Its a relatively heavy and stiff wood, having strong fundamentals, but a greater overtone content than Sitka, and it tends to be the loudest and liveliest of spruces as well. For its 600 series, the company uses North American maple, grown in healthy forests with good stewardship, ensuring that it will be available for generations to come. C.F. And it produces extremely warm and resonant tones.. This article originally appeared in theOctober2016 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. In most cases, Sitka spruce will reach its full potential more quickly than Adirondack spruce, because Adirondack is stiffer. But reviewers say that the wood was aged for 30 years. Usually this refers to amplifiers, and how loud you can crank them before the sound begins to distort. Most players would gladly take their second-choice tonewood on a guitar build that nails everything else, ahead of their first-choice tonewood on a guitar that misses the mark in other areas. RP-342 Recording King FROM BIPLANES TO MARTIN GUITARS: Adirondack, or Red Spruce, is an extremely strong, stiff wood with the highest cross-sectional strength and across-the-grain stiffness of all the spruces. document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208209_'+plc208209+'">'); It is the king of spruces. While Brazilian rosewood has been offered in fancy instruments since then, both by guitar companies and independent luthiers, it has become even trickier to obtain. They can also take on different characteristics when used in different models of guitarseven those built by the same maker. The tonal properties of both Sitka and Adirondack spruce evolve as a guitar ages, but Ill try to make some generalizations here. A good Sitka top can still get pretty loud before it loses anything, but generally speaking, an Adirondack top will reward aggressive playing more than a Sitka top will. Guild M-240e Acoustic Guitar in Natural. Items must be returned in original, as-shipped condition with all original packaging.Learn More. Harmonic Content A piece of wood is capable of producing a fundamental tone and an array of harmonics (which include overtones). The so-called Carmanah Giant, located in the Carmanah Valley on the west coast of Vancouver Island, measures 314 feet and is believed to be the tallest Sitka in the world. Great review, folks really appreciate someone taking the time to do it right so folks like me can get a better understanding between the two. All Sizes: $20-$100 Guitar Bracewood (Random widths and lengths): $10-$20 /lb. A long scale length will normally accentuate the trebles, for example,Herrod says. Given how much more a soundboard impacts a guitars sound and performance than do its back and sides, this is a very good compromise. Kevin Ryan Cathedral Grand Fingerstyle - Adirondack Spruce & > Guitars Hello everyone. ", "Rock Salt and Nails" ruminates in 3/4 time to a chord progression and melody that is reminiscent of the Stanley Brothers classic, "Lonesome River.". The Martin 000-16 Streetmaster's rosewood back and sides offer a resonant, overtone-laden tone that's equally at home playing delicate fingerstyle as it is chunking out open-position chords. Common Grade: Coarser appearance due to wider or darker grain, uneven grain counts or color streaking. hide glue? The fundamental is the root frequency as a tone generator would make it, luthier Bruce Sexauer wrote on the Acoustic Guitar Forum. And one day, youll walk into a shop to choose a guitar, and a guitar will end up choosing you instead. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; Adirondack Spruce | Taylor Guitars Engelmann spruce, which also grows in western North America, is a common alternative to Sitka. Cedar makes a great guitar for fingerstyle, but as mentioned, not a lot of headroom when you start pounding on it. Combined with the Adirondack spruce top, this Martin is loaded with a deep bass response and a powerful projection that belie its comfortable 000 body . And I always thought it was proportional to the amount of bling in the rosette. The top or soundboard, as the name suggests, bears more influence on the way a guitar sounds than any other component, though the back also is a key component. An instrument whose sonic spectrum is cluttered is more difficult to record than one with a comparably direct sound. Examples: Martin D-15M; Breedlove Pursuit Concert Koa, Maple is occasionally used for soundboards, but more often for backs and sides, due to its flatness of sound and for its relative shortness of decayan attribute that happens to make the wood more resistant to feedback in amplified situations than rosewood or mahogany. Red (Adirondack) Spruce $400. Sitka is somewhere in between. Acoustic guitars have headroom, too. Oh shit I forgot about the scale length and box volume and soundboard SHAPE. Guitarists seldom agree on whether the width of the grain affects the tone of an instrument, but the general consensus is that the tighter grain looks better. Tradition casts such a strong spell in the guitar world, especially among high-end instruments, that it is difficult for a new wood to gain any sort of status recognition. Overtones [are] the harmonic sequence above the fundamental. Of all the guitars I've owned and played, the above combinations stand out in my memory as being the best combinations. Others prefer Sitka tops. On the other hand, supplies of premium tonewoods have been diminishing due to increased demand, land development, and poor forest management. This makes grading more subjective. Specs That leaves you in a tough spot if youre trying to decide on a guitar. In fact, I would give the edge to Sitka if versatility is what youre after. Both have layered rosewood back/sides. Though its used more commonly for the soundboards of classical guitars, red cedar, growing in western North America, can make a great steel-string soundboard. Koa is native to Hawaii and is used commonly on ukuleles, but less so on guitars. Al Petteway, the master fingerstylist based in the Asheville, North Carolina area, says, Im not sure how much it has to do with the top aging and how much it has to do with the vibrations loosening it up. var plc208209 = window.plc208209 || 0; Let's not forget about that ALL IMPORTANT BACK AND SIDE WOODS! Adirondack Spruce. But over-harvesting of this wood led to its being all but phased out for use in guitars in the years after the war. What shape and size? Open grain counts, color, dark grain, runout, and other problems make much of even the better logs unusable. The tree doesnt grow very large, and its hard to find supplies sufficient for a two-piece back. Ive always felt maple is a great-sounding wood. This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. AdButler.ads.push({handler: function(opt){ AdButler.register(168183, 208209, [300,250], 'placement_208209_'+opt.place, opt); }, opt: { place: plc208209++, keywords: abkw, domain: 'servedbyadbutler.com', click:'CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER' }}); if (!window.AdButler){(function(){var s = document.createElement("script"); s.async = true; s.type = "text/javascript";s.src = 'https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n);}());} var AdButler = AdButler || {}; AdButler.ads = AdButler.ads || []; Think of Sitka as warm and fuzzy. Ive recently acquired a new Martin d18 with forward shifted scalloped bracing , sounds awesome for a new guitar, Ive own a Collings HD2A which took several years to open up but wow!, thinking about buying a D18 with an adi top, Thanks. 617 190. Stand a football field on one end and you get the idea. Thanks! Sides and back, rosewood seems to bring out the bassier aspects, mahogany the brighter. Those two pieces of wood that make up your soundboard are going to be with you a long time. Adirondack Spruce used to be widely used and sounds great but is much less abundant today. Lots of headroom and the ability to cut right past Billy Banjo. Examples: Taylor GS Mini; Martin LX Little Martin. I realize that this notion is not universally held, but i've heard it a lot. How tall are they? The name comes from the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York, where it grows abundantly. Produces big, rich bass and extra-long sustain. var plc208206 = window.plc208206 || 0; Some players call this velocity of sound. Fender Malibu Player - California Series Acoustic Guitar. Claro walnut can have a striking figuring that lends eye candy to a fine guitar. Thanks for this. The guitars with Adirondack had a noticable difference in tone and to my ears . And the short-scale, small-body guitar is winner in all regards. Very comfortable hold for its size. Was the spruce quartersawn well? Most luthiers, but not all, believe that the wood chosen for the top is the single overriding variablethat determines the quality of tone of a finished instrument.. Again thank you for your knowledge on both Sitka Spruce and Adirondack Spruce. Though some tops may be joined along either edge, many cannot. While mahogany is much easier to source than Brazilian rosewood, its still an endangered species, due largely to illegal logging. Here are the best bluegrass jamming towns in America. Page 3- Cedar vs Adirondack top for fingerstyle General Acoustic Guitar Discussion Registered Member. Sitka vs. Adirondack Tops. Its incomparable playability and versatility will make it the ideal guitar to satisfy your most ambitious aspirations. Not much else. (Under those U.S. and international statutes, documentation is required to travel with a Brazilian rosewood guitar.). Very comfortable hold for its size. Martin actually used to cut Honduran rosewood logs for Musser, a premier maker of marimbas. The San Francisco-based Blackbird Guitars, for example, has even created a highly resonant, proprietary plant-based synthetic called Ekoa. Careful positioning of the guitar pattern may minimize visibility by placing colored areas under the fingerboard, pickguard, bridge, or soundhole. Play Adirondack tops. Englemann has a tighter grain and is a little less abundant. Sitka is warmer for strumming, Engelman is stiffer, "Punchier" for fingerpicking, Adirondack is a combination of the 2. Reading the threads here, there seems to be a common consensus that Adirondack tops require a bit more play time than Sitka to break in and loose that "tight" sound that is often attributed to newer instruments. Quick Glance: 5 Best Fingerstyle Guitar. Wait a minute..was this a classical guitar or a steel string guitar we're talking about? Many think that Englemann is the best way to go sound wise. Nonetheless, some U.S. guitar makers have Brazilian rosewood that pre-dates the ban and its still used on costly reissue and boutique guitars. The sound of the old instruments constructed of Adirondack, as well as the results achieved by present-day makers, tend to support that belief. Powered by Invision Community. Its known for its tight grain pattern and its high stiffness and relative lightness, translating to a broad dynamic range that stands up well when strummed heartily. A lot of online videos use duelling guitars to try to demonstrate this, but I dont think any of them do it as well as this comparison video from Maurys Music: It might seem as though Im favoring Adirondack spruce here, but thats not the intention. The small body of the OMC makes it lightweight and resonant, while the Spanish cedar back and sides, in combination with the 000 body and Adirondack spruce top, create strong midrange tones and articulation without sacrificing low-end. The main benefit of buying a guitar with layered tonewoods is that it will have an attractive priceand often visually pleasing outer layers on those woods. I dont think its illogical that wood fibers might take time to warm up. Red spruce was preferred by wood-frame airplane builders early in the 20th Century and also found extensive use for piano soundboards even earlier. $ 8,445.00 $ 7,600.00 Add to cart The 00 12-fret design is a timeless build, perfect for the fingerstyle player, parlor player and the strummer looking for a comfortable lap guitar. This item is sold As-Described and cannot be returned unless it arrives in a condition different from how it was described or photographed. At the same time, its also quite responsive to fingerpicking, though a light touch may result in a thin sound. The ebony market has long been plagued with irresponsible and wasteful forestry, compounded by corruption, and Taylor is working to operate cleanly in a way that ensures ebonys survival. However, many people believe Adirondack Spruce to be tonally superior. Huss & Dalton, for example, has built guitars using old-growth mahogany discovered in the river bottoms of Belize and removed in an environmentally sensitive manner. Heritage Goose Series - Boucher Guitars AdButler.ads.push({handler: function(opt){ AdButler.register(168183, 208209, [300,250], 'placement_208209_'+opt.place, opt); }, opt: { place: plc208209++, keywords: abkw, domain: 'servedbyadbutler.com', click:'CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER' }}); if (!window.AdButler){(function(){var s = document.createElement("script"); s.async = true; s.type = "text/javascript";s.src = 'https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n);}());} var AdButler = AdButler || {}; AdButler.ads = AdButler.ads || []; Schenk Guitars FE Grand Fingerstyle 2011 - Adirondack | Reverb This African relative of rosewood shares many of its tonal properties, and it is sometimes known as African rosewood. There is a big difference in tonal palette of colours, harmonics, sustain and flavors from each guitar. The OMC Fingerstyle 1 is a guitar aimed at the fingerstyle player, with an emphasis on clarity. But it has the uncanny ability to add complexityto the tone., A spruce soundboard on a new guitar can have a bit of an edge to its tone, and many players like the way it starts to open up with playing timesomething to take into account when auditioning any brand new spruce-topped instrument. Oh {censored} I forgot about the scale length and box volume and soundboard SHAPE. The voice here is clear and present. What species is THAT? Tsalam (Mayan Walnut), Lysiloma spp. Maple is celebrated both for its range of figuring patternsfrom curly or flamed to quilt to birdesye, which add beauty to an instrumentand for its transparency of sound, which reflects the sound of the top but doesnt so much color it. Some with nice grain counts but areas of darker grain. 2022 Halland OM-H, Indian Rosewood/Adirondack Spruce - Dream Guitars made a great anniversary Piano from Ezo. The two most hotly debated soundboard spruces are Sitka and Adirondack spruce. Suited for fingerstyle, single note lead, Celtic ballads, open and drop tunings, lush open chords, and singer/songwriters. This makes the yield per log low and the amount of labor high. The same anwer I got from 2 dealers "you want it to be from Pa..it's from Pa." (I am going to build Parlors from Pennsylvania Walnut, Pa Cherry for the neck, now I have to find the top wood. Examples: Larrivee L-03 Walnut Acoustic Guitar; Gibson 2016 SJ-100 Walnut Jumbo. All of the Sitka spruce used in soundboards by Bedell Guitars, for instance, comes from trees that have fallen or are dead in Alaskan forests. Dana Bourgeois Excerpted from the 1994 Acoustic Guitar article Tapping Tonewoods.. Ryan Cathedral Grand Signature 2018Adirondack Spruce and - Reverb Best Martin Guitars 2023: 11 Top Choices From Budget To Premium I do not think it would open up the wood the same way, because the wood fibers would not be flexing in the way they do when the top vibrates. Sitka tends to have stronger fundamentals than overtones, and this means that it can sound not quite as robust when played with the lightest touch. What makes Brazilian rosewood so appealing is its great beautyits deep, variegated coloring and its spider-web figuring. Great stiffness gives the wood greater resonance, all other things being equal, and allows the luthier greater leeway to alter the tone and response of the top by changing the thickness.. Fretboard materials also exert an influence on overall tone, although they probably act more as icing on the cake than as a layer of the cake itself. Yet another name for Adirondack spruce is red spruce, a name that it takes from the rusty color of its bark. Super for fingerstyle. Ive certainly heard this about guitars that have been put away for months, and I can believe it. A guitar with an Adirondack spruce top will carry a bigger price tag than the same guitar with a Sitka spruce top. With that in mind, the door will be opened for acceptance of four-piece tops and backs, less ornate woods, laminates,and composite materials (Nomex or honeycombed tops, other non-wood materials) and for tempered (cooked) and otherwise treated woodseven in high-end, heirloom-quality guitars. The difference in list price is $789, or 31.6 per cent. Lively materialsthose with a high velocity of sound, or low internal dampingbest facilitate the transmission of vibrational energy (sound waves oscillating from the bridge). Dont let the big price tag fool you. Sitka spruce tops tend to lay bare the fundamental notes that youre playing on the strings. Examples: Martin DRS-1; Taylor Baby Taylor. Prior to World War II, it was the soundboard tonewood of choice for Martin and other makers. Wait a minute..was this a classical guitar or a steel string guitar we're talking about? Solid AAA Adirondack Spruce tops for warm, booming tone . From our observations and customer feedback, we believe our Adirondack tops equal or surpass any that have been produced in modern times and probably at any time. Mahogany is pretty versatile, as is spruce, but spruce can have more overtones, less mid-range, better bass. var plc208209 = window.plc208209 || 0; These are all generalizations at do not take into account the fact that a skilled luthier can build a guitar with any of the spruce species and get the results that are desired. What you play is what you get. Engelmann works great for softer playing, isn't as stiff as Adirondack. The OM Vintage is available in a . Despite the nice appearance, we could not in good conscience market this spruce as Adirondack/Red Spuce. The first is the harmonic fifth, then the octave, and then things get complicated. Prior to World War II, it was the soundboard tonewood of choice for Martin and other makers. that's all people really want to know. Actually, the prime determinant of the sound of the top is the BRIDGE PINS! A unique guitar built of woods from the dawn of civilization (featured in the June 2016 issue of AG). Due to the age of these logs, all this material would have been old-growth timber. Not all builders find maple to be a suitable top material, though. We are offering a rare pre-owned 2011 FE Grand Fingerstyle. Produces big, rich bass and extra-long sustain. What species? Learn About Top Woods Hard Woods vs. Soft Woods Guitar top woods fall into two general categories: hardwoods and softwoods. Wait a minute didn't some luthier say that the BRIDGE is the most important brace of the whole soundboard? Wait a minutewe haven't even gotten into what kind of finish is on that soundboardnitro,poly,shellac,oil?.What kind of glue is used for the center seam and braces? A one-of-a-kind custom creation, the Martin NAMM 2023 Custom Spec'd GP 14 Fret is a masterfully crafted heirloom-level acoustic designed to provide the utmost sonic flexibility. 4-Piece Tops: 6-6 x 28-36 bookmatched soundboards. var plc208206 = window.plc208206 || 0; Sitka spruce is abundant, and anything that is easily supplied tends to cost less. The more you learn, the better youll hear. Produces big, rich bass and extra-long sustain. Sustain Natural reverberation that results in a lasting, ringing tone. You answered every question I had without droning on and on. But both are tight fitting Dovetail construction joints. You might also hear it referred to as Appalachian spruce, although the Appalachians are technically a separate mountain range further south where the species also grows. This is also what the other players have experienced too. Its a lighter and less stiff variety than Sitka, and it has stronger overtones and weaker fundamentals. The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum-Adirondack Spruce vs. Sitka Spruce Scalloped? Get to know a lot of them. It takes a pretty sophisticated ear to detect differences in the responsiveness of guitars, but if you need that feedback of hearing what youre playing as soon as you play it, an Adi top will provide it slightly more instantaneously. Equally happy whether approached fingerstyle or with a flatpick, on the couch or in the studio, it's just a wonderful instrument to play. Adirondack can be extremely wide-grainedas few as four grains per inchand not as pretty as other spruces, Boak says. Adirondack Spruce[Red Spruce] grown in Upstate New York in the Adirondack Mountains, as well as elsewhere in the Appalachians. Adirondack delivers a stiff, loud, lightweight top with powerful fundamental tone and excellent projection. Thanks again. # 3 06-05-2012, 01:17 PM ChuckS Charter Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Twin Cities, MN Posts: 3,580 Adirondack tops can provide a wide dynamic range. Adirondack Spruce In a wordpower. 1995-2022 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; Arguably the most common tonewood, Sitka is a well-rounded tonewood, one suited for many styles of playing. . - Estimate 2 Lbs Brace per D-size guitar. An amp that remains clear even when playing loud is said to have plenty of headroom. In addition, tonewoods respond differently in the hands of different makers. Tops with one-side defects or near-misses in this price range are otherwise equal to $125-$300 tops. Sounds like Cedar but much tougher. How will the spruce play with them? Rosewood is dense and heavy compared to other woodsalmost so heavy that it sinks in water, Boak says. Adirondack, or Eastern red spruce, named after its ruddy coloring, grows in the Adirondack Mountains and in the cool forests of the Northeast. We take into account grain runout, quartering accuracy, grain count gradation, and avoidance of knots, grain bends, color streaks, pitch pockets, and other problems. document.write('<'+'div id="placement_208209_'+plc208209+'">'); Also includes a high-grade Adirondack Spruce top. When you look at the vertical lines running lengthwise along a Sitka guitar top, they are narrow and close together. But fuck all thatWhat does Engelman sound like compared to Sitka? Solid East Indian Rosewood back and sides for bass and tonal depth. The Loar LO-18-VS Adirondack Top L-00 Acoustic Guitar. You might think: Whats the big deal?. Cathedral Grand Fingerstyle Model Features Avante-garde box shape with massive interior volume. Brazilian rosewood fretboards and their denser rainforest counterparts add sparkle and ring, and Indian rosewood fretboards can help fatten up the midrange. Thats why its used in the vast majority of new rosewood guitars. Bearclaw Adirondack vs. Sitka Spruce - The Acoustic Guitar Forum In my estimation koa splits the difference nicely between rosewood and mahogany, Boak says. The top wood I find interesting is Ezo spruce. But {censored} all thatWhat does Engelman sound like compared to Sitka? Sitka vs. Adirondack Spruce Tops: Which Should You Choose? Sitka and Englemann are much larger trees and yield tops more free of problems, so pattern positioning is usually not critical. Environmental conditions, genetics, the age of the tree, annular growth patterns, grain orientation, curing conditions, and so on all have an effect on the tonal properties in a piece of wood. Tapping a piece of wood reveals, not only the velocity of sound,but also harmonic content, clarity of tone, and high-, low-, and mid-bias. Its used increasingly in modern guitars, though. In general terms, the top seems to affect the guitars responsiveness, the quickness of its attack, its sustain, some of its overtone coloration, and the strength and quality of each notes fundamental tone, Bourgeois notes. Very comfortable hold for its size. Because of this, in 1969, Martin started using Indian rosewood instead of Brazilian. I have never played a guitar with an Adirondack top, but I am interested in the Recording King RO-328 which has an Adirondack top. Instrument makers such as Gibson and Martin found it made superb tonewood for flattop guitars, archtop guitars, and mandolins. Adirondack vs. Alpine/German/Italian Spruce for OM or Martin NAMM 2023 Custom Spec'd GP 14 Fret Acoustic Guitar - Sweetwater The old folkies pick or strum, and so Adirondak is the ultimate spruce. Bourgeois - Eddie's Guitars Im not really fond of walnut, although it sometimes pleasantly surprises me, Boak says. Hence this is a very eco-friendly product. The way its cut, for instance, will affect both its workability for a guitar maker and its sonic performance. We take great care in our harvest and log selection to procure only red spruce from pure stands in mixed hardwood forest. All the logs were salvaged using environmentally sound practices using small boats and pulleys to remove these logs off the bottom of the rivers. In fact it's downright mesmerizing. Really nicely written. Some will be drawn to compare Ukrainian spruce to Adirondack spruce. I have two Adirondack topped guitars (Eastman dreadnaught and Blueridge 000) and I think I prefer that tonewood? # 2 02-02-2006, 08:48 PM Folkstrum Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 8,079 My impression is that Adirondack opens up more slowly than Sitka-and if your using your guitar mainly for fingerstyle, a cedar top might be more suitable. Maple can be loud and projective. Please pause and pledge before reading this article. I saw Kawai (spelling?) The luthier is certainly more important than the tonewood. I am wondering, if the guitar body, for example, is Dreadnought, the back and sides are Indian Rosewood, how do these spruce tops (Sitka / Engelmann / Adirondack) affect the sounds? Strike a G chord and youll hear a G, D, B. Trust me, you can find magical guitars that use either tonewood, and you can also find duds. AdButler.ads.push({handler: function(opt){ AdButler.register(168183, 208209, [300,250], 'placement_208209_'+opt.place, opt); }, opt: { place: plc208209++, keywords: abkw, domain: 'servedbyadbutler.com', click:'CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER' }}); There was a time when guitars sported a limited range of, Differences between woods can be as mysterious and complex as differences between people, Maine luthier and, In a more ambitious development, in 2011 Taylor, Slabs of tonewood from an ancient mahogany trunk known iconically as The Tree are among the most coveted tonewoodseven Slash of Guns N Roses had a custom acoustic.