Quote:
Originally Posted by Truckjohn
Do not fear a birch top guitar.
I love to remind folks that both Mahogany and Koa are Hardwoods... And yet people seem to have no issues with Mahogany or Koa topped guitars.... Birch guitars can sound fantastic just like Spruce topped guitars can sound terrible....
I am working my way through an old 1940's all birch Stella 1141 (GC size).... It sounds great. It is also plenty loud. Does it sound like spruce? No - but it still sounds good...
You will be amazed at how good it sounds and plays when Steve gets done with it.... It won't be a kid toy anymore.....
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I love those Figure 8 body style Harmonys.
The thing about birch is that it was used not because of anything to do with sound but because it was the cheapest hardwood available. But the real reason birch guitars tend to be ignored was the build. They were more often as not cheaply built with at best pretty clunky ladder bracing - certainly a far cry from the ladder bracing you found in guitars built by the "Italian Guild" in NYC.