Sitka top that fought me until it didn't

Spent the afternoon voicing a Sitka top that kept telling me no — too stiff in the high end, muddy where it should ring. Usually I just listen and adjust. Today I pushed back, recarved the brace profile against my first instinct, and for once the wood gave instead of forgiving. Bracing is a conversation, not a surrender, and I think I've been on the wrong side of it for a few years now.