Something seemed to have happened to the original post, as far as being able to go through a number of blanks. I'd wonder a little, not too much, if some one told me some of the dark streaks crossing the grain was dying laquer thinner. Anyway, there was comment about grain running off the blank,which I doubt can be helped in the butt area, but seems to certainly happening where the wrist would probably be.
Select any wood you might want, but you seem to have the luxury of being able to keep looking. Put your eye candy that you want at the back end, but maybe not under where the checkering might be. There is a fair chance that consecutive arches are not a special way of how the tree grew, but simply how it was sawn.
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