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Topic: dobros - mahogany vs maple vs birch? |
John Groover McDuffie
From:
LA California, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2009 8:22 am |
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It looks like I may be shopping for another dobro - one specifically to install a pickup system on, buut I would still like it to sound good acoustically.
Checking out the Beard and Wechter/Scheerhorn websites I see they both make maple body and mahogany body guitars and I am curious about the respective sound of the two. I would guess that the maple gives a brighter but also more solid/punchy sound.
I'd like to hear the impressions of players who have tried both.
I have experience with an older Dobro (model 36 ?)which is laminated birch, and a Scheerhorn which is maple. I realize the Scheerhorn is a completely different aminal, and in many ways superior. But in some ways I prefer the thinner sound of my old Dobro. |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 19 Jun 2009 10:09 am decisions, decision, decisions
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All three are good. It will depend on your taste. I'd go with a maple since I find that it has more dynamic range for my picking attack. But YMMV. Based on your last sentence, I'd recommend a mahog body or possibly the W/S Rob Ickes model (I've heard great things about it). They probably have one at the BR Pickin' Parlor in Northridge for you to try out. The Buf. brothers often have them, too. Just remember, if you go with an Aura system - it will probably be emulating a maple guitar (mostly).
_________________
To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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Beard Guitars
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2009 11:18 am
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| Quote: |
| if you go with an Aura system - it will probably be emulating a maple guitar (mostly). |
Actually, the images in the dedicated reso pedal were down with either a solid sapele or sapele/ribbon mahogany guitars, fwiw.
In the Gold Tone line:
PBS = mahogany laminate
PBSD = maple laminate
PBSM = solid mahogany
_________________
Beard Guitars, LLC
21736 Leitersburg Pike
Hagerstown, MD 21742
301-733-8271
pbeardguitars@hotmail.com |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 19 Jun 2009 4:29 pm
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It is my understanding that the Wechter/Scheerhorns guitars are all made of laminate woods, and though they come from different types of trees, I'm not real sure how much of a difference in sound there is among any of them.
There are certainly very high grades of for example, birch laminate tonewood in guitars built by Beard (Mike Auldridge Signature), Ivan Guernsey, and Gregg McKenna, but when you get down in this lower price range I'm not sure how much it affects the overall sound.
Folks say that the W/S Rob Ickes has "some extra mojo," but it's kind've difficult to make anything like a scientific evaluation regarding mojo.
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Mark |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 19 Jun 2009 7:50 pm
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time to break out the 'ol Mojometer.
_________________
To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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John Groover McDuffie
From:
LA California, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2009 8:03 pm
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| MOJO cannot be measured directly, but must be extrapolated from data concerning amount of enjoyment, inspiration, etc. expirienced by experiment participant(s) while operating the instrument the MOJO of which one is trying to measure, and by data concerning amount of G.A.S. lust inspired in same and/or other experiment participant(s) by said instrument. |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 20 Jun 2009 6:15 am
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Is that a digital or analog mojometer?
_________________
Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L |
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Janet Newsom
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2009 6:30 am
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I talked with Tim Scheerhorn about the laminate woods having the sound of the particular wood it was and his answer to my question concerning the WS mahogany that I recently purchased was, 'yes, it would have the darker sound of mahogany'. And, it does. 
Janet
_________________
Keep on pickin'
Dobrojan
www.myspace.com/dobrojan |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2009 6:42 am
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| I had a luthier tell me just recently that 90% of the tone is from the top of the guitar and the rest of it didn't make much difference. |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 20 Jun 2009 8:04 am
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Erv, that's true for acoustic guitars, because the top is the sound-board. The sides and back act as a speaker cabinet to reflect the sound, so their material affects the tone, but not nearly as much as the top.
In resos, the resonator acts as a speaker, producing most of the sound. The wood portion of the top, and the sides and back act as a speaker cabinet. As with guitars, the material in this "cabinet" has less effect than the resonator, but how the sound reflects off the "cabinet" material does have a not so subtle effect. |
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Janet Newsom
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2009 3:24 pm
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There is a luthier with posts on Reso-Nation now who is building a koa reso with a spruce (I think) back to answer these questions. 
Janet
_________________
Keep on pickin'
Dobrojan
www.myspace.com/dobrojan |
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Gregg McKenna
From:
South Windsor, Connecticut, USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2009 9:31 pm
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My favorite solid wood combination is mahogany/spruce.
Birch (ply)is excellent for resonator guitars and is very strong. Makes a very good guitar for the working musician. |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 21 Jun 2009 8:12 am
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| Erv Niehaus wrote: |
| I had a luthier tell me just recently that 90% of the tone is from the top of the guitar and the rest of it didn't make much difference. |
As mentioned, it doesn't apply to Reso guitars, anyway, but even for acoustic steel string guitars, it's a gross oversimplification.
If you put a perfect adirondack spruce top on a body made of top quality rosewood or mahogany, you've got one of the finest acoustic combinations available. If you put the same top on a laminated body, I don't think you could expect to get 90% of the same tone. The shape, size and placement of bracing plays a huge role in the overall tone as does the weight and stiffness of the wood used for the neck and how it's reinforced.
All in all, you just can't look for one charistic to predict or define the tone of an instrument.
_________________
John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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