Forum

Hello this is just a curios question maybe we can get an answer. What guitar top is best?

Being a newbie ... I haven't got a clue, but love that you've asked the questions as I've often wondered what the differences are between woods and someday would like to have the difficulty of making just such a decision.

Thanks wadestar.

Wade, I think it is safe to say that the most common wood used for acoustics is Spruce. It has great tonal quality.



Bill

That's a bit of a tricky question. The 2 main woods for acoustic guitars are spruce and cedar, with spruce (3 main types) being by far the more common. The spruce tops allow a higher volume, but cedar has a warmer tone and suits players with a light touch. It comes down to personal preference or need.

I'd recommend looking at the following link and going to the Fall 2008 issue.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/woodandsteel/

It's the Taylor guitar mag and there is an excellent article on woods and how they affect tone - you should get all you need to know from that.

r

Stuart, BigBear is going to be sooooooo happy that you posted that link. :laugh:



Bill

Its a great question..

And age (amount of playing) has a lot to do with it over time..

Neil and I spoke for 2 hours yesterday on vintage guitars, and my new quest for a true item of beauty and collectibility...the woods that some of my target guitars for aquisition are all different but can sound very similar ..here is a quote from a site I am using for research on Martins

"Brazilian rosewood on a 1965 D-28. Note the rich
color and wavey figuring which is typical of
Brazilian rosewood. Indian rosewood, as used
from late 1969 and later, is much paler in color;
not nearly as rich looking. Indian rosewood is also
very straight grained, without the figuring and
waveyness of Brazilian rosewood. Acoustically, they
sound nearly the same."


For my mind the Brazillian Rosewood is just achingly beautiful on these 50-65 Martins..and so the search has begun to add my first vontage guitar to my collection.

Heres a link to Cole Clarks website and page on timbers, makes interesting reading. But I'm not biased....

http://www.coleclarkguitars.com/timbers.asp

No respect for Maton?

I am enjoying this a hope this talk will help inform people of choices, before just running out and buying a guitar.

I really enjoy my Cedar Top yes it does have a mellow sound, I find it so good for the blues, slide & alternate tunings. I use my amp to make it brighter if needed.