Lowden - redwood on cocobolo vs. redwood on African blackwood

[jimi junior]

Hello

I have a redwood on cocobolo lowden (F) which I love. I love the lowden sound generally and this is a good one.

Though I would like the treble notes to be a little thicker/fatter, thus giving more note separation and helping melody lines stand out more.

But I do not want to give up the lushness, sustain, sympathetic resonance and reverby quality the cocobolo gives me (and which my previous lowden with mahogany lacked).

Would African blackwood be the best of both worlds? Lush and sustainy but with thicker trebles than Coco? If not, how would it compare?

Thanks

[musicman1951]

I don't think I'd describe it as thicker trebles. I generally hear African Blackwood as fairly close to BR, with more sparkle in the trebles. It will certainly have plenty of sustain.

[soups]

I think you’d be hard pressed to get a tonewood combination that’s better than what you have for “thick” trebles. Your top wood will have a more immediate affect on trebles, and redwood is perfect for what you’re describing. Cocobolo can be a little glassy at times when it comes to the higher registers, but I would think they redwood would tame that nicely. You may potentially experiment with different gauge strings to get get a more mellow high end sparkle.

[slimey]

See if you can find one of the 12 fret F 32 with a Lutz top to try.
Very full and rounded tone with great note separation. Huge projection.

[hifivic]

Former 12 year 0-23 owner here. I am not convinced you will hear much difference since the tops are both redwood. Sure backs and sides make a sonic difference if one is comparing mahogany vs EIR because the woods are so opposite but my guess is the blackwood and cocobolo sonic difference will be slight.

[jimi junior]

Many thanks all, that's helpful

The redwood on cocobolo is not lacking in thickness, I just like a lot of it. Partly because I play finger style folk where all the melody information is on the top strings and needs to stand out, and partly because I use a thumb pick so it's hard to get the fingerpicked trebbles to be as proud as the thumbpicked wound strings. If I just use a pick for all strings it sounds perfect. Maybe I should just work on getting thicker stronger fingernails...

Thanks again

[boombox]

Can I suggest you check out Dom Martin videos. His custom Lowden is an F redwood over blackwood and sounds amazing - very versatile too.