Which top tonewood likely have the chance to sound 'decent' if not optimally built?

[PTL]

NOTE: IN the header, I had originally written 'poorly built'. I changed it to 'not optimally built'. I made no changes to the paragraph below.


Curious about opinions.

I've long thought that some top tonewood are likely to sound halfway decent even if not optimally built. I tent to think of the softer faster 'breaking in' woods such as Cedar to have the chance to sound decent even on poorly built tonewoods. In contrast, tonewood that are harder such as Red Spruce has the chance of sounding poorer if built poorly.

Or perhaps not difference?

Any thoughts?

[Bax Burgess]

If the bracing stinks, all bets are off.

[1neeto]

My opinion? Why bother building something poorly?

[lowrider]

A poorly built guitar will always sound poor. And it probably won't last very long.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by PTL

Curious about opinions.

I've long thought that some top tonewood are likely to sound halfway decent even if not optimally built. I tent to think of the softer faster 'breaking in' woods such as Cedar to have the chance to sound decent even on poorly built tonewoods. In contrast, tonewood that are harder such as Red Spruce has the chance of sounding poorer if built poorly.

Or perhaps not difference?

Any thoughts?

I think your time will be much better spent NOT thinking about that scenario.

How about using the very low quality 'tone woods' and still being able to make a very good sounding instrument from them?

Huh?? How's that possibility strike you??

Here's the story about Bob Taylor's decision to make a guitar from oak pallet wood (nail holes included) and a pine stud sliced to make a 6 piece top. I played the original when he toured with it in 1995. It sounded like a well made jumbo guitar.

http://www.guitaradventures.com/tayl...t-guitar-story

Howard Emerson

[Silurian]

Tonewoods are just wood, not the philosopher's stone. They won't turn lead into gold.

[Arthur Slowhand]

Why are you even thinking about poorly built guitars? Or poorly built anything. The world is full of well made stuff, just enjoy it.

[The Bard Rocks]

I understand (I think) the kind of answer you look for. It's a hard question to word: will the right wood help make up for imperfect building? I would ask it if I were planning to build my first guitar.

Note to others: in the post (not the title) he didn't use the words "poorly built", but was asking about less than optimal.

[hat]

I would go with Sitka - strong, but not overly stiff like Adi, not too soft like Cedar. It can compensate for a lot of misgivings and still provide.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Integrity is the source of tone in a guitar. It starts with choosing well cut and properly dried materials, and ends with the players hands. In between is the perfection of the joinery and the condition of the strings, among many other things. The idea of solving this equation by using a magic top is fantasy.

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

I think your time will be much better spent NOT thinking about that scenario.

How about using the very low quality 'tone woods' and still being able to make a very good sounding instrument from them?

Huh?? How's that possibility strike you??

Here's the story about Bob Taylor's decision to make a guitar from oak pallet wood (nail holes included) and a pine stud sliced to make a 6 piece top. I played the original when he toured with it in 1995. It sounded like a well made jumbo guitar.

http://www.guitaradventures.com/tayl...t-guitar-story

Howard Emerson

you could easily do that with pallet wood from where I work.
the front board on this one was just under 20" wide.



we get them like that every now and then. once the pallets get twisted up a little bit, they get dumped into a trash hopper. such a waste of good oak wood.

[RP]

Isn't another way of phrasing the OP, "What top wood does the worst job of accentuating guitar tone?"

[Alan Carruth]

Yup; the ultimate extension of the 'magic wood' fallacy.

[stringjunky]

I think good sound probably comes from knowing what you are working with; experience through failure can't be avoided.

[Kitkatjoe]

Originally Posted by PTL

Curious about opinions.

I've long thought that some top tonewood are likely to sound halfway decent even if not optimally built. I tent to think of the softer faster 'breaking in' woods such as Cedar to have the chance to sound decent even on poorly built tonewoods. In contrast, tonewood that are harder such as Red Spruce has the chance of sounding poorer if built poorly.

Or perhaps not difference?

Any thoughts?

The Rogue 090 dreadnought guitar is laminated white wood. If you think about the wood it sounds like it would sound horrible.😅 When you play the guitar it sounds really good. After examining the guitar,it is apparent the makers of the guitar are good craftsmen. The white wood that is laminated for the body of the guitar is the weakest link in the process.