Gad 30 or Gad 30R

[Sepia]

I´m new to the forum. So hi everyone.

I´ve been searching for a new guitar for a while now. And saw a Guild gad 30 on the net. I fell in love with the look of the guitar, and was pretty certain that I wanted that one.
So I found one in a guitar shop a few weeks ago, so I tried it out. And really liked it.
And some time after that I played the gad 30R and thought that it sounded even better than the gad 30.
But I have never tried them next too each other so i dont know if I have a bad memory about how they really sound.
Does anyone here have either one of these models?
What I think I remember is that the 30R sounded i bit warmer and had some more lows and highs than the 30, that had more mids and sounded a bit blurry.
But my local guitar shop guy said that it shouldn´t be that way. He said that mahogany would sound warmer than rosewood, because mahogany is a softer wood then rosewood.
Anyone have any idea?
What do you guys think of this?
And one more question.
Does anyone have experince of the Fishman Acoustic Matrix preamp that is available as an option. Is it worth the money?
I´m consider buying a mic and a preamp seperatelly instead!

 

[sitka_spruce]

Hi and welcome to this forum!

You could say Mahogany has a jangly and reverby character that has a bluesy flavour to it. It is a soft wood which resonates strongly in the mids and highs. Within the family of mahoganies, the softer the wood the warmer the sound.

Rosewood on the other hand has a snappier response due to its higher density and resonates in a scooped pattern (a lift in the lower and higher frequencies with a dip in the mids). Within the family of rosewoods, the softer the wood the warmer the sound.

One should not mix up the words warm and dark/ mellow here. Clearly comparing two guitars of the same brand or make the Rosewood one will sound darker and larger and the Mahogany will be more in your face of things. Mahogany does have a larger variety of overtones where as Rosewood holds deeper overtones. Does it make any sense?

 

[Sepia]

Thanks Jonas.

Yes it makes sense..
I just read a reply from you in another tread "buying Instruments unheard" where you wrote that your a Swede.
TJA.. jag me. (That was swedish)
And lived far away form a good guitar shop.
Well I got the same problem. I´m also from the northern part of sweden and in this case it sucks.
But I´m going to order one unplayed anyway.
I think I´m going for the rosewood one.

Where in Sweden do you live, when you said it was 220km to stockholm. In Kiruna?
I live in Luleå. Nice to see a Swede here.

 

[Sepia]

I just realized what I wrote..

220km isn´t really in the north
I live about 900km from stockholm.
My bad
sorry

 

[Graham]

But I´m going to order one unplayed anyway.
I think I´m going for the rosewood one.

Personally Sepia, I think a rosewood is a great guitar to start with.

My first guitar was mahogany and while I liked it, because it was my first guitar, I was never able to get the sound I wanted from it. Obviously a combination of guitar, ability and ignorance.

My first Guild is the DV-52 and even though the ability is still lacking and the ignorance is still there, it has the sound I was looking for. :shock:

Enjoy the GAD 30R, and keep us in the loop with it,please.

Welcome to LTG

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

Welcome to LTG, Sepia!

I too, am a fan of rosewood! I also have a mohogany 12 string Guild GAD, and it is pretty strong on the bass end, as well!

 

[sitka_spruce]

Hi Sepia,
I'm too a collector of fellow countrymen - but don't let yourself be fooled by some North Americans on here practising Swedish and other Scandinavian languages . I think it's great they're trying and that they exhibit mondane knowledge, though. Some of them or their spouses even share our forefathers I hear.

My home is in Dalarna, in the commune of Säter, known for it's mental institution and the Säterdalen canyon. Dad's from Malmberget though so I can imagine your perdicament in finding great gear up north.

I would recommend you to play the actual instrument you're in for. The GAD line isn't known for having the best quality control. One 30 I played at JAM in Stockholm was heaven, another one on the same occasion in the same shop was good enough for firewood. Not trying to talk you out of the GAD30, but the Dollar is really low against the Krona right now so you could look into what buying an F30 or CO-1 from the US would cost you.

Guitarists sometimes compare sound to things you eat which I think is a good way of getting the message through - as long as those involved in the conversation relate to the same things. You could say RW is very much chocolate, East Indian RW holds even a deaper, mellow flavour of Black Currants. Mahogany is more like a grainy caramel syrup (kolasås). Maple, to bring this tonewood into discussion, is on the other side of the scale and is more in the spearmint department. So it goes on...

 

[zplay]

I am adding my agreement to the recommendation for playing the particular GADs before buying, if it all possible.
I don't own one, but played 2 30s - one each of rosewood and mahogony - and a mahogany JF-48. Nearly all of ther guitars I have owned have been rosewood, as is my CV-1C, which l love.
However, of the GADs I tried, the 2 mahoganies would have been the ones I would have bought, because they simply were better than the particular 30R I played. So, I think there can be inconsistency in the GAD line.

 

[valleyguy]

I don't think it makes sense to describe guitar sounds as warm or large, as everyone has a different definition of what that means. I have best heard a rosewood guitar sound described as having more overtones and harmonies than mahogany. Rosewood is more piano-like. Mahogany has a clearer string to string sound, where each individual string is more clearly defined.

That said I own a GAD-30 and it is a marvelous instrument, both strummed and finger picked, very loud and focused.

If this is not your first guitar, I suggest getting a mahogany if you already own a rosewood, or buy the rosewood if your other guitar is mahogany. That way you'll have a wider variety of sound to play with.

 

[Guildmark]

If this is not your first guitar, I suggest getting a mahogany if you already own a rosewood, or buy the rosewood if your other guitar is mahogany. That way you'll have a wider variety of sound to play with.

I think this idea makes sense if versatility is what you need, or if you like pulling sounds from different parts of the tonal spectrum. I like valleyguy's tone descriptions, too. It is hard to describe sound, but he's got a good sense of the differences between those guitars. I personally own only rosewood guitars at the moment, but that wouldn't stop me from getting a guitar of any tonewood if it made the sound I was after. There are many woods available these days, and choosing is not always easy. I think you're making the right choice with rosewood if it's to be your first and main guitar, as long as it's right for the music you make.

One thing I might suggest you consider is whether the guitar is usually going to be amplified. Tone woods might not matter much when amplifiers, effects pedals, EQ, and any number of tonebenders out there can help you get almost any sound you want regardless of the type of wood. Unplugged is where it makes the biggest difference. That Fishman you mentioned is definitely worth it, but there are many to choose from in that category, too.

Whatever you decide, don't spend too much time analyzing when you could be spending that time playing. There are plenty of guitars. There's never enough time.

Luck!

 

[sitka_spruce]

I don't think it makes sense to describe guitar sounds as warm or large, as everyone has a different definition of what that means. I have best heard a rosewood guitar sound described as having more overtones and harmonies than mahogany. Rosewood is more piano-like. Mahogany has a clearer string to string sound, where each individual string is more clearly defined.

Actually I think it does if put in relation to something else. Obviously a maple jumbo will sound airier than a rosewood parlour, but the parlour is likely to have a deeper sound than the Jumbo.

There has been numerous of discussions about which sounds what and we'll probably never reach a consensus on the subject. The exact sound varies depending on manufacturer. A good hint though is forinstance the clips at http://www.guitaradaptions.com and in this case I would recommend the D40 and D50 clips as those are of eaqually sized instruments, the only diff being the species for the body.

In chords mahog, being brighter, will give you more definition and in-your-face sound. However, each string played separately, rosewood isolates the tone more than mahogany. That's usually why fingerpickers usually prefer mahog over RW.

 

[Sepia]

Thanks everyone.

Don´t know if this has made me wiser or just more confused
I think I will go for the rosewood one because i´ve never had a rosewood guitar and it looks good.
Well if I don´t like it, I can always sell it and get some other guitar I guess.
I´ve been looking for an OM siezed guitar for a while and this one is I think most worth the money.
So I think this is the one for me.
If I had money i would buy the F30 or the CO-1.
But with no money i going for asia..... just like i use to do..
I have a korean gretsch that I really love. So asia maybe isn´t that bad after all.
I will keep you posted when I get it. And give you a review. I may even tell you how it tastes...

And finally all that remains to say is
"shit goddamn get off your ass and jam"
like funkadelic use to sing

 

[Graham]

Let us know your thoughts Sepia. I've heard good things about the GADs.

 

[chicagowineguy]

http://www.guitaradaptions.com

Even though guitar adaptions is a neat idea, the correct link is

http://www.guitaradoptions.com

:lol:

 

[JerryR]

don't let yourself be fooled by some North Americans on here practising Swedish and other Scandinavian languages . I think it's great they're trying and that they exhibit mondane knowledge, though. Some of them or their spouses even share our forefathers I hear.

...

Minnesota is riddled with Swedes - I nearly married one once :roll:

 

[Sepia]

I just got censured
shame on me

 

[dklsplace]

I just got censured
shame on me

:lol: I just read back to see what you meant....I am laughing out loud right now. :lol:

 

[JerryR]

...[/quote]


Minnesota is riddled with Swedes - I nearly married one once :roll:[/quote]


And I'm hoping she didn't get caught up in that bridge disaster :!: