Engelman spruce

[Br1ck]

This is what prompted my original question. I was not hearing, from what descriptions I've read, the warmth engleman was supposed to have. But then perhaps if it had sitka it would be even brighter? I guess a guitar is the sum of it's parts and you have to just evaluate it on it's own merits. It does sound quite different out in front of it.

So as an addendum, the geometry had changed radically from it's climate move, had changed back a bunch over the weeks so I decided to take it to my luthier for a setup. I thought it was a little buzzy. As he played it I could tell he thought it was about perfect, and he in essence told me to just shut up and play my guitar, to paraphrase the late great Frank Zappa.

Lots of good info. My guitar does have some faint streaking in the grain.

[cugir321]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I shopped for a dread and was able to compare sitka, cedar, and Engelmann from one manufacturer that all had rosewood sides and back. I was looking for a guitar that allowed me to play Neil Young flatpick style with all the hard driving, palm muting, and top compresion AND do fingerstyle easily. Here's what I found: The cedar was great for fingerstyle, being very responsive to light right-hand work, but didn't compress with a darn when strummed hard. Instead it developed the jangly, non-harmonic sound of top overload. The sitka predictably compressed very nicely when strummed and was extremely hard to overdrive at all. On balance it was far less responsive at the lighter playing force and required a whole lot more of right-hand force that made it fatiguing to play fingerstyle on. And Engelmann? Engelmann is an amazing middle ground. It can handle light fingerstyle and still has the ability to compress on the upper end.

Frequency response? Cedar rounds out the sound because it has less response in the upper midrange. Nevertheless, it still reproduces the high end. In fact, the dreads I tried with cedar tops sounded a bit thin to me by virtue of the upper-mid carve out. Stika? It reproduces fairly flatly but has a stronger upper mid than the others and with a bold lower end. And Engelmann: It fits between sitka and cedar, with a a bit more refined high end than sitka that fits well with fingerstyle but with a strong bass as well.

I ended up with a rosewood bodied, Engelmann topped guitar that is typically called a canon by other players but still allows me to play light fingerstyle.

Bob

That's pretty much how the "L" series yamaha's are with the negelmann tops

[Br1ck]

Zombie alert! Maybe the oldest zombie I was the OP for.

[birdsong]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Zombie alert! Maybe the oldest zombie I was the OP for.

Another trip down memory lane. I read it all anyway 🤪- just because.

[Wade Hampton]

No harm done.


whm

[phavriluk]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Not to throw a wrench in things, but what the hay...

There is tremendous overlap in physical properties between the different species of spruce. How dense a top is, how stiff it is both with and across the grain and how it has been thicknessed for a given sized top will influence what you hear more than a "name ID" on a spruce set. As I said metaphorically in another recent thread; We tend to talk about "ingredients" (wood) and assume a resulting meal (sound) without considering the "chef" (builder) or their recipe (design/execution).

My $.02

What a wonderful explanation! Thanks for sharing.

Boy, did I miss the boat! Only nine years old! But still pertinent.

[Ps346]

A quick synopsis:

Red Spruce = heavy and stiff
Sitka = heavy and less stiff
Euro = light and stiff
Engelmann = light and less stiff

(From John Arnold over at the UMGF, I think.)

We all realize that so much depends on the build –and this one aspect trumps everything else – but my experiences are generally in alignment with the above synopsis, including all the generalizations that one could make from it (e.g., Red Spruce generally has significant clarity and headroom, Engelmann is generally responsive to a soft touch, etc.).

A luthier with whom I have worked closely likes working with Carpathian (a Euro, of course) because, for him, it has been the top wood with the best weight to stiffness ratio.

[L20A]

I owner a Yamaha L-20A that had an Engelmann top.
It was a great sounding guitar and could be strimmer hard and still sound good.

I currently own a Yamaha LL-16D and it also has an Engelmann top.
It reminds me a lot of my old L-20A.
The top is a bit stiff as the guitar is still new but it sounds great and had a lot of sustain.

To me it wouldn't matter if a top was Sitka or Engelmann.
I like them both.