Rosewood vs Mahogany Tone.

[dwclayalt]

Rosewood vs Mahogany Tone.


I know that tone is really a personal thing but still want to hear your opinion.

I am looking for your opinion about the tone difference between Rosewood and Mahogany (back/sides).


Please try to compare same size and manufactures in your opinion. Since tone can be seriously affected by size and manufacture. I am really looking to hear about the tonal difference in Taylor dreads using the 2 back/side woods.

Thank you for your help.

Also if this has been discussed before someone can just point me to the tread as in doing a search I got mostly nothing.


Wayne...

[Placida]

Mahogany is Perry Como, Rosewood is Sinatra.

[dwclayalt]

Originally Posted by Placida

Mahogany is Perry Como, Rosewood is Sinatra.

Well that helps.

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by Placida

Mahogany is Perry Como, Rosewood is Sinatra.

Much as it pains me to admit it, I think you're right

[Yira Yira]

I have always found that while I like rosewood (East Indian) it is a little dark for my tastes. Mahogany (Honduran) has less bass, but it makes up for with mids and highs that are simply beautiful. On the other hand, Brazilian rosewood seems to be dark while also having another layer to the sound. Unfortunately, it's kinda like describing to someone the taste of chocolate...

I'd say Sinatra is Brazilian Rosewood.

[rforman15]

IN GENERAL -- rosewood is a heavier and denser wood than mahogany; therefore rosewood reflects more sonic energy than mahogany (think of a sound mirror); mahogany, on-the-other-hand, absorbs more sonic energy than rosewood. This is important to understand because it will help you understand the sonic implications that are based on the different physical attributes of these two woods. Since more or the sonic energy bounces off rosewood, you get a wood that compared to mahogany will give you more overtones (this is neither good nor bad). People tend to describe rosewood as glassy or metallic or bell-like, it can also be a little dark sounding. Mahogany absorbs more of the sonic energy and partial content so what you hear is more of the fundamental note. People generally describe mahogany as woody, sweet, and bright. you get more clarity with mahogany, more ring with rosewood. -- IN GENERAL.

[Hambone]

In general I find.

Rosewood is a more complex sounding wood with lots of overtones, less fundamentals, solid bass but can sound muddy due to the overtones, nice chimey highs.

Mahogany is drier, less overtones, heavy on the fundamental tone, very crisp. Also has a solid thumping bass with very present highs.

I tend to prefer mahogany in dreads because they are rarely "muddy" sounding. Rosewood can be so full of overtones that in a dread it can sound a bit mushy.

Rosewood in a smaller bodied guitar on the other hand, fills out the lack of body size with complexity and depth.

They both can and do work great in either application. THere's no right or wrong answer.

I have a D18A that is almost rosewood like in comparison to my D18GE.

[jkinnama]

Originally Posted by dwclayalt

Well that helps.

Strat vs Les Paul?

(Seriously, that's another way of saying clarity vs wall of sound. Rforman15 and hambone nail the details as to why).

[dwclayalt]

Thanks people, all these answer are very helpful. I have been able to play lots of Rosewood dreads but for some reason no one around her has a Taylor dread with Mahogany...

I mainly play with a pick and play country, bluegrass and folk style music. But I do strum away at classical acoustic rock.


Wayne...

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Hambone

In general I find.

Rosewood is a more complex sounding wood with lots of overtones, less fundamentals, solid bass but can sound muddy due to the overtones, nice chimey highs.

Mahogany is drier, less overtones, heavy on the fundamental tone, very crisp. Also has a solid thumping bass with very present highs.

Well put.

I would add that mahogany generally has a faster response time than rosewood, so the notes come out just a nanosecond quicker. This is something where you have to play a lot of guitars to really start to notice, but it's a genuine characteristic.

Originally Posted by Hambone

I tend to prefer mahogany in dreads because they are rarely "muddy" sounding. Rosewood can be so full of overtones that in a dread it can sound a bit mushy.

Rosewood in a smaller bodied guitar on the other hand, fills out the lack of body size with complexity and depth.

Again, I'm in complete agreement with you here, Hambone. I much prefer mahogany for dreadnoughts and 12 fret Triple O's, because it brings greater clarity to what can be a muddy-sounding body style. But rosewood 14 fret Triple O's and OM's usually work a lot better for the way I play than mahogany versions of the same body styles.

Originally Posted by Hambone

They both can and do work great in either application. THere's no right or wrong answer.

Exactly. So much depends not only on the individual instruments themselves, but also how they're strung and the right hand attack and musical style of the person playing them.

Mahogany dreads and rosewood Triple O's work best for me.

As for finding a Taylor dread in mahogany, there is a characteristic brightness to the Taylors that might make these brighter than a lot of players might want. I know I'm coming from a Martin perspective, and it sounds as though Hambone is, as well.

So unless you find one of each of these Taylor dreads to play side by side, Wayne, I'm not sure how helpful these Martin-based insights will be, except in the most general sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Taylor007]

Heres what Dana Bourgeois has to say about Rosewoods, 'Hog, and Koa -


Brazilian and Indian rosewood have an extremely high velocity of sound and a broad range of overtones. The rosewoods, as well as their various rain forest cousins-cocobolo, kingwood, morado, and the like-have strongly pronounced low overtones, usually the lowest resonating frequencies in the entire guitar. These lows help to create a complex bottom end and to impart an overall darkness of tone to the instrument. Strong mids and highs serve to reinforce overtones generated by the top, contributing to a fatness of tone on the upper registers. Guitars made of rosewood also have a pronounced "reverby" tone, caused by a strong, clear set of sympathetic harmonics with a delayed onset and slow decay.

I’ve found that Brazilian rosewood has everything that Indian rosewood has, only more. I say this with great trepidation in light of that species’ likelihood of extinction within a couple of generations. An international embargo on trade on Brazilian rosewood products guarantees that the relatively few sets remaining in this country, which may be used only on domestically sold guitars, will continue to spiral in price as the supply dwindles.

Mahogany and koa have relatively high velocities of sound when considered as materials for backs and sides and thus contribute much to overtone coloration. Lacking the low-end frequencies of the rosewoods and also their sustaining reverberation, these woods have an altogether different sound. Where rosewood guitars can be thought of as having a "metallic" sound, mahogany and koa guitars are better described as sounding "woody, although the harder, more dense examples of these woods can take on some of the characteristics of the rosewoods. Between the two, koa seems to have a little more fullness in the midrange, while mahogany tends to favor the bass (to some extent) and the treble.

[TokyoNeko]

I don't think I can provide any more insights aside from the ones already given here, but probably my best "apples to apples" comparison (in this perspective) is between Martin's 000-18GE and OM-28 Marquis. Playing comparable models did enable me to decide what kind of woods I prefer, at least on the OM/000 body size scale, and in the end I decided I prefer mahogany.

[ljguitar]

Hi Wayne...
I agree with most of what has been shared here.

I disagree with most of what has been shared here.

Three factors are:
Who built the guitar?
What size is the body?
What topwood is it paired with?

All three of these factors affect tone in drastic ways.

People who say Dreadnaughts are boomy, or mushy and tend toward muddy with Rosewood have never played my Olson, which is neither boomy nor mushy, nor muddy...it is Rosewood combined with Cedar. It can also be played very hard with a flat pick without overdriving...

People who say Mahogany is rarely muddy, and is clear have obviously never heard or played quite a few guitars which strayed through our studio and through my lesson pool during the past decade.

A lot of generalizations come from our exposure to a narrow flock of guitars at hand, from a particular school of building. We also affect the tone with our personal playing style. My friend who plays bluegrass with a heavy flat-pick gets a totally different tone from his slope shoulder wide neck Mahogany/Spruce dread than I do when I fingerstyle on it.

I've heard guitars with Mahogany sides/back which are warm, and clear, and others which are dry and edgy. I've heard all mahogany models (top, sides, and back) which are harsh and strident, and others by the same company which are absolutely warm and mellow.

What I really hope is that our answers to your question are not intended to steer you in some direction toward a decision about a guitar you intend to own without you playing it/them first.

I'd never take the word of another guitarist about tone of a guitar without trying it out for myself...not because I don't trust them. Just because they play differently than I do, and probably they hear differently as well.

Some of what has been shared here is from a fingerstyle perspective, some from flat pickers and some from people who play radically different styles of music from you. They will get a pretty different tone from the same guitar as you because of their personal styles.

I'm just thinking you really need to go play a couple hundred guitars...or more.

[Turp]

Wade and Hambone pretty much mirror my own experience.

I play 000's (one 12 fret mahogany and two 14 rosewoods). The mahogany is more direct and with very fundementally sounding tones. The rosewoods are rich in overtones with added bass response. I don't really hear muddy tones on 000's but have in some large bodied rosewood guitars. I do like and prefer the sound of a mahogany dred, one of the best examples is the D-18.... ouchie momma.

Just read LG's comments and he is correct in adding style and builder have a great deal of influence. As for me I'll add that my comments, for the most part, are based on 000's Martins and playing fingerstyle.

[rforman15]

Originally Posted by dwclayalt

Thanks people, all these answer are very helpful. I have been able to play lots of Rosewood dreads but for some reason no one around her has a Taylor dread with Mahogany...

I mainly play with a pick and play country, bluegrass and folk style music. But I do strum away at classical acoustic rock.


Wayne...

Then you need mahogany.