Advise on choosing tonewood for Tops

[Kevin in California]

I was going to say that I ususally get a resonate "thud" when I tap my tops, but I can get a what I might call a "ring" from an rosewood fretboard.

Kevin

[Thomas Felty]

For me "ring like a bell" means clarity of sound and slow decay. Like listening to the church bells down the street from.

[John Link]

Rusty:

Ken's first response is a nice one and to the point. Both tops you show are probably capable of being part of a very good guitar. Sitka spruce has a long tradition of success behind it. But if you want to delve into the possibilities further, I suggest you begin to consider that the final sound of a top is dependent upon how it is braced, just as much as the intrinsic nature of the top wood, as well as other factors. In fact, Bob Benedetto made a top from construction grade, flatsawn, knot riddled pine coupled with flatsawn, knot riddled, unmatched maple for the ribs and back, that he claims sounds good (and I am sure does).

You are thinking clearly to ask for sound clips. Ervin Somogyi (http://www.esomogyi.com/books.html) offers a DVD (Voicing the Guitar) that will give you what you seek plus more. He shows a series of tops in successively final stages of brace adjustment and taps out each one so that you can hear the difference each change has made. Exception is the final stage, which he does not show, but only taps. But you should not seek to make a top with his final sound anyway, as you would be in danger of under-building and your guitar would collapse under string tension. The DVD is very well recorded, but I can hear the differences well on an ordinary TV. When I play the thing with my super duper sound system, it is all that much better.

My website (listed below) has a section devoted to videos that compare vintage with contemporary X-braced instruments (and ladder braced instruments) that may be of interest to you as well. Somogyi's DVD also touches briefly on ladder bracing. I could make a case for one's first guitar being ladder braced - but won't. Most people, including me, did their first as X-braced.

[Dave Bagwill]

Here's a link to a very short vid that the luthier - Robert Luttrell? - made to show:

"The guitar taps like a loud deep snare drum and rings like a gong." - not Luttrell's words, the words of the person building it with him.

I hear no gong. I do hear resonance, though.

http://littlebrotherblues.com/Gear/Ulti ... 026123.MOV

[ken cierp]

Good imagination I guess?

Hard to tell -- seems OK, I tap and listen, that method is kind of like trying to locate a stud in a drywalled building.