To a large degree, its the bracing, but birch is a hardwood with different characteristics than spruce or cedar. I have a 40 year old solid birch OM that was converted from ladder to X bracing. Flatpicked it sounds very very good: clear ringing notes with no muddiness in the bass, just a sweet sound on full chords or single notes. fingerpicked it takes a heavier attack than my spruce and cedar topped guitars to get the same volume. When this guitar was ladder braced, I still liked it, but it was more one dimensional.
X braced, it has what I call a plain vanilla tone, nice, woody and rich, but not full of nuanced overtones.
The ladder braced birch sound is great for old time blues and slide work. You recognize that sound when you hear it.
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