Tonewood article

[evenkeel]

If posted before, sorry

It's an interesting take on the subject and FWIW one I very much agree with.

http://www.guitarnation.com/articles/calkin.htm

 

[adorshki]

If posted before, sorry
It's an interesting take on the subject and FWIW one I very much agree with.
http://www.guitarnation.com/articles/calkin.htm

New to me and extremely interesting! THANKS!

 

[capnjuan]

Thanks EK. This is interesting:

"The tonal difference between a mahogany guitar and a rosewood guitar is exactly the same as the difference between two mahogany guitars or two rosewood guitars. Can you tell what a guitar is made of while listening to an unfamiliar recording? No one I know claims they can. No one at the blind listening sessions I've attended could reliably distinguish between mahogany and rosewood guitars, or maple and koa guitars for that matter.".

Uh-oh ... he could get burned at the (rosewood) stake :shock: :wink:

 

[West R Lee]

I do disagree with him here. Although many of us might not be able to arbitrarily tell the difference blindfolded.......in other words, blindfold me and then play any guitar and I'll tell you what wood it's made of, I do believe if you blinfolded many of us, told us we were going to compare a rosewood and a maple guitar guitar sound........most of us could distinguish which was which.......just an opinion. I may have to try that one at home. :wink:

West

 

[adorshki]

I do disagree with him here. Although many of us might not be able to arbitrarily tell the difference blindfolded.......in other words, blindfold me and then play any guitar and I'll tell you what wood it's made of, I do believe if you blinfolded many of us, told us we were going to compare a rosewood and a maple guitar guitar sound........most of us could distinguish which was which.......just an opinion. I may have to try that one at home. :wink:
West

I agree, I think back-back comparisons of different tonewoods on similar builds would be identifiable. I'll concede to his expertise as far as blind "taste tests" of one instrument at a time.

 

[dreadnut]

I might have agreed with you, Westy, until I played an old (Maple) F-412 :shock:

I owned a -512 at the time, and I don't know that I could've picked out one from the other blindfolded. The -412 sounded stunning, I was quite surprised at the fullness of the tone.

Thanks for a great article, EK I'll send this one to my partner, he plays a custom built Langejans acoustic dread with walnut back & sides.

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Interesting read.
I don't agree with much of it but I do understand that how a guitar is made is as important as the materials used.

No matter what he thinks, there is a difference in tone woods.
Yes there are sub categories of woods. I agree that within these sub categories the tone will vary.

There is still a distinct difference between Maple, Rosewood and Mahogany guitars.

This is like saying that there is no tonal differences between Cedar and Spruce tops.
Of course there is a difference.

I will listen to and believe Bob Taylor over this guy when it comes to tone woods.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/fe ... oods/Tone/

 

[Ridgemont]

Interesting. I have a similar experience with "indistinguishable via recordings." When I pick up my D25 and my 000-15, I can hear a distinct difference. When I record both, I can not hear a difference upon playback.

 

[adorshki]

Interesting. I have a similar experience with "indistinguishable via recordings." When I pick up my D25 and my 000-15, I can hear a distinct difference. When I record both, I can not hear a difference upon playback.

Interesting. I can, but it took me a while, and I had to start listening for characteristics of the guitars I already knew about when listening to stuff I'd done without noting which guitar it was done with. Still, I think what he meant was, a specific tonewood wouldn't be identifiable in a "blind" listening test.

 

[plaidseason]

Recording is a whole different beast.

Oddly, of all the guitars I've owned, perhaps the best for recording was a DCE1. It was pretty balanced and it didn't have a whole bunch of overtones and for some reason that seemed to do the trick.

-Chris

 

[guildzilla]

Nice link, EK. I enjoyed the read.

I think I can distinguish the live tone of a maple compared to a rosewood acoustic and of maple compared to mahogany in a blind test. But I wouldn't be surprised if I failed the test of identifying rosewood compared to mahogany.

And I agree with Chris about recording.

 

[evenkeel]

I will listen to and believe Bob Taylor over this guy when it comes to tone woods.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/fe ... oods/Tone/

Another interesting P.O.V.. I very much liked this bit of Taylors article.
"For all our talk about the sonic shadings of tonewoods, a guitar’s tonal colors reside largely in a player’s hands. If acoustic tone is an equation of sorts, it might read something like: body shape + tonewoods + string type + player = tone." This was driven home for me when a friend played my D-60. He's a way better player than I am but in his hands the D-60 sounded rather lifeless. I would also point out Taylor certainly added to the tone wood debate by making a wonderful sounding guitar out of old shipping pallets.

The piece of the "myth" article that really got my attention was the notion of psycho acoustics. How much of what we "hear" is driven my what we "want" to hear. My wife would say nearly 100% but that's another issue all together. :roll: :lol:

Anyway, from the other end of the debate here is an article by Dana Bourgeois, certainly a guy who knows a thing or two about acoustic guitars.

http://www.pantheonguitars.com/tonewoods.htm

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

The article in the OP was correct in saying that a guitar will sound like a guitar. Thus the idea that any wood that will hold together, can be used to make a guitar.
I remember the pallet guitar article but I have never played a pallet guitar, so I have no idea how good it sounds.

Now if you want to talk about top woods, that will be a whole different story.
There are very few woods that will work as a top wood for a guitar.
I think that the top of the guitar gets credit for the majority of it's tonal qualities.

Build is also a major factor but you have to have quality material to start with.
So in the end, I still think that the type wood that a guitar is made from will have a dramatic impact on how it sounds.

To go even farther, why does a composite guitar sound like a guitar?
Because it is a guitar!
Does it sound like a guitar that is made from wood?
No, but some of them sound quite good.

 

[West R Lee]

I had posted this here several years ago. I do think it's a beautiful guitar and I know that Taylor SAYS it sounds fantastic, but I'd have to hear that for myself. :wink: Not so sure I'd want a fork lift inlaid in my fretboard. Here are a set of pretty good pictures of it that I posted back then.

http://www.laguitarsales.com/pages/3157 ... Pallet.htm

West