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#1
05-09-2014, 02:34 PM
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Why doesn't anybody build guitars with birch anymore?
Like the title says- why?
Im dying to hear a birch guitar. It looks like I have to buy one if I want to hear it in person, and that made me wonder- why don't I see any new birch guitars?
__________________
00-15 National Tricone Beard Model R A few Telecasters 
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#2
05-09-2014, 02:37 PM
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Well, they work but they're kind of "colorless" sounding, without a lot of distinctive tone. Very neutral-sounding, you might say.
whm
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#4
05-09-2014, 02:48 PM
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It doesn't compare well against the more common tonewoods of today but birch, old and seasoned, has a personality of it's own.
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VintageParlorGuitars.com Fresh inventory just added, click link at left to view
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#5
05-09-2014, 02:57 PM
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I would assume one reason you don't see much birch in guitars is that it's pretty rare to find big Birch trees. Beech--beeches are common, they grow huge, the wood is very workable. Guitar is a follow the leader thing. Everybody wants the same wood, because everybody wants the same wood
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#6
05-09-2014, 03:17 PM
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To a large degree, its the bracing, but birch is a hardwood with different characteristics than spruce or cedar. I have a 40 year old solid birch OM that was converted from ladder to X bracing. Flatpicked it sounds very very good: clear ringing notes with no muddiness in the bass, just a sweet sound on full chords or single notes. fingerpicked it takes a heavier attack than my spruce and cedar topped guitars to get the same volume. When this guitar was ladder braced, I still liked it, but it was more one dimensional.
X braced, it has what I call a plain vanilla tone, nice, woody and rich, but not full of nuanced overtones. The ladder braced birch sound is great for old time blues and slide work. You recognize that sound when you hear it.
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#7
05-09-2014, 03:23 PM
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 Actually, I played a few Maybelle's (sp?) with birch backs and sides that sounded bright, which I like.
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http://chucksmusicpage.blogspot.com/
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#8
05-09-2014, 03:29 PM
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Tons of famous guys played them if you think about the Stella and Regal guitars as well as Gibson A and A1 mandolins. But that was a long time back.
I own several guitars made with birch - some with birch bodies and other with birch tops. Based on the guitars I own birch as a body wood is far from colorless sounding. About the only place I would say these guitars fall short is in attack volume. But if you think about it, birch has been one of the favored woods for speaker cabinets because of its natural resonance. Plus, it can be a real looker if you get a highly flamed/figured piece. Birch tops are a whole other ball game. Most of the smaller body guitars I have owned with birch tops have just sounded tinny, thin and almost hollow. But I do own a Schmidt jumbo with a 15" birch top. Again, while being a bit on the quiet side, it just sounds fat and sweet. It remains one of my favorite guitars.
__________________
"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard
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#9
05-09-2014, 03:38 PM
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Sesop, Garrison built birch guitars in Newfoundland, Canada, before they were acquired by Gibson a few years ago. I have one of them. Nice guitar but as Wade stated above, fairly neutral sounding tonewood. Also, not the nicest tonewood to look at either, at least from my perspective.
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#10
05-09-2014, 03:40 PM
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In addition to what others have mentioned, I believe a big reason is that birch is not typically a very interesting looking wood.
Most of the older birch made guitars have the grain hidden behind a burst or a faux wood grain. Pictured I have two all birch parlors, a 30's College Pal with a burst and a 60's Silvertone with a faux painted wood grain / burst combo. 
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#11
05-09-2014, 04:00 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
This isn't the best recording but you can get an idea of how it sounds.
__________________
Fingerpicking Acoustic Blues/Rag/Folk/Slide Lessons https://www.tobywalkerslessons.com/
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#12
05-09-2014, 06:17 PM
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I'd like to see a modern, all birch acoustic made....but I won't hold my breath. I can't see there being much of a market for it. But if you think about it....why not birch? All solid hardwood guitars have long been made of mahogany. I have several all birch guitars, and I like them for fingerstyle. I can't describe the tone except to say it's just different. I do think that a lot of birch guitars suffer by having a tailpiece/floating bridge instead of a normal fixed bridge. I have both types, and the fixed bridge guitars sound much better. Who knows....maybe birch will come back into favor some day when the "more desirable" tonewoods become scarce.
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#13
05-09-2014, 08:15 PM
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#14
05-10-2014, 07:13 AM
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From my experience, birch is to tonewood what goanna lizard is to fine cuisine. Yer can ask Croc Dundee about goanna.
Bob
__________________
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website)
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#15
05-10-2014, 07:21 AM
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I used to have a dread by a maker called LYS. I later learned this was a very early Godin company. The back and sides were birch. I can't recall much about the sound and playability of it but I sure do remember how sunlight would shine right through the thin birch and illuminate the whole inside of the guitar. That, along with the extreme light weight of the guitar, made me always aware of how fragile it might be. Eventually traded if for a Tele. Oh yeah, and it had next to zero bass response.
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