[Farhad]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wong

Yes. I think I've decided to looks past aesthetics and take a more practical approach.

How hard is Redwood? Does it mark and scratch as easily as cedar or is it as durable as spruce. I mean in the sense of holding up to percussion on the sound board. As ideally I prefer the sound of redwood but if it isn't going to be as durable as spruce, I will go with spruce instead. Would appreciate feedback from people who have had experience with that!

Hi Marcus

The last Lowden I owned before moving on from Lowden to another builder was an O35xc (with bevel) redwood/cocobolo. Redwood is indeed more tolarable than cedar and yes I would say almost as good as spruce in terms of surface harness. The sound of redwood is also somewhere between cedar and spruce (it is almost a combo of adirondack and cedar). It certainly has much more sparkle than cedar. In my experience (with Lowden bracing), the sound can be a harsh at time. Once changing strings from Elixir to Daddario phsophor/bronz that aspect improves.

I don't know how much you are paying for your custom order but The Fellowship of Acoustics has an O-model with bevel of redwood/cocobolo for a very good price.