Tone of Maple Back & Sides (Your thoughts?) - Page 2

capefisherman · #16 08-11-2020, 04:34 AM

I am very fortunate to live very near luthier Steve Connor, recently profiled in Acoustic Guitar magazine. The nicest guy you'd ever want to meet and his work is other-worldly in terms of sound, fit and finish, use of woods and inlay and much more. Steve is widely known and respected in the world of classical guitars but he does make a steel string on occasion. I played one of his steel string models with maple back and sides at his workshop and not only was it the best sounding maple bodied guitar I've ever played or heard, it was one of the best guitars of any materials I've ever heard. Up until that point I was pretty heavily biased against maple, as every Guild or Gibson maple bodied guitar I'd every played was unremarkable, at best. Steve's changed my mind. Complex tone, excellent note separation, volume and sustain. So I guess the bottom line is that if you find the right builder, maple can be amazing.

Gene Bourque

Steel and wood · #17 08-11-2020, 04:52 AM

Maple is probably the brightest of all the tone woods and sounds great on some guitars. (One of the best looking tone woods if you ask me also).

Gibson obviously values maple, but I'm guessing you don't see it a whole lot of maple back and side guitars out there because a lot of guitar makers and manufacturers are influenced more by Martin than select Gibson models.

mercy · #18 08-11-2020, 06:10 AM

Ive played a couple of guild D's that that had big voices. Ive played a couple of hand builts that were smaller guitars and even with a cedar top werent putting out much sound, and I dont mean just volume. Id have to play a maple guitar before I bought it. I wouldnt have one built unless youve played or heard one of the builders.

stephenT · #19 08-11-2020, 12:21 PM

Lots of misconceptions about maple guitars. Folks mistaking clear and articulate for bright,..

My Waterloo WL-12 is a case in point, full bodied, balanced, great projection and clear. But not bright.

Malcolm Kindnes · #20 08-11-2020, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercy

There are some on this forum that think that all woods sound the same. I dont agree but Im not a builder, just a player.

It's not that they all sound the same necessarily, it's just that a good builder can manipulate the build to create a specific sound from most timbers. 😀

FingahPickah · #21 08-11-2020, 06:31 PM

https://www.zzounds.com/lp/taylor-ac...wers-interview

Brucebubs · #22 08-11-2020, 06:44 PM

Taylor have made some beautiful maple guitars so, as you stated in your opening post, it was strange when they started staining them.

My maple Huss & Dalton MJ custom is super responsive with a very warm tone - not bright at all.

Alan Carruth · #23 08-12-2020, 10:53 AM

stevenT wrote:
"Lots of misconceptions about maple guitars. Folks mistaking clear and articulate for bright,.."

Everybody uses tone descriptors differently, what you call 'clear' somebody else hears as 'bright'. It's not a mistake; there's no objective definition so either use of the term is as 'true' as the other.

Each piece of wood offers possibilities and sets limits in the sound that the guitar can make. Top wood matters far more than B&S wood in that respect. It's up to the maker to realize the possibilities and approach the limits. A good maker can get close to producing the sound they want with any B&S wood. Factories can't make the sorts of changes that requires, and end up with more or less the 'default' sound for the wood. That limitation is not the wood's fault.

Some time back I started on maple OM. The guitar teacher working out of the shop asked me why I was wasting my time on maple. When I got it done, that was the guitar he picked up by preference every time he came by the shop. It ended up in the hands of a friend of his, whose wife calls it the 'Blond *****': it's his 'other woman'. Both of these guys play fingerstyle.

davidbeinct · #24 08-12-2020, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Taylor have made some beautiful maple guitars so, as you stated in your opening post, it was strange when they started staining them.

My maple Huss & Dalton MJ custom is super responsive with a very warm tone - not bright at all.

Is there a drooling emoji?

FingahPickah · #25 08-12-2020, 11:12 AM

Semantics IMO can sometimes confuse.

It appears that the tone of maple is most often described as "bright"... if one interprets that as "tinny" I guess a con bias is understandable... One player's " bright" could be another player's "crisp"... IDK ...

There are countless articles supporting that we live in an age of more master guitar builders and accessible designs than ever before... as well as more diverse playing styles. I recall a time when I had never heard of back/sides made of Ebony, Blackwood, Cocobolo, Myrtlewood, Sycamore, Sassafras, Padauk ... the list goes on..

I recently played a few OM guitars made by a builder in New Hampshire - top, back and sides were ALL Sitka spruce... for fingerstyle they were "brilliant" .... (I loved them...)

stephenT · #26 08-12-2020, 11:42 AM

Never heard a maple guitar sound like a rosewood guitar so I’d have to go with my experience on this one. The top is the soundboard, the back and sides (etc) are modifiers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Carruth

stevenT wrote:
"Lots of misconceptions about maple guitars. Folks mistaking clear and articulate for bright,.."

Everybody uses tone descriptors differently, what you call 'clear' somebody else hears as 'bright'. It's not a mistake; there's no objective definition so either use of the term is as 'true' as the other.

Each piece of wood offers possibilities and sets limits in the sound that the guitar can make. Top wood matters far more than B&S wood in that respect. It's up to the maker to realize the possibilities and approach the limits. A good maker can get close to producing the sound they want with any B&S wood. Factories can't make the sorts of changes that requires, and end up with more or less the 'default' sound for the wood. That limitation is not the wood's fault.

Some time back I started on maple OM. The guitar teacher working out of the shop asked me why I was wasting my time on maple. When I got it done, that was the guitar he picked up by preference every time he came by the shop. It ended up in the hands of a friend of his, whose wife calls it the 'Blond *****': it's his 'other woman'. Both of these guys play fingerstyle.

Goodallboy · #27 08-12-2020, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Carruth

stevenT wrote:
"Lots of misconceptions about maple guitars. Folks mistaking clear and articulate for bright,.."

Everybody uses tone descriptors differently, what you call 'clear' somebody else hears as 'bright'. It's not a mistake; there's no objective definition so either use of the term is as 'true' as the other.

Each piece of wood offers possibilities and sets limits in the sound that the guitar can make. Top wood matters far more than B&S wood in that respect. It's up to the maker to realize the possibilities and approach the limits. A good maker can get close to producing the sound they want with any B&S wood. Factories can't make the sorts of changes that requires, and end up with more or less the 'default' sound for the wood. That limitation is not the wood's fault.

Some time back I started on maple OM. The guitar teacher working out of the shop asked me why I was wasting my time on maple. When I got it done, that was the guitar he picked up by preference every time he came by the shop. It ended up in the hands of a friend of his, whose wife calls it the 'Blond *****': it's his 'other woman'. Both of these guys play fingerstyle.

I always love when a builder adds to the discussion of tonewoods.

darylcrisp · #28 08-12-2020, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

I picked up my 2005 Gibson Dove, maple back and sides at a pawnshop last year - someone wrote on the top - don't care, sounds great - clear and bright but very full.

Here is a Soundcloud track I did with a little fingerpicked medley, capo 3:

https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/madworld-777

BluesKing777.

nice guitar and very nice soundclip.
what did they write on the top of this beautiful Gibson?

d

darylcrisp · #29 08-12-2020, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Taylor have made some beautiful maple guitars so, as you stated in your opening post, it was strange when they started staining them.

My maple Huss & Dalton MJ custom is super responsive with a very warm tone - not bright at all.

that is gorgeous!
d

just born a year ago, your guitars nephew

Dryfly · #30 08-12-2020, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capefisherman

I am very fortunate to live very near luthier Steve Connor, recently profiled in Acoustic Guitar magazine. The nicest guy you'd ever want to meet and his work is other-worldly in terms of sound, fit and finish, use of woods and inlay and much more. Steve is widely known and respected in the world of classical guitars but he does make a steel string on occasion. I played one of his steel string models with maple back and sides at his workshop and not only was it the best sounding maple bodied guitar I've ever played or heard, it was one of the best guitars of any materials I've ever heard. Up until that point I was pretty heavily biased against maple, as every Guild or Gibson maple bodied guitar I'd every played was unremarkable, at best. Steve's changed my mind. Complex tone, excellent note separation, volume and sustain. So I guess the bottom line is that if you find the right builder, maple can be amazing.

Gene Bourque

Sort of like Mary Chapin Carpenter has.