x 3 x 24”
7/8 x 3 x 30”
7/8 x 3 x 35”
3 x 4 x 30”

Electric Top Plates
“Les Paul” carved tops: 20 x 7 x 5/8” bookmatched pairs.
“Drop tops” 20 x 7 x 1/4”