Members Emory Posted April 26, 2013 Members Share Posted April 26, 2013 Maybe a whacky idea or maybe not. Has anyone seen/heard/played/built and acoustic out of both rosewood and mahogany? There is that common perception rosewood is more articulate and mahogany is warmer. Ok, I'll agree with that. But would if someone were to make some combination, say one side rosewood and the other mahogany? Take it further and have half the back rosewood and half mahogany? Maybe I had too much coffee today, but the idea does intrigue me a tad. Best (or worst?) of both worlds? Oh jeez, another brain attack: half top of spruce and other half mahogany..... Somebody stop me! I have not the money to have a custom built, nor the skills to do it myself. Feel free to tell me I am nuts or not. Have to go now, time for my medication...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poppytater Posted April 26, 2013 Members Share Posted April 26, 2013 Most, if not all, could not tell the difference-soundwise.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted April 27, 2013 Members Share Posted April 27, 2013 Emory wrote: Maybe a whacky idea or maybe not. Has anyone seen/heard/played/built and acoustic out of both rosewood and mahogany? There is that common perception rosewood is more articulate and mahogany is warmer. Ok, I'll agree with that. But would if someone were to make some combination, say one side rosewood and the other mahogany? Take it further and have half the back rosewood and half mahogany? Maybe I had too much coffee today, but the idea does intrigue me a tad. Best (or worst?) of both worlds? Oh jeez, another brain attack: half top of spruce and other half mahogany..... Somebody stop me! I have not the money to have a custom built, nor the skills to do it myself. Feel free to tell me I am nuts or not. Have to go now, time for my medication...... I'd have to disagree with poppy on this one. First, I'm sure it's been done before, although offhand I can't think of a specific example of hog/rosewood (Hosewood?). Howard Klepper has certainly made "combo" b/s guitars before, as have others. A forum member who also happens to be an excellent fledgling builder, rickoshea, is planning to build a couple of guitars with half/half b/s species. I've also seen one or two guitars made with half cedar, half spruce tops. Same principle.There's an endless arguement here about whether or not different back species contribute significantly to tone. I wouldn't try to argue tone with anyone (anymore, that is), but I'm firmly convinced that back wood species is pretty significant in terms of tone (if all other factors are equal). Funny, though, my take has always been sort of the opposite of your remark about mahogany vs. spruce. I've always regarded rosewood as "darker" and somewhat "broody," and tend to think of mahogany as more articulate and somehow having greater clarity. In general. It's kind of a fool's errand to try to describe tone in words, but I can't seem to help repeatedly making that mistake.As much as I do believe back species is an important factor in overall tone, I have some doubts about whether simply making half a back in rosewood and the other half in mahogany would really accomplish what it intends to accomplish. What I think would work better there is something more along the lines of Dana Bourgeois' "single-scalloped" bracing. There is - or at least was - a composition on the Pantheon Guitars (Bourgeois) website about how with guitars larger than the OM size, Bourgeois will scallop the bracing on the bass side of the top, but not the treble side. The purpose is to even things out by beefing up the stiffness of the treble side to accentuate the trebs. So you end up with kind of what one would hope for in a hog/rose hybrid: optimization of both ends of the tonal spectrum. But through bracing. Edit: I don't think it's a crazy/wacky idea at all, by the way. If nothing else, it'd certainly be one hell of a nice looking guitar. I think both mahogany and rosewood are gorgeous, and both make great guitars. I used to go on Martin's website all the time and "build" fantasy customs, among them some with three-piece backs with center-wedges of something completely different. Mostly for looks, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted April 27, 2013 Members Share Posted April 27, 2013 You're talking about the Martin MTV-1: http://www.themusicroom-online.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=6484 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members masterbuilt Posted April 27, 2013 Members Share Posted April 27, 2013 I think a lot of people are swayed by the beauty of a particular instrument, whether they admit it or not. The look of a combination of two dark woods might not be as appealing as it sounds sight unseen. As for tone, three-piece backs have been part of the Martin lineup over the years and some people claim to hear a difference and others just like the look. I am indifferent about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted April 27, 2013 Members Share Posted April 27, 2013 http://www.klepperguitars.com/dovetail.html http://www.classicalguitars.ca/doubletops.htm http://www.mcknightguitars.com/soundboards.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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