What is your favorite top wood for a baritone?

[Mycroft]

Hello Ryan, I hope that you are well. So apparently I like Englemann, eh? No, the Monster doesn't spend much time as a case queen, and spends most of it's time out on a stand, ready to hand. It and one of the Weissenborns spend less time in cases than anything else.

Dustin, the only thing that I would change if I could would be to reduce the size. That full 17" jumbo body is a bit of a handfull. A smaller 16", and perhaps less deep, body does sound like the ticket.

Where did you hear an online sample? Beneteau? One of Ross's performances? (Ryan could probably tell you when he bought the beast. For a few years prior to that, Ross recorded and performed with my Beneteau. In fact, I saw him live with it once, with Andy McKee.)

As to which wood to choose, someone wiser than I once said that you should go with what the builder thinks is going to serve you best, given how you play and the response characteristics that you desire. After all, you are paying them for their, knowledge, experience and their ears. He also knows his wood stash. What does Mr. Beneteau think that you should use?

Please let us know what you picks.

[Ryan Alexander]

Hi Mycroft (Tony, is it?). Marc does great things with Engelmann and in fact he used it on several of Don's earlier guitars including another Padouk-backed longscale SJ that I also owned for a while. Don had been using cedar-topped Lowdens for years before he started working with Marc and I think the initial thought was that they would try spruce but decided on Engelmann due to the somewhat softer attack it can have as compared to something like Sitka or Adirondack. Interestingly enough, they've come full circle back to cedar tops on Don's two most recent guitars

That baritone is definitely a bit of a handful. If I recall correctly, the depth is around 5", isn't it? Don toured and recorded extensively with it for years, but I can't recall all the specific examples off the top of my head. I'll check my notes and follow up with you.

Dustin - just curious, have you decided on your scale length and back and side wood yet?

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Hello Ryan, I hope that you are well. So apparently I like Englemann, eh? No, the Monster doesn't spend much time as a case queen, and spends most of it's time out on a stand, ready to hand. It and one of the Weissenborns spend less time in cases than anything else.

Dustin, the only thing that I would change if I could would be to reduce the size. That full 17" jumbo body is a bit of a handfull. A smaller 16", and perhaps less deep, body does sound like the ticket.

Where did you hear an online sample? Beneteau? One of Ross's performances? (Ryan could probably tell you when he bought the beast. For a few years prior to that, Ross recorded and performed with my Beneteau. In fact, I saw him live with it once, with Andy McKee.)

As to which wood to choose, someone wiser than I once said that you should go with what the builder thinks is going to serve you best, given how you play and the response characteristics that you desire. After all, you are paying them for their, knowledge, experience and their ears. He also knows his wood stash. What does Mr. Beneteau think that you should use?

Please let us know what you picks.

[guitarman68]

I once tried a few with sitka and cedar. When finally I decided to order a custom build, my luthier suggested old growth alpine spruce. He told me it once was cut for violoncello. The baritone sounds fantastic but did not see much playing time over the years, only used on rare occasions in my studio, so I put it for sale now.

[SuperB23]

I've discovered that Redwood is the best from my experience. Because of the lessor tension on baritones redwood works well. It allows a lighter touch to still get a good response but it also works well with the bigger body and larger top for having proper air space to get the lower note frequencies to have power and good bloom.

Hopefully that made sense. The stupidest thing I've seen is small body baritone guitars! Its like buying a violin and trying to put a bass fiddle neck on it and hope for the best!

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Ryan Alexander

Hi Mycroft (Tony, is it?). Marc does great things with Engelmann and in fact he used it on several of Don's earlier guitars including another Padouk-backed longscale SJ that I also owned for a while. Don had been using cedar-topped Lowdens for years before he started working with Marc and I think the initial thought was that they would try spruce but decided on Engelmann due to the somewhat softer attack it can have as compared to something like Sitka or Adirondack. Interestingly enough, they've come full circle back to cedar tops on Don's two most recent guitars

That baritone is definitely a bit of a handful. If I recall correctly, the depth is around 5", isn't it? Don toured and recorded extensively with it for years, but I can't recall all the specific examples off the top of my head. I'll check my notes and follow up with you.

Dustin - just curious, have you decided on your scale length and back and side wood yet?

It has a 4.75" thickness. Hence "The Monster." Interesting how responsive it is, given the size and the extra bracing under the top. I have Englemann on my Webber Small Jumbo as well (Australian Blackwood back and sides). Both have very nice voices. 28" scale.