I finally got a chance for the first time in 7 months to try out some of the blades I've made. I only had a couple hours, so I tried 3 different blades (out of the dozen or more I still need to try). I wanted to report back on my impression of specific materials, primarily Textreme ZLC and Alaskan Yellow Cedar (AYC), and their interactions with different glues and the core-materials I typically use.
For reference, my main blade for the last year is the one I built on post #59 of this thread (Larch-Spruce-Spruce-Kiri-Spruce-Spruce-Larch...built with polyurethane glue).
I had a chance to try out blades from posts #131 (Koto - AYC - AYC - WRC - AYC - AYC - Koto....built with hide glue), post #174 (Larch - AYC - AYC - WRC - AYC - AYC - Larch...built with polyurethane glue), and post #200 (Larch - AYC - ZLC - Kiri - ZLC - AYC - Larch...built with BSI-Mid-Cure Epoxy and polyurethane glue).
Alaskan Yellow Cedar (all-wood, 7-ply):
Based on my recent playing experience, I got the sense that AYC is slower and less bouncy than Spruce when used as a medial ply, but a great feeling wood in its own right. The vibration of AYC feels like a hybrid between WRC and Limba - it is soft feeling and on the lower end of the frequency spectrum, and while it doesn't seem as explosive as Spruce, it doesn't feel flat/dead like some other woods. When combined with a WRC-core and hide/animal-glue, I would say it produces a phenomenal feeling ALL+ blade. When AYC was placed under a Larch outer-ply (while still using a WRC-core, but with polyurethane glue), the blade was more powerful feeling (perhaps an OFF- rating). I have found Larch to be like a livelier, bouncier version of Koto - less crisp feeling, but springier. When combined with polyurethane glue, the blade had a more solid feel overall than when hide-glue was used, though the soft WRC could still be clearly felt (and appreciated, if you like that sort of feel).
Alaskan Yellow Cedar + ZLC:
In the final blade, I used a Larch-outer and AYC-medial ply, but used Textreme ZLC as my "inner" layer next to Kiri. I find Kiri to have a sharper vibration (not just higher frequency, but a shorter period of resonance) and produce a faster overall blade when compared to WRC (while also being lighter than WRC). Even though I used a softer, more flexible epoxy, this blade felt much stiffer than the previous 2 blades (probably due to the Kiri-core, the ZLC, and the polyurethane glue). Overall, I really enjoyed the direct feeling of this blade and the crisp, high-speed blocks I was able to produce.
I will have another opportunity tomorrow to play (before going back into hiding for an unknown amount of time), so my plan is to test the other blade contained within post #200 (KisoHinoki-ZLC-Ayous-Kiri-Ayous-ZLC-KisoHinoki...built with BSI-Mid-Cure Epoxy and polyurethane glue) and see how it is relative to these other blades.