GGJaguar
Reverential Member
Ten years ago, I was shopping for a rosewood jumbo 12-string guitar. Naturally, that meant looking at the Guild F-512, but the wild card (at the time) was the Martin Grand J12-40. Without going into a lot of detail, the Martin won the day but, to be fair, they both sounded fantastic. Along the way I also picked up a Corona F-412 because it had a great, but different sound than an F-512 or the Martin. I replaced the F-412 with an Oxnard F-512 Maple (but I still call it a 412) because it was lighter, had a slimmer neck (single truss rod with carbon reinforcement) and sounded more open than the Corona version. So today, I’ll compare the Oxnard Guild to the Martin. This is not meant to be a “which is better?” comparison, but rather, a comparison to show the difference in sound between a jumbo rosewood 12-string and jumbo arched back maple 12-string.
Looking at the specs below, you can see there are subtle dimensional differences between the two guitars. Of course, the biggest difference is the Guild’s laminated maple body with arched back compared to the Martin’s traditional all-solid wood, flat back design. The Guild weighs nearly half a pound (250 g) less, probably due to the Gotoh “Sta-Tite” tuning machines being much lighter than the Martin’s Schaller Mini tuners. The Guild’s bracing is lighter as well (more on that later). The other notable difference is that the Martin’s neck is a bit slimmer in width (up to the 12th fret) and depth which makes it very easy to play.
But there are more things happening internally that are not readily seen. The Martin has tall, narrow X-braces that are tapered rather than scalloped. There are three slightly scalloped, narrow tone bars and three slightly scalloped, narrow radial braces per side. The bridge plate is maple. The Guild has wide, slightly scalloped X-braces, two wide, scalloped tone bars, and a single, scalloped radial brace per side. The bridge plate is rosewood. The bracing on both guitars appear to be machine cut (CNC?) to a specification rather than hand finished. Interestingly, the Guild does not have a cloth patch covering the center joint of the X-brace. The Guild’s bracing has flat tops while the Martin’s bracing is tapered to a peak. If there was any hand carving going on with the Guild, it was left pretty raw. Either way, the two design philosophies, i.e. - many narrow braces versus fewer wider braces, work well. The fit and finish of both guitars is excellent, but there is more glue squeeze-out present in the Martin. The interior cleanliness of the Guild is impressive!
So let’s see how they sound. These are messy, one-take wonders with arpeggios, strumming and finger style that attempt (badly) to demonstrate single note and chordal voices. Again, sorry for the sloppy playing.
Guild F412 arpeggio/strum
Martin GJ12-40 arpeggio/strum
Guild F412 fingerstyle
Martin GJ12-40 fingerstyle
I hate to reiterate the clichés used for rosewood and maple jumbo 12-string guitars, but it’s not cliché if the terms are true, right? The Guild F-412 sounds like a grand piano and the Martin (and Guild F-512) sound like a symphony orchestra. Unfortunately, the sound clips don’t accurately capture this. The 412 has power and fullness. The maple body provides an immediate and crisp pick attack that stresses the fundamental that blooms into a rich blend of harmonics. The bass notes are huge and the highs sparkle, but the low E is a little “tubby” sounding on the first 5 frets. This is an artifact found in some full size jumbo guitars and one that I don’t care for on 6-string models. It’s a non-issue for me with a 12-string because there is so much sound going on that it’s less noticeable. The Martin, on the other hand, is more balanced from top to bottom and has a full harmonic palette of tone without being muddy. The sound is warm and rich with every note ringing clear in the same way you can hear each instrument in an orchestra within the swirling sound.
Both guitars have pickup systems, although I’ve chosen not to provide sound samples because I very rarely play my acoustic guitars plugged in. The D-TAR MultiSource system found in the Martin was also used in the Guild F-412 and F-512 models produced in Tacoma and New Hartford. It’s a very good system that uses a piezo under-saddle ribbon and a small microphone mounted at the sound hole. It has a master volume and a control to blend the piezo and mic sounds. The control thumb wheels are mounted inboard of the sound hole and are mostly hidden from view. It works well and results in a pretty good natural acoustic sound when blended accordingly. Cordoba ditched the D-TAR in favor of the LR Baggs Anthem system. The Anthem is very similar to the D-TAR in that it has a piezo under-saddle ribbon and small microphone with volume and blend controls. The mic is mounted on the forward portion of the bridge plate and so is completely hidden. The control thumb wheels are set in a cream plastic surround mounted at the edge of the sound hole and is easily seen (and ugly). The surround also has a Battery Check button so there’s no guessing about battery power. Like the D-Tar, the Anthem system works well and results in a reasonably natural acoustic sound.
Overall, the choice between maple and rosewood jumbos has to be made by each player. For me, the maple guitar has a vocal clarity that works really well for picking and strumming while the rosewood is my preference for arpeggiated and fingerstyle playing. But that’s me. I hope others will share their experience with jumbo rosewood and jumbo maple 12-string guitars. I know @Brucebubs has the same two models and can also add to the "compare and contrast" discussion.
Looking at the specs below, you can see there are subtle dimensional differences between the two guitars. Of course, the biggest difference is the Guild’s laminated maple body with arched back compared to the Martin’s traditional all-solid wood, flat back design. The Guild weighs nearly half a pound (250 g) less, probably due to the Gotoh “Sta-Tite” tuning machines being much lighter than the Martin’s Schaller Mini tuners. The Guild’s bracing is lighter as well (more on that later). The other notable difference is that the Martin’s neck is a bit slimmer in width (up to the 12th fret) and depth which makes it very easy to play.
But there are more things happening internally that are not readily seen. The Martin has tall, narrow X-braces that are tapered rather than scalloped. There are three slightly scalloped, narrow tone bars and three slightly scalloped, narrow radial braces per side. The bridge plate is maple. The Guild has wide, slightly scalloped X-braces, two wide, scalloped tone bars, and a single, scalloped radial brace per side. The bridge plate is rosewood. The bracing on both guitars appear to be machine cut (CNC?) to a specification rather than hand finished. Interestingly, the Guild does not have a cloth patch covering the center joint of the X-brace. The Guild’s bracing has flat tops while the Martin’s bracing is tapered to a peak. If there was any hand carving going on with the Guild, it was left pretty raw. Either way, the two design philosophies, i.e. - many narrow braces versus fewer wider braces, work well. The fit and finish of both guitars is excellent, but there is more glue squeeze-out present in the Martin. The interior cleanliness of the Guild is impressive!
So let’s see how they sound. These are messy, one-take wonders with arpeggios, strumming and finger style that attempt (badly) to demonstrate single note and chordal voices. Again, sorry for the sloppy playing.
Guild F412 arpeggio/strum
Martin GJ12-40 arpeggio/strum
Guild F412 fingerstyle
Martin GJ12-40 fingerstyle
I hate to reiterate the clichés used for rosewood and maple jumbo 12-string guitars, but it’s not cliché if the terms are true, right? The Guild F-412 sounds like a grand piano and the Martin (and Guild F-512) sound like a symphony orchestra. Unfortunately, the sound clips don’t accurately capture this. The 412 has power and fullness. The maple body provides an immediate and crisp pick attack that stresses the fundamental that blooms into a rich blend of harmonics. The bass notes are huge and the highs sparkle, but the low E is a little “tubby” sounding on the first 5 frets. This is an artifact found in some full size jumbo guitars and one that I don’t care for on 6-string models. It’s a non-issue for me with a 12-string because there is so much sound going on that it’s less noticeable. The Martin, on the other hand, is more balanced from top to bottom and has a full harmonic palette of tone without being muddy. The sound is warm and rich with every note ringing clear in the same way you can hear each instrument in an orchestra within the swirling sound.
Both guitars have pickup systems, although I’ve chosen not to provide sound samples because I very rarely play my acoustic guitars plugged in. The D-TAR MultiSource system found in the Martin was also used in the Guild F-412 and F-512 models produced in Tacoma and New Hartford. It’s a very good system that uses a piezo under-saddle ribbon and a small microphone mounted at the sound hole. It has a master volume and a control to blend the piezo and mic sounds. The control thumb wheels are mounted inboard of the sound hole and are mostly hidden from view. It works well and results in a pretty good natural acoustic sound when blended accordingly. Cordoba ditched the D-TAR in favor of the LR Baggs Anthem system. The Anthem is very similar to the D-TAR in that it has a piezo under-saddle ribbon and small microphone with volume and blend controls. The mic is mounted on the forward portion of the bridge plate and so is completely hidden. The control thumb wheels are set in a cream plastic surround mounted at the edge of the sound hole and is easily seen (and ugly). The surround also has a Battery Check button so there’s no guessing about battery power. Like the D-Tar, the Anthem system works well and results in a reasonably natural acoustic sound.
Overall, the choice between maple and rosewood jumbos has to be made by each player. For me, the maple guitar has a vocal clarity that works really well for picking and strumming while the rosewood is my preference for arpeggiated and fingerstyle playing. But that’s me. I hope others will share their experience with jumbo rosewood and jumbo maple 12-string guitars. I know @Brucebubs has the same two models and can also add to the "compare and contrast" discussion.
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