Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have had a few acoustic guitars over time and have yet to find the combination of woods that finally made me say WOW. My last guitar was a Taylor (Grand Auditorium) 414CE with a spruce top and ovankgol back and sides. That guitar has a sweet top end and midrange but was lacking low end. Something that seems to be typical of Taylors. The Guild D-55 I had with a spruce top and rosewood back and sides seemed to have the low end but lacked that high end sparkle that the Taylor had in spades. I don't want to sacrifice low end for high end and I don't want sacrifice high end for the low end. I want something articulate across the tonal spectrum. Any suggestions?

rosewood!

uhuhuhuhhuhhuhuhuhuhuhuh, I said

Rosewood/Spruce is usually a VERY balanced combination in dreadnaught, mini-jumbo, and concert size guitars. Always sounds a bit dark to me on jumbos.

As for my guitars, I have a Gibson J100 (jumbo with maple sides and back, spruce top) and a Tacoma Chief (concert size with mahogany sides and back, cedar top).
Both have superb sounds.

Something to consider Mitch, is that most guitars sound different when you're in front of them listening -versus playing them. It's good to audition an instrument both ways.

Like you I found the Taylor sound delivering sparkle in spades but lacking in girth.

I love the combination of woods on my Larrivee D09 dreadnaught. Spruce top, rosewood sides and back, mahogany neck, and an ebony fret board. This guitar has a nice overall warmth with a low end pop. The upper end has great detail and sparkle, I believe this is due to the ebony fret board.

Noel: I've also heard people say, "Acoustic guitars always sound better to the player rather than the audience", of course I think that only applies when I'm the player...

But seriously, I find that the environment is very important to the sound of an unamplified acoustic guitar. Guitars that sound fantastic in my living room (medium size with bare hardwood floors, sparsely furnished) often sound bad in other environments. Carpet, upholstered furniture, and fabric wall treatments can absorb important frequencies, making an acoustic guitar sound very lifeless. And every guitar sounds lousy at Guitar Center on a Saturday afternoon...

I can't think of a more balanced-sounding acoustic than the Ric Comstock..... It has a great, huge and boomy bass end, and the trebles are sweet and clear and sparkly.... Truly fantastic, and it sounds great no matter where I play it! I don't need any other acoustic, except for maybe another Comstock-- I can only imagine how great a 12-string one must sound; my 6-string is pure heaven.... The Comstock's top is spruce, and the back and sides are beautifully flamed maple.

Randy, I think they were talking about my playing when they said that.

I'm a biiiig Taylor and maple back and sides kinda guy. Some of the tone and how it projects comes from the shape of the guitar, too. Maple projects well and to me sounds good in my guitars and with others, and really does cut through when there is more than one guitar playing. I like the fact that I can hear each note in a chord distinctly. One negative with all of my maple guitars is that it (maple) is particularly cruel, when the guitar isn't in tune. You can sort of hide with a softer sounding guitar, but not with a maple one.

So, for me, I have a strong preference for the narrower waists of the grand concert (not in maple,) grand auditorium guitars and the jumbos, versus the less-sculpted shape of a dreadnaught. This is for improving frequency content and clarity.

A maple dreadnaught helps add definition to the bass notes and clarity to the highs. I have heard a few spectacular instances of woods in Taylors and other makes of them, but the average dreadnaught is too woofy/smokey/dark for my tastes.

Maple is a little hard for the small grand concert designs, and tends to make them very trebly. Koa is a tiny bit softer and sounds much better to me in this shape (I have one of their rare 412k's and it is fantastic.) I had a rosewood 812C, and loved it, but I switched over to the 614CE after that.

The grand auditorium series sounds really alive to me, and maple just adds to it. I have wanted one with a softer back and cedar top since they started making them, but that won't happen for me until some magic money comes from some planet, since there are other priorities in my life.

I like the jumbos a lot too, and they are quite loud. I have a maple 12 655C. It may be just a bit hard for some, but it seems to compliment my taste for "enough chime." That said, I want to try a Rick 700C/12, as it might be even more in line with my preferences.

If you like a guitar the has a good amount of volume you should check out the Martin Paxton. With its huge sound hole it is definitely made to be played loud. I took a trip last week to Elderly and played one again. Wow! Since they always have a large quantity of acoustics in stock, that is where I spend most of my time during my visit. If you are a Taylor fan they had one of the new R. Taylors in stock. These are much nicer than the average production Taylor IMO.

..."Acoustic guitars always sound better to the player rather than the audience"...
I usually have someone play for me so that I can listen at different points in the room to get a feel of the sound that others will hear.

Spruce top, rosewood sides and back, mahogany neck, and an ebony fret board.

Ken, you described my J-45 RW, which is great. My other acoustic is a Seagull Folk which has a cedar top, cherry back and sides, maple neck, and a rosewood fret board. And thanks to our own Jingle Jangle, my third acoustic will be a lefty rosewood backed 730S.

I play a lot of the older country ballads (think Hank Sr., Lefty Frizzell, etc) and more recently some acoustic blues. I've never found a mahogany backed guitar that really spoken to me, as in saying "take me home".