Is the best day in the life of a Cedar top guitar.........

[OKCtodd71]

You sure he wasn't talking about human beings?

[frankmcr]

It was a beautiful happy day in Guitarland. Bluebirds were singing in the bright clear sky and bunny rabbits waltzed among the sycamores.
Cedric the Cedar-Topped Guitar looked out from his case and smiled.
"How wonderful everything is!" he exclaimed. "And I'm sure it gets even better every day!"
Little did Cedric know ...

[ChalkLitIScream]

Originally Posted by der Geist

Shouldn’t the 2017 714 be Lutz Spruce?

it's a fall limited model, so they used a unique combo of cedar and koa. Us Canadians had a long and mcquade special with maple leaf inlays. Was nice!


Op, unless the builder considers a tighter sound as better, then he's wrong.
The closest I've heard is that a cedar top sounds mature right out of the box and won't develop as much as spruce, which should sound "the worst was soon as its made"

[bluesfreek]

I used to have a 45 year old cedar topped Yamaki dread. I was not the original owner so I don't know what it sounded like new. It belonged to the bass player of a band I fronted for 5 years. He gave it to me when he bought a new acoustic guitar.

It was a beater. The lifting bridge was basically repaired with two bolts through the bridge and body. The top was bellying. The plastic nut was crumbing but worked. It had an "adjustable" saddle that could be raised or lowered via two adjustment screws. Oddly enough there wasn't a crack anywhere on the guitar. The cedar top was dark with age.

I strung it up with extra light strings, adjusted the saddle height, truss rod and tuned it up. It was one of the best sounding guitars I ever owned. Even with old uneven frets it wasn't bad. Sadly it was stolen during a break in to a place I was living in a few months back.

Anyhow YMMV...

[fazool]

I've played cedar topped acoustics as my primary wood choice for 35+ years. I have a cedar topped dread that is 37 years old.

I've had my purchased new cedar topped GC7 for 7 years. It has gotten better and better.


I've never heard this.

Regardless if it is a wonderful and well-respected luthier, they could be mistaken.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Imbler

As a builder, I can state as a fact that guitars open up with time. It is extremely obvious from when first strung up.

Now people can debate about -how long- guitars continue to open up.

Anyway, the only reason a cedar would sound best the day it was strung up is if it were so lightly built that the opening up process took it past its peak. And that could happen exactly the same for a spruce guitar.

So I don't believe this would be true only of cedar guitars. And IMHO, any guitar that sounds its best the day it is strung up won't survive long in the world as it is structurally insufficient.

This could be the context of the builder I spoke with, it could be that the lightness of his specific building technique rules out cedar due to structural issues that obviously would affect long term tone also.

[Pitar]

Cedar requires two things -

1. Good control of RH. It's a very sensitive wood and once you learn to listen for it you will hear the inverse relationship between RH and sound. Think talking under water.
2. New strings routinely changed at 2 weeks, 3 tops. Lose the trebles and lose much of the color cedar brings.

[Moocheng]

its something I've heard from time to time from classical players. There are some folks who believe cedar tops can be "played out" on older / vintage instruments, carn't say its something I've ever experienced.

If there is some truth in it, its probably more down to the lightness of build used in classical guitars rather than a cedar top. Cedar just adds to their propensity for something to "give " over time

[VJP5]

I have a Taylor Custom GA (cedar/EIR) and believe it sounds better than it did when I bought it new 5 yrs ago. Is part of it me....sure. But I notice zero decay in quality of sound.

[Steadfastly]

In a word, no.

[Oldguy64]

I’ve been chasing a cedar topped guitar for years. Eventually, I’ll find mine.
But in my copious research and playing of cedar guitars, the general concensus is that Cedar breaks in faster, but “wears out” sooner.
So, while a spruce guitar has a lifespan of about 120 years, it’s possible to “wear out” a cedar topped guitar in about half that time. Being as I’m likely to be “worn out” in a lot less time than that 60 or so years...I’ll chance it.

Also cedar is a softer wood, so it will not be as durable or sweet sounding under the playing of a heavy handed player.
But imho, cedar is the perfect choice for a light touch player that sings in the lower register.

[westman]

Bob, guy at the top of his game played this cedar topped guitar for 40 yrs, by choice. What would u'r 'source' say bout dat.
when someone ‘in business’ makes a claim - I tend to think, why am I being told this.
I’ll leave u to consider the possibilities.
Suffice to say I have a decades cedar topped guitar which sounds better than it ever did, It was made by someone who has the reputation of being able to ‘work’ cedar.

[roylor4]

I bought my wife a Seagull Grand with a Cedar top a couple of years ago. It has gotten warmer and woodier and sounded good to start with. IMO, It's tone has
improved and it has gotten louder as well.

[varmonter]

My thoughts on this would be that cedar when
new still has a lot of oil in it as compared to spruce.
And that over time it will lose this oil to outgassing.
Whether this is good or bad i don't know. I just know
cedars oil content is higher. Why it was used to prevent
clothing destruction by moths.i had a 514ce for twenty years
It had a cedar top. and i never noticed any degradation
over the years.

[JayBee1404]

Richard Thompson is very happy with cedar on his Signature Lowdens. If it's good enough for RT, it should be good enough for anybody.

http://www.lowdenguitars.com/guitar-spec-thompson

The Usual Disclaimers Apply...IMHO, YMMV, etc.