Rosewood Vs Mahogany

[thomgs1]

Here, you can't ask someone else to advise you what to buy.  You must play the guitars.  The good news is you can't go wrong here.

Rosewood is bought more often than Mahogany.  Mahogany is known for a clear, sweet, tone with balance across the sound spectrum.  Rosewood is known for its full, rich tone.  You decide.  Eventually, you'll want one of each.

[rockstar_not]

OK,

I have 2000 L-03.  My buddy just bought a 2004 L-03R.

When we evaluated them blind (listening with our eyes closed to the other guy play both guitars) we cannot tell the difference, except for a tiny bit from difference that could be attributed to the amount of age on the strings of the two guitars.

Ask yourself a different question:  What else could you buy for the additional cost of Rosewood?  Maybe you want electronics -the difference in price could pay for that.

The mahogany Larrivees will rock your socks off just as well as the Rosewoods, and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference if you did a true double-blind evaluations. B)

-Scott

[Ian]

For me, it comes down to context. In a larger ensemble, I'd go with Mahogany. Smaller groups, Rosewood.
Rosewood (to me anyway) has a richer warmer boomier sound. More lower midrange frequencies to fill out the sound of the group,ie; Bluegrass , Guitar/Penny Whistle duo's, situations where the guitar needs to occupy more space to fill out the sound.
Mahogany's more fundimental based sound works great in situations where there's alot of other instruments fighting to be heard. It has it's slice of the frequency pie and will always be heard ,without stepping all over the other instruments. Not to say that it dosent' sound wonderfull in smaller groups, but, I'm generalizing here. I'm sure my mahogany L-05 will serve me well regardless of where I play it.
I think of it like Telecasters vs. Les Pauls; both are great guitars, but the Les Paul's fat mids don't always work in larger groups, it can turn the overall sound to mush. A Tele may not have enough lower midrange to carry a Rock Trio, but throw in fat keyboards/B3 and the Tele'll cut through.
Dude... this made soooo much sense in my head!!! (lol)
CHEERS!!!

[adams2k]

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but it may be better than creating my own new one. I'm looking between the D-03 and D-03R... At the store I didn't try the D-03R because I didn't think to as it was priced higher, and the store is far away. So in between now and my next visit, I'm wondering, which would give me the most bass? I don't like the "Martin Boom", and the D-03 seemed, almost perfect, but I wouldn't mind just a hint more bass. Would the Rosewood provide that or have even less?

Thanks,
Adam

[el guitana]

The D-03R did it for me. There was a D-03 there and it was great also. Play both, get the one that sounds right, and forget the small proce difference.

[Pjmsj21]

Adam

Based on your need for a little more bass...I would go with the rosewood.  As another poster mentioned earlier, I do believe that most people need both a mahogany and a rosewood.  I am on the hunt for a OM mahogany to add to my L03R.

Pat Mc

[mjvincent]

I really like the tone of my D-03R especially when I did an a/b comparison with the d-03.   Rosewood has my vote (at least with the dreadnaught).

[norton]

Everything else being equal, I'll pick mahogany over rosewood 9 out of 10 times.  However, the Larrivee that has been most tempting at my dealer lately is a rosewood L-03.  Maybe the L body lends itself to characteristics of rosewood?  Maybe it's that particular guitar?  Maybe it's the GAS and thinking how great it would (will?) look with a little buffing?

I agree with Randy R. - you can't make a bad choice.  Good luck!

[dmag]

Hey everybody. First time post.

I too, have been looking closely at the differences between the "hog" and the rosewood (backs) in an OM sized guitar.

I liked the advice that someone made on evaluating how it sounds from the listener's perspective, because for me, that's important. The sound from the player's POV is going to be different than that of the audience (regardless of their perception of a difference).

Generally, I am solo performer, light/medium strummer and flat-picker. I also like working in duos and small groups.

The thing is, I really like the high sparkly sound of the 414 series Taylors, which leads me to believe that a mahogany OM might be the ticket.

Opinions?

[MacNichol]

Been playing for 35 years and I always thought rosewood was the cat's a--: warm, big, mellow. But then I picked up a Myrtlewood Breedlove and it caused me to re-think tone woods.

Myrtlewood's a great tonewood, but you don't see/hear it too often. It's from Oregon and Breedlove gets the pick of the crop as the company's based there.

Breedlove's got some interesting info on tonewoods, including myrtlewood:

Tonewoods

And, of course. Larrivee has some good information:

Larrivee Tonewoods

[fongie]

Hi mate, I'm 'The Thunder' from 'Downunder' didn't know much about Larrivee, but I bought a LV-04 a week ago, it's mahogany......'Awesome'. now I'm after me next. The moral of the story is.....'If you U can't decide, buy both. [ Aussie, Aussie , Aussie, OI, OI,OI ]
Fongie

[iDavid]

I just bought a L03R from Jason at Notable Guitars.  It was at the "old" price, so it ended up being a few hundred dollars less than the standard L03.  He may have a one left.

http://www.notableguitars.com/

david

[iDavid]

Hey everybody. First time post.

I too, have been looking closely at the differences between the "hog" and the rosewood (backs) in an OM sized guitar.

I liked the advice that someone made on evaluating how it sounds from the listener's perspective, because for me, that's important. The sound from the player's POV is going to be different than that of the audience (regardless of their perception of a difference).

Generally, I am solo performer, light/medium strummer and flat-picker. I also like working in duos and small groups.

The thing is, I really like the high sparkly sound of the 414 series Taylors, which leads me to believe that a mahogany OM might be the ticket.

Opinions?

The 414 is Ovangkol back and sides which is "suppose" to be close to rosewood....

Love the look of Ovangkol

[toneonguitar]

I just bought a L03R from Jason at Notable Guitars.  It was at the "old" price, so it ended up being a few hundred dollars less than the standard L03.  He may have a one left.

http://www.notableguitars.com/

david

I got one of the old L03R models too. Just received it today.  I am diggin the L body, love the versatility. Excited to get some prefered strings/ setup to my taste.

[leftync]

Funny how tastes differ. My first instrument was a Seagull M6, mahogany B&S, and I considered trading up to a Taylor 310 or Martin D-18 to be my primo guitar a couple of times. In the end I liked the Seagull too much.
More recently, as much as I respect all the folks who love the mahogany, I find the rosewood Larrivees in a different sound class. I think the D-03R is one of the best-sounding guitars I've ever heard at any price. (I've probably heard mostly sapele, which also has its fans). And I recently bought an L-03R. I can see where the mahogany is good for miking and recording, especially in the dread. And the workmanship is the same, so either way it's a well made guitar.
Well, choice is what it's all about, and you should buy whatever sings to you. I vote rosewood, and have voted with my wallet twice.

[obe-wan]

yeah, it's all personal but...if you want....

rich/complex and warm, then rosewood

clear and punchy/woody, then mahogany

different and a bit of both from mahogany and rosewood, then blackwood

GL!

Great advice. 

Just  to throw another cat among the pigeons, when you go to the shop to compare Mahogany (or Sapele) to Rosewood, you may want to keep in mind Rosewood, IMHO takes longer to open up soundwise, than a Mahogany guitar. My OM-03R sounds different now than when I first got it, it has opened up substantially. Funny enough it now sounds more "Mahogany-y" if you get my drift ! So initial comparisons of two guitars may be different if the same two guitars had a years playing time on them.
Cheers, Scott.

[wilblee]

While I have heard it said that you can buy a mahogany guitar and still go to heaven, the true elect go with ROSEWOOD!!  ('Cuz it sounds better)

Truly, though, no one can tell you what you should buy.  They can only tell you what they would buy (and some of these folks... ).  In the end, all these suggestions (except mine) mean nothing.  The main point is - you're getting a Larrivee.  As far as I can tell they only make exceptional sounding guitars - so you can't lose...

...unless, of course you go with the mahogany.

[obe-wan]

This is why it is VITALLY important to own both.

I agree, thats why my next will be a 000-50! 

Cheers, Scott.

[crewdog151]

Funny how tastes differ. My first instrument was a Seagull M6, mahogany B&S, and I considered trading up to a Taylor 310 or Martin D-18 to be my primo guitar a couple of times. In the end I liked the Seagull too much.
More recently, as much as I respect all the folks who love the mahogany, I find the rosewood Larrivees in a different sound class. I think the D-03R is one of the best-sounding guitars I've ever heard at any price. (I've probably heard mostly sapele, which also has its fans). And I recently bought an L-03R. I can see where the mahogany is good for miking and recording, especially in the dread. And the workmanship is the same, so either way it's a well made guitar.
Well, choice is what it's all about, and you should buy whatever sings to you. I vote rosewood, and have voted with my wallet twice.

I want to totally agree with you! I honestly played 5 different models of Taylor guitars at a high end shop in Atl. I was inside a small booth which was nice and private so I could really form an opinion without sales pressure or ambient noise. I left there and went to a shop here in Conyers that was wide open and a bit noisy.... The difference was amazing. The first time I hit the strings on the 03R I knew I had found something special.( At a much better price than the others) Although I must admit I pondered the mahogany 05 first, the rosewood won out. I must say something about the factory setup as well, It was perfect, low action with no buzzing! Did have to adjust the intonation but other than that, you just cannot buy a better guitar at any price(like you said).!!!!! Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Michael T]

hi all

just been pointed in the direction of this forum and now my eyes are all bloodshot from staring at my computer for the last hour!

just getting ready to order an L-03. woohoo!!

but.....

mahogany or rosewood?

(sorry, i know that wood-choice is possibly the oldest question in the book, but want my larry to be perfect. also, i won't get chance to compare the 2 myself so i'm relying on you guys n gals!)

ta very much

matt

I'm not sure why you can't compare the 2 yourself??? Does the local shop not have both? Are there no shops within a couple hours drive that do? The 3 series is Larrivee's price point model, that series out of all of them would be the one that you should be able to A/B. Which way are you leaning. Rosewood? I get the impression you either have made up your mind already (maybe already ordered?), from your preemptive can't compare statement. It's OK in either case, but if you are ordering a new guitar, most reputable sources have a return policy that would allow you a reasonable amount of time to evaluate the guitar and return it. Might cost you freight, but come on, we're talking hundreds of dollars and an instrument that is a personal preference thing. Order what you can't find at your local store, if they have a hog, order a rosewood. If they have a rosewood, order a hog. The day after it arrives, take it in to the local shop, buy a new set of Cleartones, put the new strings on the one in the shop and A/B to your hearts content.

You may even want to tell your local shop before you place your order what you are paying and ask them to bring one in for you to compare, and you can buy one or the other from them if they can come within a reasonable amount of your on-line purchase (remember, it'll cost you freight and time to return one, plus they will be very appreciative of the opportunity to earn your business). The important thing is to be sure you have taken the time "and effort" to justify your purchase in your own mind. It is in your ears and hands to eliminate the issue of tone, regardless of what we think.

With that said, it is difficult to go wrong with either. They are definitely different sounds, that's why my dread is rosewood, and my 12'er is mahogany. Good luck in your quest, but you can always compare, if the choice is of real importance to ya.