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The Music Zoo is always impressed by the quality Martin Guitars brings to the table, and the Martin D-10E is no exception. A unique guitar built of woods from the dawn of civilization (featured in the June 2016 issue of AG). As supplies of classic tonewoods like spruce, rosewood, and mahogany are being threatened, luthiers and guitar companies look to sustainable alternatives such as salvaged woods. So is that kind of wood bad like cheap? So any attempt to sort out distinctions between tonewoods can only be offered from a relatively subjective point of view.”. The future, in my opinion, will not rest on new woods defining the value of a guitar so much as a fresh appreciation of tonal nuance and power—along with an increased capacity to communicate effectively about it—and for the artistry and execution of fine woodworking and ornamentation on the guitar.”. As for harvesting tonewoods sustainably, Taylor Guitars has taken important steps in this direction. Sitka’s combination of strength and elasticity translates into a broad dynamic range, yielding crisp articulation and allowing for everythi… It's an issue that Martin is keen to address with its latest addition to the Junior range, the 2E Sapele. It’s known for its tight grain pattern and its high stiffness and relative lightness, translating to a broad dynamic range that stands up well when strummed heartily. Keep in mind, too, that the sonic performance of a particular tonewood depends not only on the wood, but also the build of the instrument. That is what I like. “Whether a particular wood sounds good or bad depends partially upon who’s doing the listening. A couple of years ago, Taylor Guitars expanded its use of maple on backs and sides, and has undertaken an active maple reforestation program. “A quarter-sawn top is stiffer [than a plain-sawn one],” Chris Herrod, sales manager at Luthiers Mercantile International, explains. Thanks. The first is the harmonic fifth, then the octave, and then things get complicated. Does a little irregularity in the grain affect the sound? This maple is supplied by Pacific Rim Tonewoods, a company with thoughtful practices when it comes to sourcing and preparing woods for musical instruments. One that comes to mind is Washburn’s WD160SW. but also harmonic content, clarity of tone, and high-, low-, and mid-bias. This wood tends to have a honeyed color and is known for its sonically analogous dark and lush tone, and also for being generally less bass-y and projective than spruce. Out of all the tonewood types available, spruce is one of the most commonly used. The San Francisco-based Blackbird Guitars, for example, has even created a highly resonant, proprietary plant-based synthetic called Ekoa. Some of the material is even figured. Taylor is no stranger to Lutz; the world’s largest acoustic-guitar manufacturer introduced this tonewood into its lineup in January with the revoiced 500 series. This entire guitar is made of Sapele, which gives it a rather interesting tone. I’ve played vintage guitars that still sounded stiff because they were left in the case and never played and I’ve played guitars that are less than a year old that sounded awesome.”, Examples: Gibson Hummingbird Vintage; Martin CEO-7; Blueridge BR-163A Top Craftsman Series. Khaya, another mahogany substitute, is also known for its brightness. Tradition casts such a strong spell in the guitar world, especially among high-end instruments, that it is difficult for a “new wood” to gain any sort of status recognition. The tone it offers is pretty bright with enough kick in the higher portions of the frequency range. With its spice-like scent and far-ranging coloration (with deep, black grain), this Central American relative of rosewood is known as the “piano of tonewoods,” since it produces a bright, sparkling tone that accentuates the treble. A couple of other variables that impact a guitar’s sound are its setup—an instrument with overly low action tends to have an anemic tone even if it’s made from the most optimally resonant tonewoods—and even its scale length. It is warm enough, reasonably bright, and it simply works well with most back and sides tonewood choices. In addition, tonewoods respond differently in the hands of different makers. While mahogany is much easier to source than Brazilian rosewood, it’s still an endangered species, due largely to illegal logging. Ortega Guitars RU5CE-TE RU Series Tenor Ukulele with Spruce Top, Sapele Body, and Pickup 3.9 out of 5 stars 8. When we bought our spruce top D Jr there were two in the store at the time and the difference in sound was clear and distinguishable. Rick says. It’s not as widespread, but you see it often enough across different categories of acoustic guitars. To test velocity of sound, a luthier will hold a piece of wood at a nodal point and tap it to listen for the response. At the same time, it’s also quite responsive to fingerpicking, though a light touch may result in a thin sound. When you go out shopping for an acoustic guitar, you will often see tonewood being declared as either solid or laminate. Some less common alternatives to Brazilian rosewood, which share some of that prized tonewood’s winning qualities, include Honduran, Guatemalan, and Madagascar rosewood, as well as cocobolo, granadillo, ovangkol, wenge, and ziricote, among others. Acoustic Guitars - This tonewood works best with a light touch and lighter strings. Hickory 1820 Walnut, Caribbean 1400 Imbuia 950 Walnut, Mayan/Aztec 1400 Iroko/Kambala 1260 Maple, Hard North American 1450 Ironwood, Green 3680 Mahogany, African, Sapele 1500 Jarrah, Australian 1915 Maple, Ivory 1500 Kenpass 1854 Afromosia 1560 Lacewood 840 Timborana 1570 Lapacho 3670 Zebrawood 1575 … This article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. “It exhibits some of the warmth of rosewood and some of the breath of mahogany.”, Taylor K24ce Koa ES2 Grand Auditorium; Dean Exotica Koa, An excellent North American tonewood for back and sides is maple, Eastern hard-rock and Western big-leaf maple being the most commonly used types. In a more ambitious development, in 2011 Taylor bought an ebony mill in Cameroon, Africa, and is now the world’s biggest legal producer of that wood, used most often for fingerboards and bridges. Ortega Guitars RUK10FMH Ruk Series Soprano Ukulele with Flamed Mahogany Top & Sides $84.00. This may not be much of a problem for large-bodied guitars made of red spruce or Brazilian rosewood, but it may be something to consider when designing smaller guitars, particularly those using some of the less resonant woods for tops and backs. The reason for this is the fact that cedar brings a whole lot of warmth to the tone. Walnut behaves similarly to maple, though it has its detractors. For the most part, Adirondack spruce can be found on select high-end instruments. However, where it really comes to life is the mid range. “Engelmann is a good choice for players who want a more complex sound when playing softly,” says Bourgeois, adding that European spruce shares characteristics with Engelmann, but has more headroom, making it ideal for players with a stronger attack. With that said, there are some steel acoustics out there which use cedar. Sitka, which grows in coastal rainforests in the Pacific Northwest, is used most often, though such manufacturers as Taylor Guitars have introduced Lutz spruce, a hybrid of Sitka and white spruce that reportedly has some of same tonal characteristics of Adirondack spruce. Given how much more a soundboard impacts a guitar’s sound and performance than do its back and sides, this is a very good compromise. if(!window.AdButler){(function(){var s=document.createElement("script");s.async=!0;s.type="text/javascript";s.src='https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];n.parentNode.insertBefore(s,n)}())} var AdButler=AdButler||{};AdButler.ads=AdButler.ads||[];var abkw=window.abkw||'';var plc208206=window.plc208206||0;document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208206_'+plc208206+'">');AdButler.ads.push({handler:function(opt){AdButler.register(168183,208206,[300,600],'placement_208206_'+opt.place,opt)},opt:{place:plc208206++,keywords:abkw,domain:'servedbyadbutler.com',click:'CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER'}})if(!window.AdButler){(function(){var s=document.createElement("script");s.async=!0;s.type="text/javascript";s.src='https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];n.parentNode.insertBefore(s,n)}())} var AdButler=AdButler||{};AdButler.ads=AdButler.ads||[];var abkw=window.abkw||'';var plc208209=window.plc208209||0;document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208209_'+plc208209+'">');AdButler.ads.push({handler:function(opt){AdButler.register(168183,208209,[300,250],'placement_208209_'+opt.place,opt)},opt:{place:plc208209++,keywords:abkw,domain:'servedbyadbutler.com',click:'CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER'}}) if(!window.AdButler){(function(){var s=document.createElement("script");s.async=!0;s.type="text/javascript";s.src='https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];n.parentNode.insertBefore(s,n)}())} var AdButler=AdButler||{};AdButler.ads=AdButler.ads||[];var abkw=window.abkw||'';var plc208209=window.plc208209||0;document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208209_'+plc208209+'">');AdButler.ads.push({handler:function(opt){AdButler.register(168183,208209,[300,250],'placement_208209_'+opt.place,opt)},opt:{place:plc208209++,keywords:abkw,domain:'servedbyadbutler.com',click:'CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER'}}). And so guitar makers have sought sustainable alternatives. An Engelmann top typically has less headroom than one made from Sitka, and its sound can suffer a little when played loudly. Thanks. The color is excellent and the grain is tight. The Taylor GS Mini is the ultimate grab 'n go acoustic guitar. In 1992, it was added to the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species treaty, and then, in 2008, to the federal Lacey Act, which made it impossible to import Brazilian rosewood without a labyrinth of permits and paperwork. AG editor Greg Cahill and Dana Bourgeois contributed to this article. Plus the material has a very interesting natural edge. This one has a top of solid Sitka spruce. Quarter-sawn lumber—in which the wood is sawed at a radial angle into four quarters—is optimal for tops, as it lends stiffness. “The fundamental is the root frequency as a tone generator would make it,” luthier Bruce Sexauer wrote on the Acoustic Guitar Forum. Since the majority of sound is produced by the top, the back and sides wood are almost like a plug-in or effect that can process the signal coming from the top. Unfortunately, Brazilian rosewood – which was always held in high regard – is borderline nonexistent. Maple is celebrated both for its range of figuring patterns—from curly or flamed to quilt to birdesye, which add beauty to an instrument—and for its transparency of sound, which reflects the sound of the top but doesn’t so much color it. For its 600 series, the company uses North American maple, grown in healthy forests with good stewardship, ensuring that it will be available for generations to come. MORE INFO: Give us a call at (406) 290-9390 or email us at sales@musicvilla.com for more information. “In general terms, the top seems to affect the guitar’s responsiveness, the quickness of its attack, its sustain, some of its overtone coloration, and the strength and quality of each note’s fundamental tone,” Bourgeois notes. It’s also important to remember that a guitar’s design has more influence on its sound than the tonewoods used to build it. A layered or laminated tonewood is one in which several thin sheets of wood are glued together to form a material that’s inexpensive and durable to work with. On the other hand, supplies of premium tonewoods have been diminishing due to increased demand, land development, and poor forest management. To my ear, sapele is drier and crisper sounding. Examples: Taylor GS Mini; Martin LX ‘Little Martin’, Salvaged & Sustainable Old-growth Tonewoods. Here are some of the most popular choices you are going to see on the market. On the other hand, spruce has a more definite, brighter tone, and louder projection. While some laminate guitars do sound decent, solid wood is what you generally want to have on your guitar. The newly updated DJr-10 features satin finished sapele back and sides in a rich cherry hue, an option of satin finished Sitka spruce or Sapele top, and a hand-rubbed neck with a high-performance taper. It’s used increasingly in modern guitars, though. The Dreadnought Junior is designed for players looking for big Dreadnought sound in a slightly smaller body. With that said, let’s take a look at different types of woods used for the top, and then we will check out what usually works best for back and sides. The DJR-10E has a solid Sitka spruce top and solid sapele back and sides. “Most luthiers, but not all, believe that the wood chosen for the top is the single overriding variable that determines the quality of tone of a finished instrument.”. The guitar has scalloped X-bracing, a 14-fret neck joint, and a solid peghead. It’s also doubtful every sapele Junior features this kind of irregularity. Tapping a piece of wood reveals, not only the velocity of sound, An African tone wood closely related to Mahogany, Sapele is similar in both look and sound. While spruce and Sapele are usually the wood of choice for steel string acoustic guitars, cedar is more often found in classical models. I’ve always felt maple is a great-sounding wood. Comparable to mahogany with consistent, balanced tone, this African tonewood is sometimes seen as the poor-man’s mahogany (Martin sometimes offers it as a substitute on the company’s popular 000-15M model)—it is slightly denser than mahogany and produces a brighter tone. Touch and lighter strings has Sitka spruce ( Sapele back/sides ) a common to! For big Dreadnought sound in a smaller Dreadnought body then it doesn’t any! To fingerpicking, though for instance, will affect both its workability for a spruce to... Providing an ideal tonewood for the acoustic guitar ; Gibson 2016 SJ-100 Jumbo. 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