Sycamore D-18

[DesertTwang]

Apologies if there have been earlier threads on this. Search didn't return any results. Saw the Martin limited edition sycamore back and sides D-18 in a catalog the other day and must say, it looks really sweet.

Any experience as to what that wood combo sounds like?

[Dreadful]

There are threads in the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum on the D-18 Sycamore, and a review by Todd Stuart Phillips (One Mans' Guitar) http://onemanz.com/guitar/reviews/ac...d-18-sycamore/

I was interested when it was first announced, but after reading reviews by those who have played it along with sound clips, it is not a guitar that I would want.

[billder99]

I've owned one sycamore back guitar, and one myrtle back guitar (very similar to sycamore)... both great sounding instruments. I just played a Breedlove Oregon Series Grand Concert (myrtle back and sides)... the nicest guitar I've played in a long time, really loved it.

[Dirty Bill]

Someone here in the forum played the " 1 IN 50" SYCAMORE" and it seems it just average in sound. When i saw it on youtube,I wanted one,but it's to expensive for me.

If I was really going to try and get one,I would have to play it first.

[J Patrick]

...i used to own an all sycamore santa Cruz H-13....the fingerboard, bridge, rosette, purfling and inlay were the only things that were not Sycamore....while i did not keep it i really liked it and if i was into owning multiple high end instruments as i once was it would have been a keeper for sure...you really don't know what to expect to hear when you play such an instrument unless you have played them before...i found that Sycamore is surprisingly "alive"...at least the right piece in the right hands is....not as quick and responsive as some Spruce topped guitars i've played but just as quick as some others that were fine guitars....what i really liked was its mellow and husky tone...it was dry like mahogany topped guitars but without the edge that a lot of them have...it reminded me of a good old gibson that had mellowed with time...you could lay into it really well and it stayed together but it was nice for soft finger style also...nice but not ideal...great for strong fingerpicking styles....no doubt a lot of the instruments sound was due to the design and construction...it may or may not relate to the Sycamore D-18....crazy looking though and not everyones cup-o-tea...

[The Bard Rocks]

Neat guitar, JPatrick! A real eye-catcher. I've always been interested in Sycamore but never had the opportunity to play one. But I'll share what I have read:

"This wood is somewhere between mahogany and maple- good clean overtones like maple but with that punch and elasticity of mahogany."

Rick Davis : “Tonally I liken it to good mahogany: it’s more clean, trebly, and melodic than dark and complex. Projection is OK. The softer sycamore does not produce much volume and gets muddy; I avoid it. As with mahogany, I like to use it with Engelmann or European spruce rather than the denser spruces. I don’t think sycamore’s lightness of tone would couple well with, i.e., red spruce’s bassiness or with cedar’s or redwood’s darkness”.

[JimB1]

There's a thread from here in the last couple of days:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=358520

I have played the D-18 Sycamore it's pretty nice but I like the Mahogany D-18 more. I think it'd be better in a jumbo. I left a little info on it in the other thread...

-Jim