Random musings on tonewoods

[fazool]

No agenda. No ulterior motive. No argumentation intent. Just some random musings on tone woods. There are no facts or science behind these. There is no "prove me wrong" data set. It's just purely my opinionated feelings without qualification.

When I think of the word "guitar" I automatically "see" a rosewood body with a spruce top. For some reason that is always my visualization of the definition of a guitar. And it's not even my favorite combination.

My favorite tonewood is cedar. I simply love the delicate-ness, the sound, the responsiveness, the complementary overtone chorus, the look and even the smell. I only play with my fingers (and almost never use a pick) so headroom is not an issue for me.

I always thought I would prefer cedar over mahogany (I have one) but I like the sound of cedar over rosewood best.

I'm a "Taylor guy" but I really don't care for their full-size mahogany guitars. I love a GS Mini in mahogany (even more than the spruce-topped version), but in their full-size guitars I simply don't like the sound. It doesn't sound like "mahogany" - it's where that notorious Taylor brightness is a problem.

Now a Martin in all mahogany has that chest rumbling growl that I simply crave. That's my definition of a mahogany guitar. I don't eschew the slang term "hog" either, although I cringe at the word "axe".

Speaking of Martin mahoganies: I really don't care for sapele used interchangeably with mahogany (on their older D-15 line). I like sapele as a body wood. I don't like sapele as a top wood and I do not think it's "the same" as mahogany on a soundboard. I have one of each and there is no comparison.

And speaking of sapele, I know it's a cheap wood but think it's a great body wood. I like it much better than ovangkol - which is my least favorite body wood. I had a Taylor 410 and 412 and disliked both. Not sure why but I really didn't like them. I blame the ovangkol.

And, I love the concept of sustainable domestic woods like maple and cherry. I haven't had much chance to spend any real time with either but I fully intend to own a North American wood guitar someday - probably maple.

I love the look of a maple guitar. I think the light blonde color, accented by white binding is stunningly gorgeous in a guitar. But I just don't know if I would like the single note clarity and articulation - its sort of the opposite of cedar. Well, I love the concept of it, the history, the future of it and the looks. If it only sounded the way I wanted, I'd have a new favorite.

I love the mystique of sinker redwood. I also love it's appearance. I only ever played one - once at a Taylor Roadshow. It was really muddy and muted. I've read redwood makes wonderful tops that sound amazing. This one (single example) sure didn't. I think it must have been a dud.

I think Koa and cocobolo are beautiful in appearance. I've never tried one. My buddy has a Koa 712 I hope to play the next time I visit him.

[trek1500]

Nice musings!

So true...rosewood and spruce being the most popular combination.

I also have mahogany and spruce.

But have loved the look of Koa and the other exotics..

I think guitars are like pieces of art as well...and many people think of them that way..

[la palma C]

Originally Posted by fazool

I love the mystique of sinker redwood. I also love it's appearance. I only ever played one - once at a Taylor Roadshow. It was really muddy and muted. I've read redwood makes wonderful tops that sound amazing. This one (single example) sure didn't. I think it must have been a dud.

The only guitar with a sinker top I've ever played was a Taylor 12-fret GA. Same exact experience you had. I do love the mystique and look of it though.

[grim83]

The lovely thing about being human is how vastly different we are. I typically hate both cedar and rose wood. Sitka or adi spruce are more to my tastes and solid mahogany all around is usually my favorite. Haven't cared much for the exoctic woods. Maple is cool and I love birch. And for the most part you can find a multitude of companies willing to cater to each of the preferences (excluding birch [emoji24] ) and that's a glorious thing

[hat]

Don't forget domestic Walnut. It's a very good tonewood. IMO a cedar topped Walnut guitar is a great combination, both in tone and looks.

[Von Beerhofen]

I love the way all woods can be used to create a great sounding instrument with it's own fingerprint. With that I mean a guitar which is suitable for certain playing styles and music.
Some combinations just aren't very well suited for fingerstyle playing or certain types of music because they may lack a certain vibe and have tonnes of other vibes. For instance, somehow I'm much more drawn into playing Jazzy or Jazzrock stuff on my all Koa Taylor GA.
The sound reminds me of archtops, slightly dry and short in the bass but with more treble and zing then true jazz guitars. The Taylor's size is partially to blaim but still this guitar can do things an archtop wouldn't be suited for.
I have no preference for any guitar I own because i feel what some describe as shortcomings are in effect it's strongpoints, provided you can use the tonal properties.
Simmilarly all my guitars have their strongpoints/weakness and I donb't have one which can do it all. Rotating my guitars dayly it happens sometimes I can't bond with it on a particular day, it's not the guitar but it's me, I'm just not in the right mood for that guitar so I pick another.
Somedays I love the brightness of my Taylors and other days I just love the growl of my Martins, and whatever sound is produced with tonewoods not in my posession, I'm sure I'd find a way to put it to good use and love it as much as the guitars I already love.
I also understand why many fingerpickers and classical schooled players are very picky in their choice, I think they're looking for an instrument to suit their playing style and music, as most musicians do.
I'm a bit different I think, I try to addapt to the guitar I play hoping to unlock it's hidden secrets because I know every guitar has some and given enough time I'll discover them.
The old blues guitarists turned cheap instruments into gems because they unlocked their hidden secrets and nowadays those oldies are highly sought after instruments by that category of players but I doubt that they'll appeal to classical guitarists.
Just a thought on why different guitars and different tonewoods are beneficial to music as a whole. Without it we'd probably still be playing 17th century church music, not that there's anything wrong with that music if it floats your boat, it still has the abillaty to evolve into something no one has ever tried.

Ludwig

[normmoy]

Since you like Cedar as a top wood, have you tried Cedar over Walnut? It's a favorite tonewood combination of Taylor employees so I hear.

Maybe you could find a 2011 Spring Limited 400 series to try out or (gasp!) a Builder's Reserve VIII set?

[Goodallboy]

Does a random musing really necessitate a "but I like......" reply?

I enjoyed reading your feelings about tone woods.

[tysam]

That was a little like the 1 am phonecall from a drunk friend.....you listen to it but you really don't care.

[joelhunn]

Just acquired my first cedar over walnut. Very nice combination. Mellow, great mids, forever sustain. On the other end of the scale, I love englemann over mahogany

[mdutr0]

Personally, I find that my tone wood preferences have changed over time as my playing style has changed.

I started playing via learning popular songs as many people do. This normally involved strumming chords with a pick. I stuck to playing "rhythm" guitar for several years. During that time I definitely preferred the Sitka/EIR sound.

As time went on and I taught myself to fingerpick, I found myself spending more and more time doing that as opposed to strumming with a pick. Eventually, I decided that I liked the Sitka/Mahogany sound better for that style of playing. Now, that's the only way I play at all actually. I can no longer find any guitar picks at my house (I blame the cat).

I also decided that I like the all-mahogany sound as well but it was definitely an acquired taste for me.

[piper_guitarist]

As always, beauty is in the ears and eyes of the beholder. There's a reason there are so many different woods, shapes, etc. used.

[ahorsewithnonam]

I love rosewood/spruce Martins and the Taylor 800 series. I also love the Taylor 600 series. I dont think anyone does maple like Taylor!

Love the all hog 15 series Martins. Do not like mahogany/sapale at all. Nails on a chalkboard to me.

And ovankol......my worst tone wood. I've had 3 different 400 series that I bought here because they were so beautiful...only to turn around and sell them right away. Tried bone saddles and multiple strings.....hated them all. But boy did I try. Amazing how some people love this tone wood and others don't.

Cedar/rosewood......ahhhh that's like taking a few pain killers with a glass of nice Cabernet. Smooth! Would love to try cedar/walnut.

Nice to have all these options. Then mix them with different body styles....amazing.

[000JB]

Well any thoughts on cherry? I played a Martin swomgt with a shaded top that was really nice to look at, it did not have the usual Martin thump on the bass but still sounded nice.

[printer2]

Would like to try a cedar over walnut, have the cedar already picked out and a couple of walnut sets to choose from. Brought a walnut guitar to work and had some favorable responses. One guy came back three times to play it, I took that as it sounded not bad.

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