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  #1  
Old 03-27-2010, 07:54 PM
TaylorGA8 TaylorGA8 is offline
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Default Spruce VS Cedar top

In less expensive classical guitars which do you prefer?
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Old 03-27-2010, 08:14 PM
Hack Amatuer Hack Amatuer is offline
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All mine's been spruce but I really like my cedar topped steel stringer and I believe I might enjoy a cedar top nyloner too.
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Old 03-27-2010, 08:15 PM
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My Laskin is cedar top; my DeJone is German spruce. I find the cedar imparts an added 'warmth' across all registers, where the spruce adds a crispness in the higher register. I tend to play jazzy stylings on the spruce, but old timey classical music on the cedar. Just personal preference though, not rocket science.
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Old 03-27-2010, 10:00 PM
Kabalan Kabalan is offline
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i have both:
i prefer cedar, warm. dark tone,complex overtones, more easy for a good
nails sound.
spruce: nice clear overtones.
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Old 03-27-2010, 11:30 PM
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min7b5 min7b5 is offline
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All things being equal, I probably prefer cedar most for the time. That slightly darker more open sound is just what I think of for classical guitar. Heard a lot of Christopher Parkening growing up...
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Old 03-28-2010, 07:04 AM
Herb Hunter Herb Hunter is offline
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My classical guitar has a German spruce top and if I were ordering a guitar I'd probably specify spruce but I've heard spruce topped guitars that didn't sound good and cedar topped ones that were great. In the end, I don't really care what species of wood were used for a guitar. What matters to me is the resulting tone. If I were buying a less expensive guitar, I'd simply pick out one that sounded good and ignore the type of wood used.
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Old 03-28-2010, 07:57 AM
jayhawk jayhawk is offline
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Mine has an Englemann Spruce top which as species goes is probably about as close to cedar as you can get in spruce. I like the sound of it a lot. A little sharper than a cedar but still warm.

Jack
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Old 03-28-2010, 12:47 PM
Play2PraiseHim Play2PraiseHim is offline
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My first choice is always cedar. But if I had to go with a spruce, it would defintley be englemann. It is the warmest of all the spruces. I prefer a fat warm tone. I do like englemann paired with maple. It really depends on what wood you are pairing with the top. I like cedar paired with the rosewoods, mahogany, walnut & cherry. Engleman spruce also goes great with the rosewoods.
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Old 03-28-2010, 02:42 PM
Andromeda Andromeda is offline
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I love cedar topped guitars whether steel or nylon stringed guitars.
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Old 03-28-2010, 03:07 PM
dreamincolor dreamincolor is offline
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It greatly depends on the builder and design of the guitar, but in general terms I'd say cedar tends to be warmer and darker, while spruce has more a more projective tone and perhaps a greater dynamic range.

My Takamine Hirade is cedar/rosewood - my Peter Tsiorba is engelmann/rosewood. I love them both, but the engelmann definitely has more "power" in this case.
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Old 03-29-2010, 05:58 AM
guto guto is offline
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In less expensive guitars, I think cedar is easier to get a good sound. Spruce is less forgiving.
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  #12  
Old 03-29-2010, 06:01 AM
Whosyerbob Whosyerbob is offline
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When I first began to play, I thought I liked spruce tops with steel-strings. However, something clicked for me the very first time I held a nylon-string with a cedar top, so that's what I use now.
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