Mahogany Dreadnought Comparison

[John Link]

For what it might be worth: An interesting 7 minute video from Gryphon comparing a number of Martin D-18s plus a Collings D-1, Allison D-A, Bourgeois Aged Tone, and Nashville "Lanham". All dreadnoughts with Hog bodies and spruce tops. Same brief song, same player, presumably the same recording setup. There are differences in sound. The $18.5k 1941 version is not necessarily the dominant instrument, to my ear, anyway.

[Dave Bagwill]

That was fun listening. A few of them were too bright, to my ear, and two of them too nasal-sounding. but it may have been the player, the strings, who knows? But there are noticeable differences for sure.

[Herman]

Nice comparison.
The recordings sounds a bit on the thin side, what maybe the thing is what Dave hears.
In a mix they all can cut through. But as a solo instument they miss a bit of body.
I think the new Martin was not bad at all and as John states, the '41 is not convincing me also.
But in recordings guitars seldomly compete with guitars "in the flesh".
Herman

[John Link]

Herman: I was impressed with the new one too. But then, who better to provide the Martin sound than Martin. That instrument also embodies the problem for any hand builder who wants to make a decent living at building, rather than repairing. You can get a heck of a guitar for $2k or less from a factory of great reputation. Stiff competition, to say the least.

[ken cierp]

To my ear the Colling's was out of its league and Dana's did not fair well either -- I am more than surprised. Lots of variables but "on that day" those two and a couple of others definitely would go back on the rack.

[Joe Marcum]

Wow!!!! I am a complete neophyte and have long wondered if a non-expert can actually hear the subtle differences between guitars that i hear the experienced guys talk about, particularly ones of the same model. Now I know. A new guy can hear some of the differences because they are not always all that subtle!!!! The difference between the new Martin and the 2001 model was sufficient to make me wonder if they were made out of the same species of wood. Likewise, I heard a major difference between the 41 and 44. This may cause a flame war, but to my uneducated ear, the Lanham sounded like I was listening to a slightly inferior recording of one of the Martins. Personally, I liked the 51, the 65 and yes, to some degree, what I would probably incorrectly describe as the "warmer" tone of the 2001. I also like the 44, but it seemed brighter than some of the other old instruments. With that said, if the current production models sound like the one he played, i would have no problem with one.

[John Link]

Hi Joe,

If a factory builds to specific thickness, rather that using some measure of stiffness, then it becomes more likely there will be differences between individual specimens, even within a single model. I once watched a video of a guy at the Martin factory who did the final installation of strings and tune up. He commented that some of the instruments he was finalizing were "better" with the implication that some were therefore "worse". Then he added all would find owners that loved them, a kind of covering suggestion that individual owners would have individual preferences - which we all know is true enough.

My takeaway is factory guitars within even a single model are not all the same. I guess this is because thickness of backs and tops are kept more or less consistent, thus allowing the different stiffnesses intrinsic to the individual pieces of wood to have a greater play in the final sound.

Ervin Somogyi, as a special order, made three guitars where he held stiffness as constant as possible, letting the variable be the choice of top wood. Michael Chapdelaine played them. You can go to YouTube here and get the skinny:




The CD, which I bought, has a raw track of each instrument. While I "think" I like the sound of cedar best, I discovered I like Sitka Spruce better - in this case anyway.