Rosewood top?

GardMan

GardMan

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I would think rosewood would be too dense to make a good top on an acoustic... to hard for the strings to get it vibrating. There was a series of maple-topped Guilds (dreads) acoustic-electrics made (can't remember the model), and consensus here (from those that heard them) was that acoustically, they didn't sound that good.
DLG
 
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kostask

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All rosewood guitars (ie. with rosewood tops) have been made, as have all mahogany (Guild D25, Martin 15 and 17 family, amongst others), all maple (somebody here mentioned a Guild like that), and all Koa guitars (Taylor K10 and Breedloves, others I am sure), but I don't think that Gibson ever made a J200 with anything other than a spruce top. The guitar in the picture has a spruce top, and the lacquer has aged some, giving it that amber/slightly orange look. In any event, it definitely isn't a rosewood top.

Kostas
 
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jazzmang

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Anyone ever played a rosewood topped guitar? How's it sound? I'd imagine it doesn't have too much snap to it...
 
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kostask

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I never have, but to judge a guitar sound based strictly on the material of the top wouldn't be accurate either. There are many small bodied mahogany guitars that have plenty of snap, and some startling volume as well, due to their being ladder braced. Many of the early blues players were on things like post 1927 Gibson L1 (the so called "Robert Johnson" guitar) which were ladder braced mahogany guitars, and his music certainly does not lack snap in any way.

More recent examples are the Gibson LG-0 from the 1960s, the Harmony H165 from the mid 1950s onward, and the eternal Martin 15 and 17 (these are X braced) series, all of which can have a really good, snappy sound, and as I said before, surprising volume on some examples. In general, it comes down to what the design does to take advantage of the top's properties.

I think that the general consensus is that hardwood topped guitars can have a great, warm tone; they may lack volume in comparison to spruce or cedar topped guitars. In some cases, with ladder, or other than X bracing, the volume can be pretty good, too.

Kostas
 
chazmo

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That Gibby looks like it has a spruce top to me.

Never seen or heard of a rosewood-topped guitar. Redwood, yes (and it's rather dark), but rosewood would be even darker.
 
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kostask

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I did a google search on rosewood topped guitars, and there was mention of a rosewood topped Alvarez acoustic being sold on eBay. The ones that I had read about previously were all hand built custom instruments.

Kostas
 
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