Quote:
Originally Posted by kydave
IMO, the people who say a D-18 is better for lead than a D-28 simply have not played enough of the right D-28's. Listen to the audio below.
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I think this is a big part of the debate here... the question isn't are some D-28s as well, if not better, suited to lead as some D-18s... certainly they are, just ask Tony Rice. I think the question is more about the average than the exceptions. It's true that some of us simply have not played "the right D-28s," but from what I've seen most of the heavy hitters that do play D-28s for most of their lead work play models/vintages far out of my (and many people's) price range (Tony obviously fits this trend, as does Bryan Sutton). In terms of fairly mainstream, post '69, fairly affordable models, you're right perhaps I haven't played enough of the "right" ones. But on average I've found, among these models, that D-18s better fit my sense of a what a lead bluegrass guitar should sound like. Doesn't mean that the sound in my head is the right one, it's just the sound in my head.
As for that recording, I wouldn't say any of the guitars sounded muddy, but neither did they sound as bright or crisp or focused as I'd prefer for lead bluegrass tone... though they all sounded quite good.
Here's another "Cherokee Shuffle" (recording not quite so good, and maybe not actually "Cherokee Shuffle," but that's what it says). In my opinion Kenny Smith (who appears to be playing some iteration of a Collings D-1) and Sutton (playing the banjo killer) have better lead tone than Grier does on what I believe is his '46 D-28... if that's his D-18 then forget I said anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvbc3frTbEo