Yellow Cedar vs Port Orford Cedar.

[MBee]

I'm considering a new guitar, to be used for open tunings. I've been looking at Irish makers, particularly guitars with WRC tops. Also other makers who use cedar tops I recently found an irish guitar with a yellow cedar top and walnut b&s. I realize that yellow cedar is a cypress. From what I've read, this wood is very different than WRC: bright, clear, fewer overtones, lots of headroom. Does anyone have direct experience with yellow cedar as a top wood? Also, how would it compare to Port Orford Cedar? (Another cypress, about which there is much more discussion online).

It's the usual conundrum here: can't physically try out the guitar. So it would be a gamble to pull the trigger vs buying something locally that I could try out, even if it means spending more $

[rumble]

I presently have 2 red cedar guitars, Alvarez DY61, Furch OMC and 2 Port Oxford cedar guitars, Blueridge BR5060 JJ and Breedlove CE25th..
The Maine sonic difference I hear is that the PO has a more brilliant ring to it which I prefer. It’s as if the red cedar has the tone knob on your tele rolled off a little, less high frequency , generally.

[woodbox]

Well, yes,
I happen to have a guitar with a yellow cedar top.
And what’s more, it has walnut back and sides.
And I was playing it just minutes ago, stopped to put it in the case, opened AGF and saw this thread.
What are the chances of that?!?

Mine is a hand-made-by-me (so, one of a kind) classical body shape, braced for steel strings,
with Alaska Yellow Cedar top and American Black Walnut back and sides.

Compared to Western Red Cedar, you used these words:
“bright, clear, fewer overtones, lots of headroom.”
I will agree that AYC tends to be brighter, actually leaning towards Sitka Spruce,
but my guitar does not have lots of headroom. But that could be due to the smaller body shape and depth.
Ive owned 3 or 4 WRC topped guitars previously, and I’m in agreement that WRC is mellower than AYC.

btw, with my current build project, I’m pairing WRC with Koa.
I have a few more sets of Alaska Yellow Cedar I could have employed for this new one,
but chose the natural attenuation properties of WRC to possibly rein in the inherent brightness of the Koa.. we will see/hear how that turns out.
If I build another guitar, it would likely be Sapele b&s,
and I would not hesitate to use the AYC I have on hand for the top.

Granted, there are SO MANY variables, so we are talking about general tendencies here.

I hope I’m shedding some light, however dimly, on your question.

[Rosewood99]

Port Orford Cedar is technically not a cedar at all. It’s a cypress. It’s much closer to Spruce And is stiffer and lighter than yellow cedar. I had a guitar with a port Orford cedar top that was paired with walnut and it was wonderful sounding.

[ruby50]

I made this one about 2 years ago - it is all AYC - top, back, sides, and neck, and it is steel stringed. It is an early Gibson L-1 shape, 13 frets clear, traditional non-scalloped x-bracing. It has a very sparkly sound - there is an iPhone clip of my lovey daughter playing it at the end. Click left and right, text below:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby16...7688488198220/

Ed M

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

Port Orford Cedar is technically not a cedar at all. It’s a cypress. It’s much closer to Spruce And is stiffer and lighter than yellow cedar. I had a guitar with a port Orford cedar top that was paired with walnut and it was wonderful sounding.

You guys are all aware that western red cedar is also not a true cedar, right? Its an arborvitae (i.e., cypress).

[The Bard Rocks]

I have 2 POC (great wood!) and had a AYC. All of them are much closer to a spruce sound than cedar.

[woodbox]

I concur with what the Bard just wrote above.

[rschultz]

Reviving this thread. Any thoughts on these two compared with Engelmann or Redwood?

[Tim McKnight]

I've built a few with AYC and it "generally" has a much warmer tone than POC which to my ear is brighter and has a treble bias. Both are denser and heavier than most spruces. AYC would be more comparable to Engelmann although considerably more dense and heavier while POC has the brightness that Redwoods usually have.

[MBee]

I started this thread. I did purchase and use a yellow cedar/walnut Avalon GA. Then I replaced it with a red cedar/walnut Webber OM. Different builders but similar body dimensions. I found the Avalon to have a sweet, relatively direct tone, without prounounced overtones. The Avalon could really handle a heavry attack, though, and seemed to open and become more complex with more volume. The Webber has a darker tone, with more sustain and more overtones than the Avalon. The tone quality does not change with a heavy attack but the tone tends to break apart with heavy strumming. I really loved that Avalon and often wish that I still owned it, but I found the neck feel and quality of construction of the Webber to be superior.

I also own a redwood/myrtle L00, and it has less of everything than either the Avalon or Webber. However, I think that this is because the guitar was built by a relatively inexperienced luthier, rather than primarily because of that particular wood combination.

[John Arnold]

And Eastern red cedar is a juniper. The fact is, there are no true cedars native to North America.
The important parameters are stiffness and density, with Western red cedar at the low end of the scale on both counts. Yellow cedar is somewhat stiffer and a little denser.