Video Comparison Santa Cruz Mayes and McKnight

SuperB23 · #1 12-16-2009, 10:25 AM

I made this quick video last night to do a sound comparison between my three large guitars. This video works best if you have a good sound system. I placed a large diaphram condenser mic in front of the 13th fret about 1 to 2" away.

The first one is my Mayes SD-43 which is a Gibson AJ style dreadnought made out of Adirondack Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood. It is 5 months old and constructed with hide glue. Strings Uncoated PB 12's

The second guitar is my McKnight Jumbo Mac which is a Gibson J-100 style guitar in Adirondack Spruce and Honduran Mahogany. It is 5 years old and constructed with hide glue. It has an oval sound port. Strings Uncoated PB 13's

The third guitar is my Santa Cruz Custom Tony Rice which is a Martin D-28 style guitar in German Spruce and East Indian Rosewood. It is two years old and constructed with hide glue. Note the larger sound hole. Strings Uncoated PB 12's

Here is the link to the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFU4lhu6Te8

Here are some pictures of the three guitars.

The Mayes

The McKnight

The Santa Cruz

missouri.picker · #2 12-16-2009, 10:33 AM

these are three completely different guitars, can you tell us what you are comparing or hope to get from such a comparison, or are you just doing sound clips to hear the different makers? sorry I don't get the idea behind it.

SuperB23 · #3 12-16-2009, 10:42 AM

I kind of did for me to see if the mic would pick up the same observations my ears did. I figured it would be fun to share.

My observations are the Mayes is balanced with a lot of power and reverb. The McKnight has a woody dry snap too the sound with a lot of power as well. The Santa Cruz has a darker more bassy sound and excels in strumming chords through. The sound quality of the video lost a lot in the upload unfortunately.

missouri.picker · #4 12-16-2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperB23

I kind of did for me to see if the mic would pick up the same observations my ears did. I figured it would be fun to share.

My observations are the Mayes is balanced with a lot of power and reverb. The McKnight has a woody dry snap too the sound with a lot of power as well. The Santa Cruz has a darker more bassy sound and excels in strumming chords through. The sound quality of the video lost a lot in the upload unfortunately.

ok, well it is going to hard for us to do your observation as we would have to hear them live also. But yea these kind of things are fun to do. I have noticed that MP3 uploads do lose some of the real tone also, even at the highest transfer rate. I have also heard that the sweet spot is at the 13th fret but more like 6 inches away for a large diaphram, but everyone records differently.

SuperB23 · #5 12-16-2009, 11:09 AM

I kind of like angling the large diaphrams a bit towards the headstock at the 13th fret. It takes away some of the bass. It seems to capture the actual guitar sound the best. But there are a bunch of ways. I usually use small diaphram for recording songs most of the time. The Rode NT4 is one of the best I've found for recording acoustic guitars. You can put them almost anywhere and get a great recording. I kind of want to buy another one soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by missouri.picker

ok, well it is going to hard for us to do your observation as we would have to hear them live also. But yea these kind of things are fun to do. I have noticed that MP3 uploads do lose some of the real tone also, even at the highest transfer rate. I have also heard that the sweet spot is at the 13th fret but more like 6 inches away for a large diaphram, but everyone records differently.

Doubleneck · #6 12-16-2009, 12:20 PM

Was the McKnight the one recently on ebay, looks like the same guitar?. If so you go one heck of a deal.
Steve

cotten · #7 12-16-2009, 12:21 PM

Very interesting! You have three different interpretations of what a nice, large bodied guitar should sound like. All three are wonderful, and one's preference would depend on one's particular taste and what he/she is looking for in a particular song.

I gotta get some better speakers! I listened through inexpensive headphones first, and got a much better impression of all three.

Thanks for posting this!

cotten

DrDavid · #8 12-16-2009, 12:52 PM

Nice comparison!

As previously noted, there are limitations to this sort of thing, as a function of the whole host of recording and playback particulars. But still......I like to see and hear such comparisons.

Though entirely a matter of personal tastes and preferences, my own choice would lean toward the SC and the Mayes, with the McKnight sounding a bit too far on the bright side. Obviously, all three are very high quality.

Thanks for posting the vid!

66strummer · #9 12-16-2009, 01:23 PM

All uniquely different sounding from what I'm hearing. I'm definitely a fan of the dread tone. I think I like the slope the best but the Santa Cruz is great too......
Thanks for showing them off. Enjoyed the demo. The Santa Cruz is beautiful BTW.

massimo · #10 12-16-2009, 01:54 PM

Very interesting. I appreciate very much that you obviously tried to make the test as consistent as humanly possible. While a compressed recording will in no way do justice of a guitar's qualities, a comparison like the one you posted is certainly revealing. To my taste the Mayes (a relatively unknown name to me) is head and shoulders above the other two in terms of overall balance and "body", meaning here beauty in the mid register.

thank you
best regards
Massimo

s1m4m · #11 12-16-2009, 02:28 PM

That Tony Rice model is a MONSTER!

rmyAddison · #12 12-16-2009, 02:59 PM

Bobby,

I pretty much heard what you did, listening through Adam Audio nearlfields.

"On that recording" the Mayes sounded the best and most balanced, the McKnight was a little bright to me, and the Santa Cruz needed a different mike placement (really bassy, but great "potential").

Thanks for posting and nice pickin too!

SuperB23 · #13 12-16-2009, 05:48 PM

Thanks for checking it out and for your comments.

mcduffnw · #14 12-16-2009, 08:01 PM

Hi Bobby:
WOW!!! That Mayes is a MIGHTY powerhouse of a guitar!!! WOW!!! So was that Santa Cruz as well, who says that EIR doesn't have any Bass power...that Cruz has to spare, it also sounds like it has a beautiful butter smooth tone to the mids and trebles. I thought it sounded like it could be a fantastic fingerpicking/fingerstyle instrument...I do love a nice German Spruce top for sure!

Thanks for sharing the comparison...that was fun!

Man...we need to have LJ, and Keith (cpabolting) do this same thing with some of their mighty guitars...fire up those Olson's on youtube for us will ya boyz!!!
Very Best Regards
duff

SuperB23 · #15 12-17-2009, 12:05 AM

I would enjoy some more of these comparisons from people on this forum who have high end guitars!!! You see a lot of pics on this forum but you don't often get to hear a lot of peoples guitars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcduffnw

Hi Bobby:
WOW!!! That Mayes is a MIGHTY powerhouse of a guitar!!! WOW!!! So was that Santa Cruz as well, who says that EIR doesn't have any Bass power...that Cruz has to spare, it also sounds like it has a beautiful butter smooth tone to the mids and trebles. I thought it sounded like it could be a fantastic fingerpicking/fingerstyle instrument...I do love a nice German Spruce top for sure!

Thanks for sharing the comparison...that was fun!

Man...we need to have LJ, and Keith (cpabolting) do this same thing with some of their mighty guitars...fire up those Olson's on youtube for us will ya boyz!!!
Very Best Regards
duff