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I've completed five guitars now, out of a number of different woods for back and sides. The latest, with Amazon Rosewood has a very different character than either the walnut Dreadnought and Walnut 000 (that one doesn't count, as it has a cedar top) and the maple dreadnought (#1). What I'm getting at is this. This rosewood guitar 000 - with a very nice Sitka top - from the Sonic project - has a very long sustain, and that "piano-like" quality of very clear, ringing notes, from trebles down to the low e. It's a great guitar for fingerstyle. However, when playing anything that requires fast changes between chords - rhythm guitar type of stuff, it's almost too "full sounding" - the sustain seems to get in the way of the next chord. The notes seem to crowd each other out. I compare this to my mahogany Taylor 310, and there's less sustain, and the Taylor holds up to the hard chords and faster paced music better.

Now, I know that comparing my 5th guitar to a Taylor is problematic, for many reasons. However, I'm wondering if this tells me anything about the qualities of rosewoods and mahoganies in general. Thanks.

Corky: Judy Treet said one of the things she likes about mahogany is that it sounds the note and then gets out of the way of the next one coming along. Thought that was well put and has some truth to it.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I think since you are comparing guitars that are totally different in body size and shape that you really cannot think of it as a result of the tone wood but rather the type of guitar and the construction methods used.

There's a long record of Martin guitars, 18 and 28 style are the most common, with identical builds and materials except the back and sides. On average, the tonal differences are pretty obvious.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Laurent - excellent point. What do you think? Is what I'm describing above borne out in your experience of playing D, 000, 00- 18s and 28s, side by side?

Tom - Thanks for sharing the quote. That sure sounds like what I'm experiencing.

I just finished a guitar in Madagascar rosewood in the exact same body size and specs as a recent one in mahogany so this is a timely thread for me. I did notice sort of the difference you would expect, the mahogany guitar was quite a bit warmer sounding with less note separation and a bit more mid range punch. I have experienced what you are describing Corky, that rosewood guitars can sometimes be so rosewoody (for lack of a better term) that they interfere with chords sounding pleasant. This guitar I just finished does have much better note separation than the mahogany guitar, and a more treble balanced sound (which makes the bass seem less although I don't think it really is) but it still will sound chords very well, which I am excited about. Both guitars are lightly built and braced, I think the extreme clarity of rosewood guitars comes out more when they are built for power and projection. The added clarity can seem to get in the way for some playing styles. That is based on one guitar I built however and certainly can be compensated for although I am not sure how exactly to do that.

I will say between the 2 guitars I do not have a favorite. I love the sound of mahogany guitars and while on paper you could say that the rosewood has "more" attributes we may attribute to excellent sounding guitars in practice the mahogany does a little something that I really love. I suppose that is a good thing that I can't choose.

On your guitar Corky, I am interested. Did you tune the top and back to be close to each other in pitch? Would you say that your back is quite a bit stiffer than the top if not?

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Burton -

Thanks for the perspective. Very helpful. As to the tuning of the back and top, I'm afraid I've not yet gotten very scientific in what I'm doing on specific tuning. For the next ones, I intend to begin Chladni tuning. This guitar is also a bit of an anomaly in that I used laminated braces, on both the back, and top, making a sandwich of Sitka Spruce and Indian Rosewood (center), each of approximately 80 thousandths (total width about 1/4"), and starting at 5/8" tall prior to scalloping. My technique is loosely derived from what Dana Bourgeois does, scalloping and tuning the tops until there is a breadth of sound from tapping the tops on various points. There's a lot of sustain on this guitar (and when Denis tested it at Newport he also noted the long sustain), so it's possible that the laminated braces added to the "rosewoody" character. As to the back's stiffness in relation to the top, yes, I'd say it's stiffer, although both are relatively thin, compared to my previous builds. The top was about 105 thou, prior to final sanding, which likely thinned the perimeter another 5 - 10 thou.

I will say that I really like the Amazon Rosewood. Many commented that they thought it was Brazilian. The guitar is also just starting to come into itself, and has better balance than the others that I've built previously.

I've built a bunch of OMs and a few parlors. My favorites have been the Mahogany ones.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

The very best guitar I ever heard was an old D-18 Martin that had cracked sides. I bought it at the music store where I did all their repairs back in 1965. It had no case,and the dealer accidentally broke the sides some more when handling it.

I had paid $40 dollars for it !! Since he had broken it again, he insisted sending it back to Martin for at cost repairs,which he did. I received the guitar back looking like new at a cost of $150.00 for the repairs.The guitar had been refinished. Around the inside of the broken sides was olive drab colored cloth which completely covered the insides of the sides.

That guitar sounded incredible!!! I was making guitars full time at that time,and my best customer heard it. He absolutely insisted upon buying it,though I didn't really want to part with it. Money was tight,though,and he paid me much more than I had in it.

I must say that there was NO evidence of any repaired cracks on the outside of that guitar. They did a great job on it.

Some time later,I had the job of repairing a Martin D-28,that had ben crushed by a car that backed over it in a grass parking lot!! It was Brazilian,and actually looked pretty undetectable after the repairs,but that guitar was terribly splintered into strips about 1/2" wide in places. I mean,there were MANY pieces!! It sounded o.k.,but I had not played the guitar before it had been broken,so no comparison was possible.

Yes, mostly.
Although what ou describe as a lack of clarity for the rosewood I would attribute to the build, and not the wood.
Personally I prefer the rosewoods or rosewood-like woods by a long shot, followed by ebonies, maple and then, perhaps, mahogany. Although I prefer sapele to mahogany. Tastes vary, I guess.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/