Mahogany, EI Rosewood, Brazilian Rosewood….can YOU tell the difference?

[onewilyfool]

Mahogany, EI Rosewood, Brazilian Rosewood….can YOU tell the difference? I really don't hear that much difference??? Of course, my EARS are getting older…..

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Mahogany, EI Rosewood, Brazilian Rosewood….can YOU tell the difference? I really don't hear that much difference??? Of course, my EARS are getting older…..

 

 

My ears are pretty old, but I think I can hear the difference between mahogany and rosewood. Between the varieties of rosewood? I don't know about that.

 

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[j45nick]

Not really enough playing of each guitar, and a bit too separated in time, to make real comparisons. I did get his point about the change in tonal balance with the different woods, but would need to hear more to really appreciate it better.

[Tarrr]

Got to get outside the box folks:

[RichG]

Mahogany, EI Rosewood, Brazilian Rosewood….can YOU tell the difference? I really don't hear that much difference??? Of course, my EARS are getting older…..

 

I agree. Listening on an iPad, though. I have a couple of hog Gibsons and one IR Gibson the AJ. I can tell the difference. The AJ is more mellow and bassier than the others. Although I don't use the same strings on both. I also have a D28 Marquis and a D18GE which both have Adi tops and similar bracing.I can hear the difference. Once again, though, I use PB strings on the hogs and 80/20 on the rosewood.

 

 

 

 

Rich

[tpbiii]

I have no trouble telling RW from mahogany -- after you are round enough of them it is obvious. I even ran a test on UMGF that did a double blind study that included RW and mahogany -- and guitar size as well. The RW/mahogany results were significant at the 99% level -- I think there were maybe 20 subjects. I can find the UMGF thread if anyone cares.

 

The BRW EIRW is more subtle, but most BRW guitars are old -- of course a couple of major EIRW old examples exist, like the 20s AJs and 1942/43 SJs. But age does effect tone.

 

Now it is easy to tell a 36 AJ from a 35 Martin -- BUT there are a lot more differences than just the RW, so I don't think that proves much. The ones we have sort of fit into the same functional slot, but that is not to say they are the same.

 

I do know BRW has some unique properties. Wayne Henderson, the Va luthier, once showed us some BRW bars, about one inch square, When he tapped them, they rang like a bell -- and I mean THEY REALLY RANG LIKE A BELL. They sounded exactly like fine bell brass. EIRW can't really do that.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[chasAK]

When I was looking to get back into playing I was looking at a Song Writer, a D28 ,and an AJ. It was coming down to the Song Writer and D28. At the advice of a friend I tried a j45 hog. That was it. That was the sound I was looking for.The hog had strong mellow mids and the highs were sweet rather that piercing. The bass was there but not as boomy as the other two. If you dug into it the guitar had a bite. I need to add, there was a very nice sounding maple J200, but that was out of my budget.

 

[vacamartin]

I have no trouble telling RW from mahogany -- after you are round enough of them it is obvious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Same here. And there's that rosewood scent that is in a league of its own!

[zombywoof]

Nope probably could not but I am one of those who thinks that body wood is not near as a big factor in making sound come out of a guitar as thickness of top wood, bridge plate and bracing.

[tpbiii]

Nope probably could not but I am one of those who thinks that body wood is not near as a big factor in making sound come out of a guitar as thickness of top wood, bridge plate and bracing.

 

One way of thinking of a guitar is that it is like a speaker in a speaker cabinet. The top structure -- top, braces, bridgeplate, bridge, saddle, etc. -- is like the speaker. The back and sides are like the cabinet. The top generates and spectrally shapes the sound, while the acoustic cavity formed by the top, back, and side forms an acoustic filter that further spectrally shapes the sound. The effect of the two elements are quite different and the final sound is always a combination of both.

 

The primary elements associated with RW and mahogany are the shape, the vibration properties of the back and sides, and the impedance of the wood-air interface (how much sound is absorbed and how much is reflected). It is the last two of these that associates a particular wood type to a particular tonality.

 

RW has a bit of a roar -- which is why the bluegrass guys originally chose the D-28 over the D-18 as the primary rhythm guitar.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[fsharp]

I once attended a Taylor workshop held in a local guitar store. They played the exact same shape, while varying the woods and it was relatively easy to hear the differences in person. It doesn't translate to these tinny speakers I have on my laptop or even the somewhat better set that I have on my workstation at home.

[zombywoof]

When talking about hardwood for speaker cabinets, Baltic Birch is still highly thought of because of the wood's resonance although birch laminate is probably used the most. So maybe those guys building the el cheapo guitars in the 1920s and 1930s were on to something.