Mahogany vs Rosewood

[geordie]

Originally Posted by acoustica911

HHP,
I couldn't make up mind as far as the tonal differences go. I could tell straight away that the dread was more playable than the jumbo.

The differences between the sound of the Dread vs Jumbo models is confusing you. You may find there's very little difference if you tried two of the same models in different woods

[acoustica911]

Originally Posted by GuitarLight

Remember that they are 100% all solid woods...this means they MUST, like all good guitars, be kept in a good case, reasonably humidified or damage can occur. 45% to 55% is fine for them. All my guitars are kept to tighter specs of 47% to 50%, in cases, and in a room with humidification control.

GuitarLight, thanks for that. I had not considered the effects of humidity and temperature...which is probably I have ended up with a bridge which is peeling off ...but my current guitar is a laminate wood inexpensive guitar....I understand that the affects of humidity and temp are much greater on all solid construction...thanks for the heads up...love this site!!

[acoustica911]

Originally Posted by Augustwest2012

Sounds to me like you've found your answer! Don't fight it, trust your instincts! You might eventually add a RW guitar to your collection, but for now I would take playability vs. tone (considering you can't discern between the two in question enough to decide).

Thanks Augustwest2012, I really wanted to pick the RW, but to my surprise I found mahogany equally good...they are both beautiful

[acoustica911]

Originally Posted by grachi

i like mahogany in general, but I typically like mahogany on bigger guitars like dreads or jumbos and rosewood for smaller guitars, because it "adds" to the areas they are lacking in. For example, dreads already have good bass and volume... so they need help in the mids and highs, which mahogany is good for. Smaller guitars are already well-balanced, so rosewood can help give them some extra "growl" and bass.

Just my opinion!

Hi grachi, that makes perfect sense...Mahogany to compliment jumbos and dreads and RW for smaller sizes...000 and lower? yes, I found RW jumbo did get real bassy and loud without a lot of effort....but still there was this well rounded tone to it that I loved...here we go again

[acoustica911]

thanks tseliot

[acoustica911]

Originally Posted by geordie

The differences between the sound of the Dread vs Jumbo models is confusing you. You may find there's very little difference if you tried two of the same models in different woods

that's probably true too geordie...I was thinking of trying RW on dread (Masterbilt 500 R), but it isn't available at my local shop. But based on the discussions so far and the fact that I like the mahogany on dread, I think I need look no further
but speaking of other options I was actively looking for a Seagull S6 original (dread Solid Cedar top and laminate wild cherry sides & back)...haven't been able to get my hands on one yet....but that's when I came across the Masterbilt series and was immediately smitten. I don't think the Seagull S6 original will be able to match the all solid wood combo that Masterbilt offers...but its probably worth a try