Pay less attention to the grading and concentrate on the price. By the common standard, a AAA red spruce top will generally sell for 2 or 3 times as much as the subject top. A true AAA grade should always have straight, evenly spaced, vertical grain with no color or other obvious flaws. When grading red spruce tops, I have made concessions as to actual grain width, since most of the red spruce available today is from second growth trees.
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