Preparing wood for luthiery
Hi, r/Luthier, thanks for letting me in. I have a question about going from standing trees to workable slabs of wood.
When I was a teenager, I brought home a little sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) seedling and planted it in the yard. Regrettably, the electric utility told my family that it was in the way and they were going to cut half of the limbs off, so we elected to just take the whole tree rather than mangle it. This left us with a log somewhere around 16" in diameter and 8' or so long.
We know someone with a sawmill who's willing to work it for us. My question is: how do I instruct them to saw this log so that I can later make instruments out of it, if I can attain that level of skill? I realize that sycamore isn't ideal for bowed strings, but I'm sure it still works and I know trained luthiers who have seen instruments made of different hardwoods besides maple. I'd also be interested in making solidbody guitars. I told dad to have the guy quarter-saw it, but I also see that some people actually split wedges and then dress them with bladed tools, so I'm somewhat at a loss. I'm not there in person for this, so I have to issue clear instructions and then trust that they'll be carried out. I can trust that dad can paint the edges of the wood to seal the grain, so any guidance on that would be appreciated as well.
Thanks in advance!