Maple vs. Walnut and Koa

[f***@gmail.com]

Had a chance to play a Maple 614 ce Taylor yesterday and was very surprised by
the tone. Not nearly as bright and cold sounding as I expected it to be. In
fact I would even describe the tone as warm. Unfortunately the store didn't
have any of the Koa or Walnut backed series so I need to ask how these woods
tend to differ in tones compared to Maple
Thanks.
Mike

From darkest to brightest: Rosewood, Walnut, Koa, Mahogany, Maple. However,
it isn't quite right to say maple is "simply" brighter than the others, or that
walnut is darker than koa. Each tonewood has unique aural characteristics.
Some describe these in terms of the amount of overtones produced relative to
the fundamental of the tone being played or some other technical description.
Rosewood: deep, rich, sustaining
Walnut: sweet, warm, honest
koa: excited, woody, balanced
mahogany: wholesome, woody, sparkling
maple: clear, smooth, direct
Many other factors effect the contribution these woods make to an instrument's
sound: the top wood, the body style, the luthier, the player, the music style.
For example, a koa/spruce guitar is a very different animal from a koa/cedar
one. A player using fingerpicks with poor technique (in the right hand) has a
hard time making any maple guitar sound at its potential, but can get by with
rosewood. Fast, intense pieces can become muddy sounding (even with supurb
technique) on large bodied guitars, particularly rosewood or walnut ones, but
the same pieces (with the same player) can sound less agitated, more accessible
(to the listener) with mahogany or maple. Each of these tonewoods can sound
wonderful, if part of a decent instrument played by a musician who cares about
tone (i.e., right hand chops).
Best solution: Pick one that speaks to your soul. In the following year or
two, get another but with different wood combinations, body style, luthier.
Keep this up for 10 years or so while your playing skills improve (10 hours per
week+). Take your "performance" temperature each 1000 hours of practice time.
At the end of ten years, you'll have many cool guitars and you'll be able to
play them very, very well.
--

@ SBoyke, thanks for the meaningful passionated description that I share although I am not a professional on the matter! What would you say about Pernambuco for instrument body, how would you describe its sound? Fouad

[Steve Hawkins]

Post by f***@gmail.com

Had a chance to play a Maple 614 ce Taylor yesterday and was very
surprised by the tone. Not nearly as bright and cold sounding as I
expected it to be. In fact I would even describe the tone as warm.
Unfortunately the store didn't have any of the Koa or Walnut backed
series so I need to ask how these woods tend to differ in tones
compared to Maple
Thanks.
Mike

From darkest to brightest: Rosewood, Walnut, Koa, Mahogany, Maple.
However, it isn't quite right to say maple is "simply" brighter than
the others, or that walnut is darker than koa. Each tonewood has
unique aural characteristics. Some describe these in terms of the
amount of overtones produced relative to the fundamental of the tone
being played or some other technical description. I tend to think of
Rosewood: deep, rich, sustaining
Walnut: sweet, warm, honest
koa: excited, woody, balanced
mahogany: wholesome, woody, sparkling
maple: clear, smooth, direct
Many other factors effect the contribution these woods make to an
instrument's sound: the top wood, the body style, the luthier, the
player, the music style.
For example, a koa/spruce guitar is a very different animal from a koa/cedar
one. A player using fingerpicks with poor technique (in the right
hand) has a hard time making any maple guitar sound at its potential,
but can get by with rosewood. Fast, intense pieces can become muddy
sounding (even with supurb technique) on large bodied guitars,
particularly rosewood or walnut ones, but the same pieces (with the
same player) can sound less agitated, more accessible (to the
listener) with mahogany or maple. Each of these tonewoods can sound
wonderful, if part of a decent instrument played by a musician who
cares about tone (i.e., right hand chops).
Best solution: Pick one that speaks to your soul. In the following
year or two, get another but with different wood combinations, body
style, luthier. Keep this up for 10 years or so while your playing
skills improve (10 hours per week+). Take your "performance"
temperature each 1000 hours of practice time. At the end of ten
years, you'll have many cool guitars and you'll be able to play them
very, very well.
--

@ SBoyke, thanks for the meaningful passionated description that I
share although I am not a professional on the matter! What would you
say about Pernambuco for instrument body, how would you describe its
sound? Fouad

Stephen wrote that post in 1998, I'm not sure he's around here anymore.

Steve Hawkins

[c***@gmail.com]

Rosewood: deep, rich, sustaining
Walnut: sweet, warm, honest
koa: excited, woody, balanced
mahogany: wholesome, woody, sparkling
maple: clear, smooth, direct

Hey, you forgot cabernet sauvignon and merlot!
Seriously: those are well-chosen adjectives for the woods at issue.
Bob "Oenophile" Abramowitz

Missed Engelmann Spruce, actually.