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Posts: 799
Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville | As a spruce and cedar top guy for all of my life, I always balk at buying some of the special Ovations with the hardwood tops. They look incredible, but can woods like Koa, maple etc. really make for an effective sound board? It seems like they would sound harsh and brittle.
I've never played any guitars of this ilk because I haven't been interested because of my assumption.
I would love to be wrong about this. Help me out here!!
Adamas does not count. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Solid koa is good, I liike it for small bodied guitars.
All the others are panelmasters so it's for looks anyway.
The only tops I've heard that work are, spruce, ceder, koa, mahogony. There are probably others but I can't recall them.
A solid maple doesn't really sound good for an acoustic. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | The redwoods have a nice tone to them . . .
Not necessarily "better" . . . just "differnt" . . . |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | The '06 Koa Collecter is an awesome guitar.
The 12 fret slothead koa that Al has going is even awesome-er.
We all talk about different "flavors".
A koa Ovation is a distictively different flavor of Ovation. |
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Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by Slipkid:
The '06 Koa Collecter is an awesome guitar.
The 12 fret slothead koa that Al has going is even awesome-er.
We all talk about different "flavors".
A koa Ovation is a distictively different flavor of Ovation. I'll respond to this thread later today after the brown truck arrives ... ;) ;) ;) |
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April 2006
Posts: 972
Location: PDX | Just my opinion here:
For acoustic guitars hardwoods are more difficult to drive and, all things being equal throughout the rest of the guitar, will not vibrate as much. Thus producing a shallower or darker tone.
However guitar design can influence the amount of string energy that is transferred to the sound board. The most obvious being the 12 fret to the body design which places the bridge deeper into the lower bout. But other things can be changed too, like bracing and body depth. These changes can get the sound board moving too.
I've heard amazing tone coming from koa, maple and mahogany. So, it's not just the selection of the sound board alone that delivers tone, and you shouldn't rule a guitar out just because it has a hardwood top.
FWIW
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Never played maple, but have played koa, mahogany and redwood. Can't say there were bad, just different flavors. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Originally posted by Tupperware:
I'll respond to this thread later today after the brown truck arrives ...[/QB] Hurry up, Brown. |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| Have played cedar, koa,...Don't know about redwood, and I've never seen an O' with a mahogany top... |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Is the ovation redwood collector (2001?) a solid top? I have heard two of these and they were wonderful. Dave |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | si. |
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April 2006
Posts: 972
Location: PDX | just for clarity, and in keeping with the original question, - redwood is a softwood like cedar and spruce, not a hardwood.
Which probably everyone knows, but just in case ...
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gh1 |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I don't know if bubinga is a hardwood or softwood. I never heard of it until I bought my 99 Collectors. At the time I thought it sounded a little dead. Part of that was the dead strings. Part is the mid bowl, but I traded a mid bowl Celebrity Deluxe for it and the CD projected more. Both were laminated, obviously.
The 99 has opened a little since, but it still has a little more of a stoccato sound to it than the spruce tops.
Another oddity is the Matrix, which I assume is a panelmeister. It has as much or more projection than several of my other Ovations, but it has sort of a metallic sound. I thought it might be coming from the aluminum fretboard, but I don't know.
I keep the 99 because of its looks. It is tough to beat in that department and it's adequate in the sound department. I'm sure that the marketing guys chose a 99 Collector for Bill to play in the Voices dvd in order to add some flash to the video. People don't buy guitars solely on how they sound. |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
People don't buy guitars solely on how they sound. I can certainly vouch for MIB's statement. I have never purchased a guitar based on how I thought it sounded. Rather, my purchases are based on how they look, their collectible appeal to me personally, or how they sound to others, i.e., other OFC members, and not necessarily in that order. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Actually, I think Bill played the 99 'cause it was the only one there in tune..... |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | What? You expect a lawyer to tell you what really happened? As I recall, Bill neither admitted nor denied playing that guitar.
Actually, I thought he said he played that one because it was what somebody handed him and then he read what was on the teleprompter like a good doobie. |
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April 2006
Posts: 972
Location: PDX | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
..... then he read what was on the teleprompter like a good doobie. Oh NO! Not another Romper Room thread hijack :(
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gh1 |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | You must be really old, Greg. |
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Exotic Hardwood Tops