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[Guest 4711]

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[hotroad]

I have a redwood/koa Lowden and its by far the best tone over any guitar I have ever played and thats pretty much all of them. Fingerstyle is this guitars forte and whether your pick softly or loudly, fast or slow, up the neck or down, this redwood is right there picking up all the nuances. Highly recommended but probably only in a very good guitar or it might go to waste in terms of tone. Not sure about that. I am very happy I chose redwood and would do so again in heartbeat.

[FOG01]

I've never had the pleasure of playing a Redwood topped guitar, but I had a Euro spruce topped Taylor (flamed mahogany back/sides). Very woody, beautiful sound really but clearly less bright and not the overtones as in a Sitka or Lutz/Rosewood combo to my ear.

[AZLiberty]

European tends to sound very direct and percussive, somewhat like Adirondack.

It's about the last top would I would pick for a guitar that was going to be played mostly with bare fingers. If I were ordering a spruce top I'd order Engelmann.

[gitarro]

We are told that woods tend to vary a lot in density and stiffness and so generalities dont tend to hold true. Hence a good example of englemann spruce may well be stiffer than a poorer example of euro spruce.

But the considerably bigger decider is the skill and experience of the luthier who made it.

For instance i have never found any guitar that is better than my somogyi guitar for fingerstyle ans it is made of euro spruce. Is it the wood or is it more importantly the decades of experience and learning of its maker?

[BrunoBlack]

I’ve owned 00 and OM Bourgeois Guitars made with Redwood and Euro and think they are both great, but I thought the Redwood was exceptional for fingerstyle. I only sold mine because I had too much overlap in my collection. At times, I still think about the one that got away.

[Dustinfurlow]

A buddy of mine has a redwood/walnut Bourgeois OMC that he loves for DADGAD fingerstyle stuff. As a primarily fingerstyle-player I absolutely love Euro topped guitars, think they give the trebles a nice bell-like quality pretty consistently over Sitka, without sacrificing headroom like cedar or Englemann. Just my experience. Never played a redwood guitar but I’m sure I’ll be smitten when I do! Either will be great!

[jseth]

Either top wood will yield a wonderful sounding instrument...

However, just the fact that you're asking a bunch of people whom you do not know, "Which will be better?" leaves me thinking that YOU need to do more research and hands-on sampling of both top woods, ESPECIALLY the redwood. Otherwise, it's going to be pretty much a crap-shoot...

I happen to own two 6 string acoustic guitars, both handmade; one, my Mark Angus #35, is German (Black Forest!) spruce and maple(1979); the other, a Goodall Grand Concert with Mastergrade redwood over mahogany(2011)...

While I love both guitars, they do not sound anything alike, not even with the same player, same styles, same songs! I play with a flatpick between thumb and index finger, using short nails and flesh for fingerpicking/fingerstyle.

The Angus is slower to respond than the Goodall... which may due to the redwood, but most certainly, to James Goodall's building techniques. You simply cannot undervalue the builder in any handmade guitar (or factory build); the guy (or gal) who built it has FAR MORE impact on the final sound than any glamorous wood choices...

Are you familiar with Dana's work? Are you going to have them build this for you, or are you going to shop for one that's used? The first question to answer is, "Do you LOVE the way Bourgeois guitars sound?". Until you can answer that question, it's pointless to discuss the impact of various woods, in my opinion.

And, yes; redwood seems to produce the FASTEST response to striking a note than any other wood I've come across in my 58 years of experience with acoustic playing. It can also produce very rich, fat tones (like my Goodall does), yet I've played some redwood topped guitars that have a more pronounced high-end than mine.

Not all builders seem to be able to get the best out of redwood, and I don't know why that is... the R Taylors and Breedloves I have played with redwood tops have not been anything to write home about; in fairness, the R Taylors were sinker redwood (which can vary dramatically in tone from piece to piece.)... but none of them seemed to have any volume, nothing close to what my little Goodall has. The tones have been lovely on the Breedlove Master Class guitars I've played, but th voice seems far too small for me to even consider spending the money on (not that I'm looking!).

I think the Euro spruce would be the most versatile, covering the most musical bases, but of all the Goodalls I played before ordering mine (nearly 70!), the redwood top on my Grand Concert produces (by far!) the fastest response to a note played... Port Orford cedar was second fastest, and an absolutely BRILLIANT top wood.

There's my 2.8 cents on the subject... hope it helps!

[rokdog49]

Unless I am totally wrong, both of these woods are associated with a more "defined" and direct tonal response than Englemann or Sitka. As others have said, a lot is in the build itself and of course, the back and side wood.
My association is limited to Adirondack which is I am told, simply a "name" for a type of redwood. It does seem to offer more headroom.

[rogthefrog]

Redwood and spruce will give you very different sounding instruments. Redwood is closer to cedar than to spruce. It will give you a rounder tone.

I have a redwood top guitar and a euro spruce guitar. They're both lovely, and with a good builder you can't go wrong with either top wood. But they're really not the same.

[fnesnor]

Originally Posted by gitarro

...But the considerably bigger decider is the skill and experience of the luthier who made it...

I would tend to agree with this perspective.

[pandaroo]

Last year I commissioned a build with redwood top and koa back and sides. It was my first time playing and owning a redwood top guitar. I also researched and there was a considerable generalisation that the character of this top wood being sounding closer to cedar, warmer than spruce etc. to be true. I got myself a truly sensational sounding guitar.

However, did it turned out to be my favourite topwood for fingerstyle play as I hoped it would be? The answer - NO. I surprised myself to learn that I kept returning to the tried and true boring good ol' sitka.

This goes to show everyone is different and any topwood can be good for fingerstyle.

To answer your question directly, my redwood guitar is warmer and mellower sounding than my Swiss spruce guitar. I find my swiss spruce guitar is snappier and has clearer bass registers.

[Alan Carruth]

In terms of the properties of the wood, redwood has a lot in common with both spruce and cedar. The redwood I've used has all been denser than the general run of cedar, and more in line with Sitka or Red spruce on average. This gives it higher stiffness along the grain than cedar usually has, and a harder surface that doesn't ding as easily. On the other hand, redwood shares with cedar a much lower damping factor than spruce; when tapped it can ring forever. Sadly, it also shares a propensity to splitting, although that's not much of a problem on the assembled guitar, and is no worse in any case than the 'Torrified' spruce I've seen.

In my experience, redwood tends to impart much of the 'warmth' of cedar, but also adds 'headroom' that cedar tends to lack due to it's low density. Of course, a lot will depend on who's using it, and the decisions they make.

Finally, keep in mind that there's a lot of variation within any wood species. I've seen redwood that had the tap tone of cardboard, and was nearly as floppy. I'd trust that Dana would no more work with wood like that than I would.

[SuperB23]

Redwood has a lot of warmth and darkness to the color of the notes, very rich and kind of somber. Redwood is a bit closer to Cedar than it is to any spruce in tone overall. European Spruce has a bit more crispness to the notes, its closer to Red Spruce in some ways if you've experienced that. I find that European Spruce works better for fast songs and Redwood works better for slower songs where you want to hear the thickness of a note lay there for a bit.

A great builder can make either sound awesome!! Its hard to go wrong with either choice. I've found both have good headroom but the Redwood maybe has just a slight bit less than Euro Spruce.

Often times builders cut Redwood a bit thicker than any spruce due to the softness of the wood so it can make for a slightly heavier instrument as well.