The saga of tone woods.

[Deleted]

Found this interesting. A test between acoustic guitars that are made a like, but using different woods. Check it out.

EB

[dnic]

They sound different but the scrap wood one doesn't sound bad. In certain instances the tone wood guitar sounded more articulate. They are not built exactly the same, you may have noticed the difference in neck construction. And if the bracing was cut exactly the same regardless of top flexibility that will sound different as well. As always where tone/ tone wood is involved people will hear what they need to to justify the cost of wood choices they make. Although to this day - I'm thinking of a very specific guitar - I've never heard a better sounding guitar than this one Brazilian rosewood I played.

[Deleted]

Jun 16, 2022 8:13:05 GMT -6 dnic said:

They sound different, but the scrap wood one doesn't sound bad. In certain instances, the tone wood guitar sounded more articulate. They are not built exactly the same, you may have noticed the difference in neck construction. And if the bracing was cut exactly the same regardless of top flexibility, that will sound different as well. As always, where tone/ tone wood is involved, people will hear what they need to justify the cost of wood choices they make. Although to this day - I'm thinking of a very specific guitar - I've never heard a better sounding guitar than this one Brazilian rosewood I played.

One of the things I think would have been cool, would have been for him to do a video and not say which one was which. I wonder how many people could really tell if it was the scrap wood or the "tone" wood guitar?

  But I think that both guitars sounded great. The scrap wood guitar has a place in the music world as far as I am concerned.

I am now thinking of making an acoustic guitar again. Now that I have a thickness, plainer. Since I have not made on yet, It would be a good fall project. I have to come up with the wood to do it. But I might have some woods I could experiment with. If this guy can make the scrap wood sound off as good as did, I should be able to pull it off with some of the woods I have. Hum...

EB

Hey Dane, I could not help myself. I corrected some words in your post. I have this new program   That not only corrects spelling, but grammar as well. It's been helping me a lot.  

[antares]

I used Sony MDR-V500 headphones on my "cell" 'phone to make a fair crack of the whip. The two guitars sound quite different, and I prefered the so called *tonewood* one because there was a more sonorous depth to the sound, but the fact is when you play an instrument, first you never hear what it sounds like the way other listeners can, and secondly you generally don't have two guitars as in this context. Accordingly, I have to contend that I'd be perfectly happy with either one because they both sounded fine to me in isolation. I am reminded of Bob Taylor's Palletwood guitar (which still had the nails left in as I recall) and that sounded fine too (albeit in that Taylor Guitars signature sound curve which not everyone warms to.)

でつ e&oe ...

[Deleted]

I still think it would have been fun to do a blind test. Take 2 or three people, blindfold them and let them play and choose the guitar that sounded better to them. I am finding that in the acoustic world it only maters in how a guitar is built. Again, there are so many things that can alter the sound of an acoustic guitar. Not just in the "tone woods"

 Just in the sound bars alone, one can make a huge tone shape in the sound. I know I have not made one yet. But, I have owned a lot of acoustic guitars, from inexpensive ones to the super high-end ones. Made from all kinds of woods. Now I will say that some of the expensive ones Can sound better, but that is only some, not all of them. I have also played some $500.00 acoustic guitars that would put the more expensive ones to shame.

 In buying or training for acoustic guitars, It comes down to playability, sound. I don't always look at retail or what I can resell them for. At this time, I have two acoustic guitars that I am well pleased with. One is my Fender small body one and the other one is one that was given to me called a Sea Gull. Super easy to play acoustic guitars.

 The Fender is worth on the market around 1200 used. I don't know what the other one is worth. Don't really care. They are two of the best acoustics I have owned in a long time.

 I have also gotten to work on a lot of high-end acoustic guitars, as well as not so high-end ones. But, for me, I have found that most acoustics have a place in music. Did you know that some acoustics sound better as a strumming instrument, where others are better for picking? It is how they are built or designed to do.

 Acoustic guitars are a fun instrument. So many makes and models. Form steal sting to nylon. From small body to huge body. LOL! Each one to designed to make a difference on the sound of music.  This why I tell people to play many acoustic guitars before buy one. One needs to hear the sound they are hearing in their heads, and they need to find that one that is easy to play.

EB

[antares]

Wise words Eddie to which I would add try to get someone else to play your prospective purchase for you before you flash the cash so you can form an objective opinion of its projected sound.

でつ e&oe ...

[dnic]

I put a Pure K mini in a 70s Gibson Dove with black paint. I mentioned the paint because and I'm going out on a limb here. LOL, I think a black paint guitar probably has some pretty ugly wood in it. Or else it would be natural or even a burst. Anyway the thing was built like a tank, double x brace with the bridge plate filling the entire space in the first X. Built like a tank but with small gaps between every place braces met. The bridge plate had the string balls pulled far into the bridge plate. I installed a Mitchells plate mate to fix that problem.

I was very surprised by how good it sounded considering how over built it is. I was also surprised by what these guitars sell for.... I found several on line in the 6K $ neighborhood.

Playability and sound are much more important price or name brand. But some of these old guitars are historically great sounding which drives the prices up.