#1
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What can I expect from Englemann over solid Ovangol?
Well that's about it. I've never played any guitar with Ovangol and I think I may have played a Yamaha once that had a solid Englemann top but I don't remember really.
All I've played are solid Sitka Spruce as far as I know, definitely no Ady tops. I've also played solid cedar and mahogany but that's about it. As for back and sides, just the usual suspects in both solid and laminated versions ... rosewood, mahogany, maple, sapele. I don't know of a lot of mainstream guitars with a solid Englemann top paired with solid Ovangol back and sides and I can't find any video reviews or anything. So I'd like to get an idea, however vague as it may be, of what type of sound this pairing would give me. Thanks.
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Martin X1-DE Epiphone AJ500MNS Alvarez AD30 Alvarez AD710 Alvarez RD20S Esteban American Legacy Rogue mandolin |
#2
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I had a 12-string made of ovangkol. It sounded a lot like rosewood. The experts say that ovangkol has more midrange than rosewood but I couldn't hear it in my guitar. I can't tell you anything about the combination of Ovangkol and Englemann.
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#3
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That's what I read about Ovangkol, too. I've also read that Englemann is sort of like Sitka Spruce but tends to break if you play hard (I don't) and is ideally suited for fingerstyle players (which I'm not) so I woner how that would sound and especially how ... or if ... the two woods would complement each other.
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Martin X1-DE Epiphone AJ500MNS Alvarez AD30 Alvarez AD710 Alvarez RD20S Esteban American Legacy Rogue mandolin |
#4
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I really think any answer to your question would be pure speculation. It's like asking what you can expect of sitka over solid rosewood. How many millions of guitars consist of that combination, and what is their commonality in terms of sound?
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#5
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Quote:
But mainly I'm still trying to find out how well Englemann may pair with Ovangol because I don't know, as I said, of all that many guitars with that pairing.
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Martin X1-DE Epiphone AJ500MNS Alvarez AD30 Alvarez AD710 Alvarez RD20S Esteban American Legacy Rogue mandolin |
#6
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A thought
Well, 'in broad terms' it's gonna sound more like a guitar than a banjo. And it's also going to sound like itself. There's virtually no predicting acoustics by reading specifications.
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#7
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It's impossible to answer that with any kind of accuracy, because so many other things affect a guitar's tone and responsiveness, and wood itself is so variable. Consider the difference in tone between a vintage Gibson LG-1 and a vintage Martin 000-18, both spruce/hog and similar size, but vastly different sonic profiles. A much more useful question is, what are the differences in how they're built.
Anyway, here's my mostly useless answer: on average, engelmann is a bit lighter and more responsive than sitka, and ovangkol is on average a bit lighter and brighter than rosewood. So theoretically, combining them might give you a nice responsive guitar with good mid-range, built for a light touch. Or something entirely different, depending on how it was built. |
#8
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I use Engelmann for soundboards more than any other tonewood. What I would say is that it has more variation than any other tonewood. Some pieces are ultra light weight, paper white and very similar to Euro spruce, and some pieces are denser, have color, and may remind you of Sitka or adi. I build a wide range of instruments and select accordingly.
What kind of guitar are you making with it and how do you want to play it? As with any material, what comes out of it depends on who is doing the building. Ovangkol (shedua) is related to bubinga and would have similar good characteristics for the back and sides. Depending on the way the wood is chosen and the way the guitar is built the guitar could be just what you want or not at all what you want, just as is the case with most woods. |
#9
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I have a Sitka/ ovangkol and a Sitka/ rosewood.
I had just decided that l liked the rosewood better when I tried a set of Santa Cruz parabolic strings on the ovangkol and it is really a special sound . All that to say that I have 1/10 the guitar knowledge of these other guys, but I know enough to say that they are right...every guitar is different and the only way you know what You like is to play it. I was convinced that I wanted a Taylor 327. Loved the picture on back of WOOD AND STEEL. YouTube sounded great. When I finally got to the big city to try one it was great, but not for me[emoji848] So now I think I want a slope dread with cedar over mahogany with soundport holes. I am committed that if and when I commission Such a guitar it Will be a crap shoot. “You pays your money, you takes your chances “[emoji848][emoji15] |
#10
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Quote:
With some builders/companies, you wonder why they bother to use different tonewoods, since they'll probably sound pretty much the same. |
#11
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I agree, very wise advice.
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#12
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It's going to totally depend on the builder. A master boutique builder could produce a stellar guitar with that combination, but it would likely be a smaller body finger style instrument. Englemann is generally going to be softer and less stiff and would be graduated and braced accordingly. I don't believe you'll find any commercially produced guitars with that combination.
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#13
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Broadly, it will fall into the spruce/rosewood family. You can try to make further generalizations, but variation within a species can easily overwhelm any differences between species. At that point it's really down to the individual pieces of wood and what the builder chose to do with them.
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#14
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a thought
Why some manufacturers use different tonewoods? Please show me the way to the bottom line. These manufacturers aren't in the business of making guitars, they're in the business of making money.
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#15
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My Breedlove Atlas C250 is Engelmann solid top and Ovangkol back and sides, but they, unlike the top, are laminate. The tone of the guitar is somewhere in between bright and balanced but fairly bright. It's a concert body cutaway, for what it's worth.
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2021 Taylor GS Mini Spruce/Rosewood 2017 Martin OMCPA4 2007 Breedlove Atlas C250/EO |