An actual spruce sound post!
But it's the RIGHT STICK!! I've tried "home center" hardwood dowels.......NO GOOD! I didn't think that a "bad sound post" could suck the tone out of a fiddle....but it will. Give the spruce a try!
Despite feeling like a sucker for buying a dowel at premium cost, I used this stock in my recent fiddle build, and the instrument sounds lovely and really projects. I'm sure the spruce adds to the sound. The dowel was straight and free of defects. Quality stock.