Members bmast160 Posted June 7, 2015 Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 Know of a martin guitar with a 3 piece back (D35) that has both mahogany and rosewood? I like the D35 but would like it to have a little more punch like a mahogany back...maybe some more low mids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted June 7, 2015 Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 D-18 maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delmont Posted June 7, 2015 Members Share Posted June 7, 2015 I'd look into used D-18s and new Larrivees. There are also the wonderful worlds of Gibson and Guild. So many guitars, so little money! Delhttp://www.thefullertons.net( •)—::: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 The D-35 with its three piece back (and 1/4 inch braces) was originally created to use up some of the last of the Brazilian that was too small for a two piece back. It gained a following because of its strong bass - there have been a few forum members who have them. All of the recent 35's have been completely EIR except for a recent production run of a few with some old stock Braz (as I recall they had a stratospheric price). I'm afraid that if you wanted mahogany and rosewood you are looking at a custom - both Martin and many small time builders could make if for you. However if its punch you want a D-18 is about as punchy as you can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 The closest production Martin is probably the D35 Seth Avett, which has a koa center piece. Koa has tonal properties somewhat similar to mahogany. Plan to spend around $3249: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/D35SethAvett/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bmast160 Posted June 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 no d-18. not looking for an all mahogany back. looking for a mix of rosewood and mahogany on the back/sides. a tone wood in between rosewood and mahogany would work too. the mix on the seth avett d-35 is closer to what i'm looking for. it's interesting - sounds like it has a little more fundamental and punch than the standard d-35, but more complex than a mahogany back. i'm not really into buying a custom artist guitar though - feel like i'm overpaying. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 You can special order one from the Martin custom shop but I concur with Freeman and FretFiend. If it's hog you want, look at the D-18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 The only thing that the D-35 offers that is of real significance here is the 1/4 inch bracing of the D-35 as compared to the 3/8 inch bracing on most of the other models. You are spending too much time worrying about the makeup of the back. The wood in the back and sides does make a difference, but not enough to make a quest out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 . . . the mix on the seth avett d-35 is closer to what i'm looking for. it's interesting - sounds like it has a little more fundamental and punch than the standard d-35' date=' but more complex than a mahogany back. i'm not really into buying a custom artist guitar though - feel like i'm overpaying. :/[/quote'] The "standard" D35 is $2599: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/D35/. The difference is $650. Yes, you're paying a premium but probably less than you would for something from the Custom Shop. If you're set on something like the Seth Avett, that's probably your best bet. That said, FretFiend is right; you're overthinking things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delmont Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 By the way, I've never heard of a D-35 with mahogany on the back. The backs are usually (I thought always) three pieces of rosewood. I had one for a while. It sounded great, but the frets didn't fit the bound neck very well - they tended to separate, and me high E string was always getting caught under frets. Now I have a D-28, and it sounds just as good and handles much better. Anyhow - mahogany? Really? Delhttp://www.thefullertons.net( •)—::: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delmont Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 The only thing that the D-35 offers that is of real significance here is the 1/4 inch bracing of the D-35 as compared to the 3/8 inch bracing on most of the other models. You are spending too much time worrying about the makeup of the back. The wood in the back and sides does make a difference' date=' but not enough to make a quest out of it.[/quote'] Right! People will argue forever about whether Lincolns are better than Cadillacs or Chevys are better than Fords. A lot of guitar mythology is just that: mythology. For instance, mahogany is supposedly better for flat- and finger-picking and rosewood is supposedly better for strumming. But if you listen to actual players, it quickly becomes obvious that flat pickers can sound great on rosewood and strummers can sound great on mahogany. Rory Block loves playing rosewood, and I, for one, am not going to straighten her out. Most of the sound of an acoustic comes from the top. Other materials do matter, but it's not just the material. The bracing pattern, wood thickness, the set-up, strings, and wood quality all matter - especially the set-up! - but it's mainly what you do with it. If you like playing a guitar, how it got that way doesn't matter. So try a lot, and when you find one you love at a price you can handle, you're there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 looking for a mix of rosewood and mahogany on the back/sides. a tone wood in between rosewood and mahogany would work too. the mix on the seth avett d-35 is closer to what i'm looking for. it's interesting - sounds like it has a little more fundamental and punch than the standard d-35, but more complex than a mahogany back. i'm not really into buying a custom artist guitar though - feel like i'm overpaying. :/ Why do you think that gluing a couple of pieces of different tonewood together is going to give you the best characteristics of each? Are you going to make the center rose or hog, which for the wings, how about the sides? How are you going to brace it (remember that a two piece and three piece back are braced differently)? Personally I think it will look butt-ugly but that's not important. I'm also assuming that you want plain old Sitka on top (why not Adi or torrefacted or....?) and the usual 1/4 inch braces... Actually, a wood you might consider is koa - must of us use it for its looks but it is supposed to be somewhere between mahogany and rosewood in tone. Here is what Taylor says about it - Martin also has koa instruments (quoted from current issue of Wood and Steel) A fairly dense tropical hardwood, koa shares some of the same properties as mahogany, namely a strong midrange focus, typically with a bit of extra top-end brightness and chime. The more a koa guitar is played and has a chance to open up — especially an all-koa guitar — the more its midrange overtones add a sense of warmth and sweetness to its voice. Koa’s initial brightness can be softened by fingerstylists who play with the pads of their fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bmast160 Posted June 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 another multi-wood back. pricey.3 piece back with rosewood and cocobolohttp://www.zzounds.com/item--MRTSSD3513 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 Harry Fleishman (and others) have been building guitars out of mixed tonewoods for years Most of the time you see it on tops where the builder will pair spruce on one side and usually cedar on the other, trying somehow to get the "best" of both. I've actually got some scraps of rosewood and mahogany out in my shop - I could build you whatever you want. Be a good way to get rid of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 another multi-wood back. pricey. 3 piece back with rosewood and cocobolo http://www.zzounds.com/item--MRTSSD3513 Wow, they couldn't even get the seams straight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted June 8, 2015 Members Share Posted June 8, 2015 I wouldn't worry too much about what wood the back and sides is made from - the effect on sound is minimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted June 9, 2015 Members Share Posted June 9, 2015 Could be. I recently read a claim by a well known luthier saying he could build a guitar to sound like (whatever) and tone wood did not factor into it. His initials are BS but the thread he made such a comment in got vaporized by the AGF constabulary. I made a Search on it. Evidently it tampered with too many sensitivities. Whatever. I made an inflammatory comment that if it came down to using only mud and straw materials to build guitars in the aftermath, mine would have a Goodall label on it. Truth is always best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted June 9, 2015 Members Share Posted June 9, 2015 I agree that the back and sides species contribute very little to a guitars sound. It's all in the soundboard and how you shape the wood. Imagine 2 marimbas. One with all of the keys the exact same size but all different species of wood. "Bright" maple to the right and softer "deeper" woods on the left. Now is that going to work as well as a marimba that's all one wood but different size/shape keys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted June 9, 2015 Members Share Posted June 9, 2015 http://www.marimbaone.com/ Oh. That's what you're talking about. I have no idea what the answer is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted June 10, 2015 Members Share Posted June 10, 2015 I'd totally recommend just playing a lot of guitars until you find the one that has the sound in your head. I think you're fooling yourself if you think you can achieve some specific result by mixing and matching species as if you're adding spice to a steak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members recordingtrack1 Posted June 12, 2015 Members Share Posted June 12, 2015 I'd totally recommend just playing a lot of guitars until you find the one that has the sound in your head. I think you're fooling yourself if you think you can achieve some specific result by mixing and matching species as if you're adding spice to a steak. I think you are absolutely right. i owned a D35 for a few years and itr was a nice instrument that mostly was stable and strong with excellent bass response. Truth is that it didn't have that punch that I expected it was going to get when I bought it. It was maybe even the slightest bit dull sounding. I finally sold it. My Yairi is a totally different story. It is Mahogany lam b/s with Sitka top. It is a generic D18 to tell the truth. Don't be fooled by the lam B/S, It has all the punch I would ever expect from any guitar. It is the naturally loudest guitar I ever owned, I mean a cannon. I was lucky to get it! It ain't no Martin....but who cares? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted June 12, 2015 Members Share Posted June 12, 2015 This argument about back wood seems to come up every now and then. Negligible is in the ears of the beholder. I have never heard a mahogany backed guitar (solid) that has sounded anything like a rosewood backed guitar. They have two distinct sounds. Mahogany has a clearer, brighter sound whereas rosewood has a darker more mellow sound. No amount of tweaking braces will ever change that fact because it is a matter of the woods density, stiffness, moisture content not a luthiers manipulative ability. BigAl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted June 12, 2015 Members Share Posted June 12, 2015 I think he'll get the worst of both woods - mahogany's lack of complexity and rosewood's lack of punch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted June 12, 2015 Members Share Posted June 12, 2015 I think he'll get the worst of both woods - mahogany's lack of complexity and rosewood's lack of punch. I don't know what the outcome would be Freeman, but I'm in my right mind so I would never try it. Why make a back 70% rosewood and the rest mahogany? That small amount of mahogany would probably just detract from the sound. Now if it were 1/2 rosewood, 1/2 mahogany and the mahogany was on the bass side of the guitar.....you'd probably have an extremely loud bass and a soft treble or if the rosewood were on the bass side you would probably have a soft bass and an extremely loud treble, or if the upper bout was rosewood and the lower bout was mahogany......LOL BigAl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted June 13, 2015 Members Share Posted June 13, 2015 It's back.....! http://www.martinguitar.com/custom-shop-114/build-your-custom.html According to that app, the basic mahogany/rosewood D-35 would have an MSRP of $3,934.00. IIRC customs don't get a markdown. I went hog wild: Adi topped HD-35 with quilted mahogany center wedge, grained ivoroid binding, chrome butterbean tuners and boxed cross inlays : $7,326.00 If you're going to dream, dream BIG. Same guitar: Madagascar Rosewood with flamed maple center wedge and Italian spruce top, silver inlay and chrome hardware with white/MOP pins, and carbon fiber case: $13.403.00 Can ya feel da GASSSSSSSSSSSSSS???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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