veinbuster
Zombie Three, DFZ
I like that too and play mine quite a bit. I find it quite mellow sounding so it is often played early in the morning.
Acoustic woods
- Thread starter veinbuster
- Start date
I like that too and play mine quite a bit. I find it quite mellow sounding so it is often played early in the morning.
pondsnorkeler
HD Softail Slim
Although tone is subjective, if you email Taylor, they can give you some kind of description to answer your question. For example, they said using Adirondack Spruce bracing s on my BTO is as effective as if the top were Adirondack. All I know is that guitar is the acoustic guitar GAS killer. Although, I haven't tried an ebony bodied guitar yet.:laugh:
veinbuster
Zombie Three, DFZ
I have Adirondack bracing on an Englmann top and it is the boss.
pondsnorkeler
HD Softail Slim
I've had a couple of customs built this past year or so.
When you go to "acoustic guitar forums" ;-) a lot of people ALWAYS say...meh..wood is nowhere NEAR as important as the build.
Well..the build IS important but so is wood and there isnt a whole lot of stuff you can do thats more fun than designing an acoustic. Well ok...it's really fun though.
Thee first one I wanted to be a cannon with HUGE bottom end so I decided on a size/shape based on an Advanced Jumbo. I wanted it VERY lightly and very forward shifted-ly(?) braced. I decided to go with a 25" scale. I tune down half a step. I knew I was in danger of creating a boomy, muddy, undefined tub of MUSH.
I still wanted rosewood B&S for it's overtonal content and shimmer and sparkle but again...was in danger of being real boomy so I went with a snappy adirondack top to hopefully bring some definition and headroom and some projection.
Well I lucked-out and ended up with the perfect bonecrushing howitzer that is ceilingless but also has a strong and musical voice when tickled (lightly fingerpicked).
I decided that I HAD to try it again but I needed (lol) a small body in my arsenal..oh..that's electric guitar talk..I mean in my stable and I didnt have a mahogany B&S guitar. Nor did I have a 12 fret so I got the same guy to build me a 12fret 000. Same 25" scale, ebony board and bridge...
This time I was going with dryer more focused and "fundamental" sounding mahogany for the B&S...a very sweet set of quilted Honduran hog, so I knew I could get away with more livlieness in other areas like the 12 fret neeckjoint and...I got the top made of Lutz Spruce which they say sounds and has properties somewhere between sitka and adi.
BINGO again!!
It's a lively fingerpicking MACHINE that is as loud and punishing (when it wants to be) as the AJ almost. The Lutz is SO sweet sounding but also projects and has huge headroom. It's kinda like cedar..but really hard cedar..like if there was such thing as adirondack cedar lol.
Acoustic guitars are where you can really HEAR the WOOD. I mean compared to electric guitars..not compared to violins or cellos...but maybe?? I don't know.
And you CAN "hear" different woods on an electric but yeah...great OP.
BTW, I just finally got to take an SE Angelus Custom for a spin. Awesome value, great guitar. GAS inducing.
I would have taken it home but I was there to get an electric guitar and the blazing white fretboard binding in the Angelus almost blinded me. If it isnt a third custom built Halcyon for me, my next acoustic WILL be an SE Angelus.
When you go to "acoustic guitar forums" ;-) a lot of people ALWAYS say...meh..wood is nowhere NEAR as important as the build.
Well..the build IS important but so is wood and there isnt a whole lot of stuff you can do thats more fun than designing an acoustic. Well ok...it's really fun though.
Thee first one I wanted to be a cannon with HUGE bottom end so I decided on a size/shape based on an Advanced Jumbo. I wanted it VERY lightly and very forward shifted-ly(?) braced. I decided to go with a 25" scale. I tune down half a step. I knew I was in danger of creating a boomy, muddy, undefined tub of MUSH.
I still wanted rosewood B&S for it's overtonal content and shimmer and sparkle but again...was in danger of being real boomy so I went with a snappy adirondack top to hopefully bring some definition and headroom and some projection.
Well I lucked-out and ended up with the perfect bonecrushing howitzer that is ceilingless but also has a strong and musical voice when tickled (lightly fingerpicked).
I decided that I HAD to try it again but I needed (lol) a small body in my arsenal..oh..that's electric guitar talk..I mean in my stable and I didnt have a mahogany B&S guitar. Nor did I have a 12 fret so I got the same guy to build me a 12fret 000. Same 25" scale, ebony board and bridge...
This time I was going with dryer more focused and "fundamental" sounding mahogany for the B&S...a very sweet set of quilted Honduran hog, so I knew I could get away with more livlieness in other areas like the 12 fret neeckjoint and...I got the top made of Lutz Spruce which they say sounds and has properties somewhere between sitka and adi.
BINGO again!!
It's a lively fingerpicking MACHINE that is as loud and punishing (when it wants to be) as the AJ almost. The Lutz is SO sweet sounding but also projects and has huge headroom. It's kinda like cedar..but really hard cedar..like if there was such thing as adirondack cedar lol.
Acoustic guitars are where you can really HEAR the WOOD. I mean compared to electric guitars..not compared to violins or cellos...but maybe?? I don't know.
And you CAN "hear" different woods on an electric but yeah...great OP.
BTW, I just finally got to take an SE Angelus Custom for a spin. Awesome value, great guitar. GAS inducing.
I would have taken it home but I was there to get an electric guitar and the blazing white fretboard binding in the Angelus almost blinded me. If it isnt a third custom built Halcyon for me, my next acoustic WILL be an SE Angelus.
Sage
While you were partying I studied the guitar.
- Joined
- May 23, 2012
- Messages
- 461
I have learned that to my ears, mahogany back/sides/neck and spruce top are the winning combination. To me, it's what a well-recorded bluegrass guitar always sounds like. I don't play bluegrass myself, don't have the chops, but that tone, especially from single-note melodies, is so earthy-sounding that I've just got to have it. Because I'm used to the pronounced midrange of mahogany, I have always found acoustics with rosewood backs and sides to be hollow-sounding. To my ears it sounds cheap. Which is crazy, I know, because so many people love that sound and will pay a premium. But give me mahogany every time.
A more interesting, lesser-used combination is the cherry back/sides and cedar top that you'll find on some lower-priced guitars. I have a Seagull S12+ that is probably the best 12-string I've ever heard. And at a sub-$500 price point, that's really saying something.
A more interesting, lesser-used combination is the cherry back/sides and cedar top that you'll find on some lower-priced guitars. I have a Seagull S12+ that is probably the best 12-string I've ever heard. And at a sub-$500 price point, that's really saying something.
