madagascar rosewood grain/figure.. nice or nah?

[slianto]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Ramon

" Rose " is 15 years old now and as sweet if not sweeter as age does her good .

That is a wild one you posted , I like it . These two things to you personally matter if you're thinking on getting it :

• How Well It Plays
• How Well It Sounds

That's what made the difference ( besides the price - there was an exact model in mahogany for $499.00 ) , it's sound captivated my wife and she said " get that one " . That's when the haggling began heh heh heh .

I searched a while till this one came into my hands as I auditioned Gibson Jumbo - Martin D28 Dreadnought- Takamine Dreadnought - Gull and others over a weekend search . I had a $600.00 budget - you know those other guitars I just mentioned are much more expensive .

The Washburn was $799.00 - I haggled the guitar for $600.HSC & Tax included

EZ :

HR

that's nice! Rose is sweet! and not gold digger!

Originally Posted by Haasome

You asked.... the OP would not be my choice. But it sounds like you got a guitar that will make you happy at a great price. Good for you. Enjoy.

Excellent illustrations Charles.

Here is a 2-piece Madi I took home.

that's a nice straight grain madi, so rare nowaday.


but same guitar model as on OP, I remember they only make this Limited Editions in 12 pcs or so.

i found other pcs that more straight grained, but this beauty grain guitar is sold in China's guitar store, too much trouble to import it, also price is higher.
not worth it, just too much for grain! lol

[slianto]

Originally Posted by pieterh

Cort are turning out some amazing models at the moment and offer a lot of guitar for the money. We recently bought an all mahogany OM with solid top and back (laminated sides) and a two piece neck (heel and neck, i.e. Headstock NOT grafted on). In the same store was a Martin OM or OOO-15 which we tried. Although the Cort wasn't quite in the same class the Martin was by no means 5 times better, even though it was 5-6 times more expensive.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i can't really compare as i don't have access to martin guitar, as it's very expensive here (high usd rate+import fee+import tax+vat+luxury tax, etc) not store have d18/28 on stock. X series maybe.

But as you said, martin priced 5-6x but it's not mean they 5-6x better. Better maybe yes, but not as much the price wise i think. Obviously martin expensive because of higher labor fee and it's big name, experience, etc.

And i must say cort give it all on this limites edition series. Flatsawn yes, but price also 830usd or so in here. So it's good deal for me.

[slianto]

Originally Posted by kydave

Dangerous question...

It is not my cup of tea aesthetics wise.

I prefer quarter sawn, either plain or with landscaping/spider veins.

Flat sawn just isn't what I'd choose for guitars.

It is very pretty wood in the abstract, just not for a guitar.

May I know...
it's all pure aesthetic side?
Or also based on tone/durability?

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by slianto

Flatsawn yes, but price also 830usd or so in here.

The last back and side set of Madagascar rosewood that I considered buying - a beautiful, quartersawn set, would have cost me $1500 USD. That's roughsawn, not joined, not thicknessed, not bent. Then it would need a top, neck, braces, truss rod, tuning machines ... and a lot of labour.

So it's good deal for me.

That is a good deal made out of any solid wood. At that price, assuming it is reasonably well made and sounds and plays well, there isn't much to discuss or debate. If it were selling for $5k or $10k, or more, then once could argue nuance.

[kydave]

Originally Posted by slianto

May I know...
it's all pure aesthetic side?
Or also based on tone/durability?

In all honesty - primarily aesthetic.

However, I did have a modern Brazilian rosewood guitar (NOT a Martin) with non-quarter sawn wood where the back started lifting with the grain along one of the slab sawn sections.

[slianto]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

The last back and side set of Madagascar rosewood that I considered buying - a beautiful, quartersawn set, would have cost me $1500 USD. That's roughsawn, not joined, not thicknessed, not bent. Then it would need a top, neck, braces, truss rod, tuning machines ... and a lot of labour.




That is a good deal made out of any solid wood. At that price, assuming it is reasonably well made and sounds and plays well, there isn't much to discuss or debate. If it were selling for $5k or $10k, or more, then once could argue nuance.

BTW, Cort make guitars for Ibanez, Schecter, Tanglewood, Fender and more other famous names than I can think of off the top of my head. So they're a big company, so with that much material demand, they can get best materials price based on quantity. too bad they treat their labors bad (on korea).

it's my 1st solid guitar, also i need to learn more... this cheap guitar is ok for a first step, then next I aim for a martin (if possible)

[slianto]

Originally Posted by kydave

In all honesty - primarily aesthetic.

However, I did have a modern Brazilian rosewood guitar (NOT a Martin) with non-quarter sawn wood where the back started lifting with the grain along one of the slab sawn sections.

ouch...that's so bad, any idea what caused that?
humidity/temp?or the wood isn't on the best condition(too young/not matured, etc) when crafted?

[kydave]

Originally Posted by slianto

ouch...that's so bad, any idea what caused that?
humidity/temp?or the wood isn't on the best condition(too young/not matured, etc) when crafted?

I would guess the latter, as I live in an area which is naturally guitar heaven as far as year round temp/humidity.

I didn't particularly care as I traded it back in for the same model of my own choosing from a selection at the distributor (Saga - It was a Blueridge BR-260), which happens to be just down the road from me.

[slianto]

I've been reading at umgf lately at the log cabin, and amazed how much folks talks about wood there. most of them prefer quartersawn ( i can understand why, especially about it's stability ).

1. but really, how much different in durability between quartersawn and flatsawn? it's not like we're gonna treat the guitar very bad.. of course we will properly taken care of it. with that in mind, could flatsawn be still "much" more prone to crack?

2. I also learn that QS can also have highly figured. i saw John Arnold's Brazilian Rosewood set QS also have highly figures. But I can't really tell if pic at OP is also like one of him? well... maybe not... it's flatsawn right?hah! (*just hoping John could chime in and clarify).

btw it's one John's BR set i talking about: *cant post the link to umgf here..*

"BR can be highly figured and still QS with straight grain. All of these examples are quartersawn, with pigment figure. "

[OMO]

Originally Posted by slianto

I posted about the solid top sitka spruce on my previous post, now i would like some thought about the back wood (madagascar rosewood).

It's flat sawn, but i heard madagascar rosewood now is rare and too small to get a quarter sawn... so mostly flat sawn.

it's not have the straight grain figure, however i think it's not bad.
what do you think?

is the madagascar rosewood's color/grain also affect the tone?also been reading that flat sawn is prone to crack/split?

gonna grab it if it's sounds good ( local store gonna ship it from supplier on another city, so i will test the sound later ).

Hmmm.... it's not the most good looking cut (and not the worst by far) but I think you know that if you have to ask. However, if is sounds angelic and it speaks to you internally.... who cares.

Personally, I love a beautiful looking guitar with a fair amount of 'bling' and beautiful tone woods. It's often a pretty price to paid to have both.

[HNS]

Originally Posted by JNowlin

I know this isn't the greatest pic, but I was not too pleased when I saw the back of my OM28 Authentic. However, the guitar sounds out of this world and that's the most important.

M D-28 A 1937 VTS is the same. Here's a pic of mine
http://s332.photobucket.com/user/nay...02069.jpg.html

Are the flat sawn back and sides more prone to cracking than quarter sawn cuts that was usually preferred by Martin in the days of old.

What's the final verdict ?

[Mr Fingers]

We're not going to know the answers to the stability and aging questions until many more decades pass. On the one hand, quartersawn wood has been the standard because of dimensional stability over time. Martin and others regularly selected straight grain, quartersawn wood for that reason, and it's a good one. Wildly figured stumpwood, other rosewoods and cosmetically similar woods, and flatsawn boards are now widely used for figure and/or availability. While from a structural standpoint, this might give rise to questions about cracking, etc., over the decades, my view is that for the major builders, and certainly the small shops, people are really tuned in to drying and handling wood in controlled and effective ways, so I would be hopeful that these new materials and non-standard cuts will be just fine 50 years from now. Fingers crossed...

[HNS]

Thank you ! Fingers crossed !

[Hurricane Ramon]

Originally Posted by slianto

that's nice! Rose is sweet! and not gold digger!
.

Thanks for the compliment , she gets a lot of those .

It is a fast playing guitar too as far as how I was able to set up the action . I made a bone saddle , that perked her up and then I installed a JLD Bridge Dr. inside her .

The results were astonishing - more sparkle and more bass and , more over all clear clean volume as well .

Fastens to the [ D ] brass pin :



Then a dowel runs through the block under the saddle and butts up against the bottom brace brace .




There is a lot of folks that like the Bridge DR. and many who don't .

They are tops in my case . Seems those who don't like them have heavy bracing in their guitar , mine has light bracing and the Bridge Dr. improved the sound over all in my particular case YMMV though .

EZ :

HR

[slianto]

Originally Posted by HNS

M D-28 A 1937 VTS is the same. Here's a pic of mine
http://s332.photobucket.com/user/nay...02069.jpg.html

Are the flat sawn back and sides more prone to cracking than quarter sawn cuts that was usually preferred by Martin in the days of old.

What's the final verdict ?

that's a nice figure, cool!

Originally Posted by Mr Fingers

We're not going to know the answers to the stability and aging questions until many more decades pass. On the one hand, quartersawn wood has been the standard because of dimensional stability over time. Martin and others regularly selected straight grain, quartersawn wood for that reason, and it's a good one. Wildly figured stumpwood, other rosewoods and cosmetically similar woods, and flatsawn boards are now widely used for figure and/or availability. While from a structural standpoint, this might give rise to questions about cracking, etc., over the decades, my view is that for the major builders, and certainly the small shops, people are really tuned in to drying and handling wood in controlled and effective ways, so I would be hopeful that these new materials and non-standard cuts will be just fine 50 years from now. Fingers crossed...

just wondering how much the different of different of that stability, i also heard many ppl have slab sawn that can survive 20,30,50years without cracking.

Now martin also using slab sawn on their madagascar.
Maybe if it well dried and processed should be minimize the problem. maybe still below the stability of quarter sawn, just by a small margin maybe..