Controversial Tone Wood discussion.

[L07 Shooting Star]

I don't think the article is controversial. I think many of his contentions are wrong. I and most can readily tell the difference in sound between a rosewood and mahogany B&S guitar. However I don't think it is nearly as likely to differentiate between swamp ash and say silveroak. On the other hand I agree with that author that there is too much obsession with little details and a tendency toward magical thinking, as if the specs make the guitar and not the skill.

That's my take on it too.

[headsup]

Honestly?

I feel decadent and just plain greedy around having more guitars than is really needed.
Regardless of professional or performance justification, having this much of some of the worlds rapidly disappearing timbers only makes me part of the problem.

[L07 Shooting Star]

Honestly?

I feed decadent and just plain greedy around having more guitars than is really needed.
Regardless of professional or performance justification, having this much of some of the worlds rapidly disappearing timbers only makes me part of the problem.

Don't take it all so seriously.  Or are you being cynical?  I can't tell for sure.  Don't like to see you (or any participant) in such a funk, Kevin.

 

[headsup]

Not cynical at all, but there does come a time in ones life of "empire building" and acquiring "stuff" that it gets difficult to justify.
And I'm hijacking my own topic,.

Regarding obsession with tone issues, the bone (or any other material) nut and saddle debate, would.could, certainly play into the scenario, as could, bridge pin material etc.

There is a school of thought that fingerboard material also affects the sound on an instrument.

And yes I still maintain, "tone is all in the fingertips".

[abalone at last]

Tone is in the finger tips. Overtones are in the wood.

[ducktrapper]

If I was an insensitive conservative, I would offer to consider taking any guitars off of anyone's hands who feels guilty about owning them. Just saying.   

[Mikeymac]

Regardless of professional or performance justification, having this much of some of the worlds rapidly disappearing timbers only makes me part of the problem.

If you push this statement to it's logical conclusion, then you should only play gigs that are close to where you live - otherwise you're unnecessarily using up more fossil fuels than necessary.

I personally think this is fuzzy logic. Your purchase of X number of guitars, whether that's 2 or 22, helps feed the economy. The nicer the instruments, the more you're helping pump up the economy and creating jobs. Restringing all those guitars creates jobs. If you had someone else do the set-ups (I know you don't - most players do), that creates jobs, etc. You're putting food on other people's tables as well as your own.

Relax. Thanks for helping feed the world.

If I was an insensitive conservative, I would offer to consider taking any guitars off of anyone's hands who feels guilty about owning them. Just saying.   

If I weren't a lefty, I'd say     to Tom's comment...

[Mikeymac]

And back on topic, I think the truth (as emotional as truth about acoustic guitar tone woods is!) is somewhere in between. I *think* I can hear the difference between different guitar woods when I'm looking at them and playing them in person, but I know I wouldn't have a clue what guitar is being played by artist X on song X.

I was a huge Bruce Cockburn fan for years, but it wasn't until several years after I bought my first Larrivee that I learned he played Larrivees (and owned one of the earliest, if not the first, Larrivee cutaway L body). I didn't know Jimmy Page was playing a Telecaster on early Led Zeppelin - not just by listening. The list of examples could go on.

Back to personal experience: I used to own an LV-09 (Indian Rosewood b/s), now I own a C-10 (Silver Oak b/s). Never played them side by side, but my memory/experience tells me that the LV-09 had a much bigger bass, and sounded incredible tuned down to D or even C on the bottom string. The C-10 isn't that deep, but is still a well balanced guitar. Tonewoods? Or is it just down to the individual build - everything from the braces to how tight the dovetail joint is?

Who knows. 

[eded]

I think various woods tend towards certain general characteristics, but I agree with whoever said there is much variation in similar guitars made of the same woods.  Very often, as much as there is in similar guitars made of different woods.

In general, I like mahogany guitars.  I don't like them all, but I like more mahogany guitars than any other wood.

In general, I'm not big on maple guitars.  My "main" guitar for a bunch of years was a Taylor 422 maple/spruce grand concert.

Ed

[ducktrapper]

If you push this statement to it's logical conclusion, then you should only play gigs that are close to where you live - otherwise you're unnecessarily using up more fossil fuels than necessary.

I personally think this is fuzzy logic. Your purchase of X number of guitars, whether that's 2 or 22, helps feed the economy. The nicer the instruments, the more you're helping pump up the economy and creating jobs. Restringing all those guitars creates jobs. If you had someone else do the set-ups (I know you don't - most players do), that creates jobs, etc. You're putting food on other people's tables as well as your own.

Relax. Thanks for helping feed the world.



If I weren't a lefty, I'd say     to Tom's comment...

LOL. Good one! 

[headsup]

Kevin, I certainly agree with you as far as most of it goes. But is talking about our own guitars and other guitars somehow a little  different? Do we come to know what to expect from a guitar we own as opposed to one right off the wall? I do think knowing when a guitar is slightly out of tune is a horse of a different color. One doesn't necessarily imply the other. Heck, a decent pyanny player can tell that.  

I think you meant to say "horse of a different feather",
I merely used the tuning analogy to indicate, I have sensitive ears by anyone's standing.

[roscoesmusic]

i have larrivees made out of hog, eirw, zebrawood, grevillia robusta, pincoda and bubinga. sitka, red sitka and hog tops. 00's, 000's, om's, L's and LV's. they are all different but they all sound like larrivees. even the new bracing in the  40's that i own sound like larrivees (just better). so maybe the guy is kinda right. martins sound like martins. gibsons like gibsons and so on.
roscoe

[ducktrapper]

I think you meant to say "horse of a different feather",
I merely used the tuning analogy to indicate, I have sensitive ears by anyone's standing.

I don't doubt it and I meant what I said which is not always the the case. Horse feathers notwithstanding.   

[Tuba Mike]

I know what he meant.

[Queequeg]

I don't doubt it and I meant what I said which is not always the the case. Horse feathers notwithstanding.   

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
-Robert McCloskey

[roscoesmusic]

Zebrawood. The smell of zebrawood used to nauseate me, but through experience, I've come to enjoy it.

this is a quote from that article. it does stink! i thought somebody barfed in mine. i got used to it but may never enjoy it.
roscoe

[Mikeymac]

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
-Robert McCloskey

Or, as my best friend from college taught me to say,

"I meant what you knew."

[L07 Shooting Star]

Two psychiatrist colleagues pass each other on the street on their way to work.  One says to the other "Hi Joe, how am I today?"

[ZachStevenson]

Two psychiatrist colleagues pass each other on the street on their way to work.  One says to the other "Hi Joe, how am I today?"

Ha! Thanks for the laugh, I'd never heard that one.