The sounds of different tone woods ...

[sunvalleylaw]

I'm not saying that any one choice of wood is good or bad. I'm just trying to point out some of the tonal differences as rough guide. Try out some different guitars and offer your own observations here.

Now, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't do my part in promoting more G.A.S. attacks on this forum ... hopefully you can see the benefits of owning both a Rosewood and a Mahogany guitar? :-)

I hope this is helpful, -- Jim

Oh dude, don't hurt me. The GAS attack is killer. I have to get my amp purchased first for Pete's sake! Thanks for starting the thread. I come into this as a newbie guitarist, and therefore rely on instinctive impressions at this point. I have decided to have my current Joshua, which is spruce topped (it appears solid, may have one laminate on top) and laminate elsewhere, re-strung by the Martin guy coming to do re-stringings and a clinic at the local shop. Then, learn some more in technique with the guitar I have, and develop my tastes over a longer period before buying again. My Joshua is very bright, has good low action, and is pretty easy playing. I tend to make a lot of string noise at this point with my technique. The D15, which is I understand mostly all Mahogany with a rosewook neck, and satin finished, is much deeper toned, and seems more forgiving in terms of string noise. The D16 I played (Turned out it was a D16RGT instead of a D16R, have to research the difference) has a nice tone, but its high E string was harder for me to play cleanly. Maybe the set up on that unit.

I basically play the same songs on each guitar, Heart of Gold, and Old Man, and the hammer ons/pull offs on the intro to Old Man are currently serving as my benchmarks for playablility. In otherwords, if I can make those hammer ons and pull offs in the D chord ring cleanly, it works for me. The Larrivee D50 is I understand a spruce/mahogany guitar, was owned by the local shop hero who plays professionally in a bluegrass band (Public Radio) and has had it gone through and balanced carefully by the local luthier. It just plays great. The tone seems in between the D15 and 16. I would have to go back and try more to be sure. It sure is beautiful, kind of like a dressed up D18 I guess, but it is its own deal. A dovetail neck instead of a bolt on like the D16. The neck's shape sure seems to fit nicely. That is not really a tone deal but just another perception.

Man, will have to resist the GAS, but it is sure fun to look! I am sure that Martin clinic (see my other acoustic thread) will be really fun.

Steve