Do you think European Spruce has an Empathetic Quality to its Sound?

[mmasters]

Curious what forum members think...I vote yes.

[Gordon Currie]

Can you describe an 'empathetic sound'?

[brencat]

I hear brightness and a slight metallic reverb, having once owned a SCGC German/EIR OM, and played Collings and Goodalls with it. Would like to hear a fully broken in German, Italian, or Moon spruce top from one of the boutiques. Not sure if anything I just described qualifies as an “empathetic” tone.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

Can you describe an 'empathetic sound'?

I think it means the European Spruce can understand what it would be like if it were Sitka.

[Kerbie]

Originally Posted by mc1

I think it means the European Spruce can understand what it would be like if it were Sitka.

Of course, that's it.

I don't know what empathy sounds like, but I love European Spruce or German Spruce. I think it has nearly the headroom of Adi, but I don't have to wait 7 years. It has a very clear, sweet, lovely sound that is more enjoyable and lyrical than Sitka.

[jaymarsch]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

Of course, that's it.



I don't know what empathy sounds like, but I love European Spruce or German Spruce. I think it has nearly the headroom of Adi, but I don't have to wait 7 years. It has a very clear, sweet, lovely sound that is more enjoyable and lyrical than Sitka.

Well described, Kerbie. I have both German/mahogany and German/rosewood guitars and both are clear and warm.
Best,
Jayne

[mmasters]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

Can you describe an 'empathetic sound'?

Yes, at least with me, while listening to it, it feels like my heart is opening up.

[islandguitar]

My Bamburg FSC has a Carpathian Spruce top which I would describe as having "empathetic sparkle".

[Tico]

I find European Spruce to be texturally silken.

It is supremely elegant as it transparently and kaleidoscopically combines moss, wet stone, gentian, coriander, pepper, and piquant while rich tobacco oils and a decomposing clam broth and asphalt savor milks the salivary glands and seduces the sinuses with winnowing wafts of aardvark hormones.

But besides this impressive array of non-fruity components, European Spruce offers surging waves of white peach, scarlet lipstick, and lemon that hemorrhages primitive disturbing yet enticing juiciness and excretes a substantial animating twang.
This renders a luxurious turpentine finish that's as invigorating and refreshing as it is vibrant, mouthwatering yet psychologically misleading.

[semolinapilcher]

By this measure, a mahogany top would come across as slightly more on the transactional side.

[Rinaz]

Originally Posted by semolinapilcher

By this measure, a mahogany top would come across as slightly more on the transactional side.

I have an Engelmann one and I prefer it over sitka... idk what empathetic sound quality means...

[jweave69]

Originally Posted by mmasters

Yes, at least with me, while listening to it, it feels like my heart is opening up.

I'm just trying to figure out if you're joking or serious...

[Wade Hampton]

First, island guitar wrote:

Originally Posted by islandguitar

My Bamburg FSC has a Carpathian Spruce top which I would describe as having "empathetic sparkle".

I have one guitar with a Carpathian spruce top, and since the Carpathian Mountains were the home of Vlad The Impaler, the real life Dracula, the guitar also has some nasty habits, like only coming out at night, shunning crucifixes, and leaving little puncture wounds in the necks of all my other guitars....

Vlad The Impaler



Bran Castle



Count Dracula, the fictional version of Vlad Tepes

Then Tico went above and beyond in his detailed description of European spruce:

Originally Posted by Tico

I find European Spruce to be texturally silken.
It is supremely elegant as it transparently and kaleidoscopically combines moss, wet stone, gentian, coriander, pepper, piquant yet rich tobacco oils and a decomposing clam broth and asphalt savor, which milks the salivary glands and seduces the sinuses with winnowing wafts of hormonal aardvarks.

But besides this impressive array of non-fruity components, European Spruce offers surging waves of white peach, scarlet lipstick, and lemon that delivers a hemorrhaging primary juiciness and animating twang, rendering its turpentine finish as invigorating and refreshing as it is vibrant, mouthwatering and psychologically misleading.

I can't top that, so I won't even try!

Seriously, though, I don't truly understand the question of whether European spruce is more "empathetic" than any other spruce. But I know it makes good guitars, because I own two instruments with European spruce tops - the Howard Klepper KJ that has the Carpathian spruce top that I mentioned above, and the Martin Custom Shop 12 fret 00-21 that I ordered with a Swiss spruce top. Which is also European spruce.

Both are terrific sounding guitars. Honestly, that's all I really care about.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Th'Axe]

......just can't quite figure if the gentleman is a wine connoisieur ? or just stands around art galleries impressing the tourists? Got my chuckle for the night. THANKS!

[mc1]

Originally Posted by Th'Axe

......just can't quite figure if the gentleman is a wine connoisieur ? or just stands around art galleries impressing the tourists? Got my chuckle for the night. THANKS!

Tico opened my mind and warmed my heart a little. His comment was empathetic, sympathetic, unapologetic, and poetic.