Notifications
Clear all
Beginner's Q&A Forum
8
Posts
8
Users
0
Reactions
1,129
Views
Topic starter
05/09/2005 1:12 pm
I have an okay laminate top steel string acoustic which is fine for me for now, but I am thinking about taking a step up. I also have a very old/cheap classical guitar, which I really like the tone of. Its less in your face/sharp/pingy, for want of a better description.
From reading all the information I can find it seems I need to find a shop with a decent range of guitars in my price bracket (£400 absolute maximum!) and play each one. Thing is, I still dont feel confident enough to play a guitar in a shop, but thats another story (although I am getting there).
A local shop has an excellent selection, including two S&P cedar tops, one with electrics the other without. It also has other brands/woods in my price range.
So, my question is really for people who have experience of owning/playing different types. Why did you choose cedar/spruce? What sort of music do you play? Is cedar your choice for certain types of songs?
Sorry for the wordy post, just eager for more information really. And I can't stop thinking about those Simon & Patrick's. No doubt when I eventually play one I won't like it but there you go. I don't have an amp, aren't fussed about getting one in the short term and like camp fire easy singalong type songs.
05/09/2005 1:38 pm
Cedar tops sound great , but they're soft and get beat up I'd much rather go with spruce. Although I did see an Ibanez the other day made of cedar with a clear varnish on it.
Chuck Norris invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear!
ChuckNorrisFactsdotCom
05/09/2005 2:11 pm
I chose Cedar for my Classical work - you have to work too hard to dig out the bass using Spruce.
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
05/09/2005 2:17 pm
i have a 30+ year old solid spruce yamaha that has changed unbelievably as it has aged. it also has endured a lot of abuse and i will more than likely replace the neck when the time comes even tho that will probably cost as much as a new guitar.
my newer Takamine is also a solid spruce top and has a much brighter sound, i have noticed tho that unplugged it has already started to develop better lows than when i first purchased it.
i played a few of the DC15E Martins that had mahogany tops and i really liked them a lot.
#4491....
05/09/2005 3:54 pm
I got a spruce and mahogany combination Seagull, for rock and roll!!! :)
I want to get a cedar-top or koa acoustic for the softer stuff though... 8)
Stairway to Freebird!
06/09/2005 9:40 pm
I have a Cedar Top and a laminate. I have played a friends Spruce top.
I prefer the Cedar above the rest.
I like to play fingerstyle and I seem to get a fuller sound from the cedar.
Descending bass lines can be felt right to the bone, Quite awesome.
06/09/2005 11:44 pm
I have a solid spruce top w/ mahogany neck, sounds full and rich. No problem with bass.
07/09/2005 4:36 am
My ramirez has a cedar top and I probably played 100 classicals before going for that one. Cedar (In my case canadian red cedar specifically) has really nice bass IMO and has a full tone to it. Spruce has a different sound to it (from what I recall it's a brighter kind of sound?), just really what you want I supose. the standard answer has to be given "play it yourself and see what you like." Simple as that :D
Guitarin' isn't a job, so don't make it one.