Lutz vs moon tops

guitarman001 · #1 10-12-2023, 01:10 AM

Sorry if this has been covered...

I mainly play sitka tops. Very versatile and get get a light touch response or some decent strumming out of them.

I've got a moon spruce top which has some complexity to the sound but it's not overwhelming and there is no sacrifice in EQ to my ear. I think the decay to notes may be slightly more than sitka, or that may be because of the back wood. I prefer this to adirondack which I feel doesn't have the same light touch response and which also is a bit more trebly, to my ear.

I've never tried a lutz top (nor white spruce) but apparently these sound like white spruce (engelmann?) with the headroom of adirondack. I'm wondering about moon spruce vs lutz top for next guitar and can't decide. I've got sensitive hearing so anything like adi which can be pretty loud, or anything that is awash with in-your-face overtones probably isn't for me. I'm tempted to go for the lutz as it's something different, but would like to hear your take on the sounds these two top woods comparatively give out...

Thank you!

guitarman001 · #2 10-12-2023, 01:16 AM

Re the sensitive hearing, I've got onset tinnitus but also hyperacusis hence typically staying away from anything with piercing trebles or booming bass (both just kill my ears and give me major headache - so I stick to OMs and smaller). As great a wood as it is (and it does sound good), lacewood sets it off like you can't imagine.

fregly · #3 10-12-2023, 03:33 AM

I have a Lutz top guitar and Moon Spruce from the same builder. The Lutz at least between these newish guitars sounds older and is more fingerstyle responsive. The Moon Spruce is behaving a bit like new Adi, after only just starting to play the guitar regularly. In my two samples the Swiss spruce is probably stiffer, I am guessing. Like between average Englemann and average Adirondack.

redir · #4 10-12-2023, 08:44 AM

It almost has nothing to do with the species of Spruce that the guitar is made of. Moon Spruce BTW is not a species, it's a method of harvesting any spruce but typically it would be Euro spruce since it comes from a very old tradition there.

Is it forward shifted bracing? Is the bracing scalloped? Is the perimeter of the top thinned out? Is it traditional X-Bracing? Those are the questions that determine the tone of the instrument much much more than the species of spruce used.

Wade Hampton · #5 10-12-2023, 02:49 PM

Well put. Since all of the spruces can and do accurately mimic all of the other spruces, the specific species of spruce can be downright irrelevant when compared to the factors redir mentioned. Individual species of spruce can have some slightly differing tendencies, but general tendencies is all they are.

Wade Hampton Miller

guitarman001 · #6 10-13-2023, 12:55 AM

Yep I get this thanks, but for the exact same body & construction and woods... the top does make a difference. I know it's a truism and a very popular thing on here to say re the rest of the makeup but let's not discard this. I've heard people say they cannot distinguish back woods like sapele and honduran but the difference is stark to my ear so one person's "not much difference" is another's "big difference." 100% I can hear big differences in the same build whether it's engelmann, sitka, moon spruce or adi - there's no question. Been playing 25 years and have a keen ear - these things do make a difference everything else considered equal otherwise what's the point and we'd all stick with sitka. I can even hear it through YouTube demoes but it's not the same as having said guitars in hand as the feel and responsiveness in person comes into play. It would be great to address the topic directly re the wood tonal/feel differences.

@fregly do the notes jump out of the lutz if you breathe on the strings, like adi? Or does it have the soft touch feel of a typical sitka/engelmann? I'm curcious if it's got that loud adi thing going on . Thanks