"If a luthier does their job right, they can make any wood sound great." Sing it, sister! Great video by the way. I foresee this channel blowing up. 💥

Just commented on your Spruce video, might as well add another but I'll try and be more concise this time (but probably fail). I have a Dread made from "The Tree" and paired with Engleman Spruce. I also have a 2nd set for a future Somogyi-style build. My thoughts: 1) I would never buy a guitar (or a wood set) for any reason other than as an actively used instrument. 2) The most impactful variable for both the musical quality and aesthetic beauty of an acoustic guitar is the skill of the luthier... and it's not a close contest. As for the importance of other components, I'd rank them (2) body style, (3) soundboard, (4) bridge-plate and internal bracings, and then (5) the back+sides. 3) Guitar tone is obviously shaped by the combination of wood choices working together, so I tend to compare wood combinations instead of a specific top or B&S. However, the B&S are the fuel while the top is the engine, so if I had to prioritize one it would definitely be the top. 4) I've found it's not about "better", it's about a achieving a desired response (ex: snappy/immediate vs. rich sustaining overtones). If I'm playing finger-style in an alt tuning, I'm going to want a lot of overtones so it's hard to beat BRW+Redwood. If I'm flat-picking my preference is Adi Spruce+Mahogany. If I'm playing delta blues, my favorite top wood is Birch (considered cheap and inferior) and anything other than Rosewood for B&S. If I'm recording/producing, my guitar choice is almost entirely related to it's specific frequency response. As for whether or not "The Tree" is worthy of the hype, I've had enough time to draw my personal conclusion. A guitar made with a heavily quilted set of "The Tree" is likely the most beautiful guitar you will ever see. However, it's my ears that matter, not my eyes. Mahogany is a fantastic tonewood, "The Tree" is mahogany -> so yes, a skilled luthier can make a great sounding guitar from it. However, I don't think even the most skilled luthier can make a guitar that delivers a $5k-$6k tonal improvement simply by using "The Tree". In fact, I don't think my Tree guitar sounds noticeably better than my other Hogs. I was fortunate to build a substantial acoustic guitar inventory before the market exploded, including a lot of pre-war and "storied wood" instruments. Based on a first-hand reference point, there's no doubt in my mind a majority of "storied woods" deliver on the hype. Please keep this in mind as I tell you "The Tree" is an excellent tonewood, but from a purely tonal standpoint (vs. alternative options) it doesn't quite live up to the hype. That said, if you value things like (1) shear aesthetic beauty, (2) investment retention, and (3) a great story, then "The Tree" may very well be worth the cost for you.

I'm amazed by the production of your videos! Really like those drawings too.

I watched someone else testing the sound of wood. They were specific in how the wood was held during the test and I believe they referenced holding it at about 2/3 of it's length rather than near the end.

@holden2gether

Жыл бұрын

Each piece of timber when sawn like this has nodes, points at which the timber doesn't vibrate (imagine two sine waves 180 degrees out of phase with each other, the point at which they cross over each other is a node and produces no tone, it has no amplitude and is sonically 'dead'). You move your 'grip' or pinch up and down on the wood until you find the point that rings out the best when tapped, you know then that your grip/pinch is at a node and not interfering with the natural resonance of that particular piece of wood. Those 'nodal' points can be unique to each piece of wood depending on it's internal structure, thickness and grain tightness. As you machine that wood you will find the nodal point shifts ever so slightly. Typically most 'rough' pieces you will start at roughly the 2/3rds point but it doesn't always give the best tap due to the reasons I've given so Daisy may have found the node point to be higher up on this piece simply because of it's figure (internal grain structure) and thickness. Hope this explains a bit better?

Oh shit, i've laid my hands on this wood before. In Oregon, at Breedlove where I work. We made a select few guitars out of "The Tree" and i have heard the tones from the wood itself!

A series of these sound tests would be really useful, especially if they could be somewhat standardized in the way they are hung, struck etc. there is a lot of mystery in tone woods and hard to know what is hype and what is real.

@minkorrh

2 жыл бұрын

Dude, use your brain. Wood can have no real effect other than it's hardness which will have an effect on the sustain of the guitar depending on it's hardness. 'Tone' refers to it's level of highs, lows, etc. An electric guitar has that wrapped up in its pickups and electronics. I should start a company because I'd have no issue separating people from their money in this respect. Your frets have a greater influence o. how the guitar sounds than any wood it's made from. No one thinks about this with any grey matter involved.

@JMAWWorks

2 жыл бұрын

@@minkorrh Absolutely start a company. As an engineer, I can think of several material factors that impact sound: hardness, density, dampening curves ... I am not a musician, and believe most on this topic is overhyped, but I doubt it’s the course of wisdom to casually dismiss centuries of passionate craftspeople’s experience for my armchair opinions, nor is it wise to continue to slavishly use materials that were simply locally available to historical makers.

@minkorrh

2 жыл бұрын

@@JMAWWorks It's like I always say about the argument between tubes and solid state. Is there a difference? Yes. Can the audience tell that difference? No. As far as your comment goes, I appreciate that wholeheartedly, but the strings are literally less than a centimeter above the pickups. If the wood has any effect other than the amount of sustain a guitar has then I'll eat my shorts. Good pickups are generally potted with parrafin to take out any microphonics that may happen, so that also works to negate any influence from the wood it's made of. I'd really like to see a grand experiment done to settle this once and for all, but we both know that would change no one's mind.

@JMAWWorks

2 жыл бұрын

@@minkorrh ahh, now I see the issue, we are discussing two different things. You are talking electric guitar (I agree there; body material is going to have negligible impact) I was thinking straight acoustic instruments.

@duaneholcomb8408

Жыл бұрын

Tone wood only applies to acoustic guitars but it does make a difference in tone the way you get sound. From a acoustic is thru the vibration of the wood itself. Some woods have higher vibration calber. And the sound is more higher in tone some more dense and lower in tone. And in between. And then if you mix it say spruce on top and mahogany on back and sides it effects the sound

What a lot of people fail to mention is what part of the tree the wood is cut from. Different parts of the tree sound different. For example the resonance of a piece of ash from the base of a tree is different to the trunk of that same tree. The base gathers water and then distributes it throughout the tree so it is more porous and consequently more resonant and also lighter. The way it's cut is also hugely important. Guitar manufacturers don't tell you this because those quality cuts are not easy to find and they don't want to be held accountable for what cut of wood they are using. They want us to believe that as long as it's ash then it's all the same.

@manofbeard

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for pointing that out! A very interesting piece of information.

@johngriswold2213

Жыл бұрын

Not sure about that. The water/sap distribution is conducted through the bark and sap wood while the heart wood that luthiers mostly use is dead and closed off to fluid transport. Further, it's doubtful that the back and sides contribute more than about 10% of a guitar's sound, which means that even significant differences in these woods only make marginal differences in total sound. Far more important would seem to be the wood in the top, the bracing scheme, and most important of all, the luthiers skill and judgement. Thoughts?

@ipuya

Жыл бұрын

@@johngriswold2213 oh you're talking about acoustic guitars. I'm talking about solid electric ones. But as far as acoustic yeah the too is by far the most important. But my point is that even different cuts from the same tree sound different. So the cut matters as much as the type of wood. If not more.

@johngriswold2213

Жыл бұрын

@@ipuya Though I read about the differences of wood in electric guitars I have no experience with them. You might want to look at Chris Alverez's "Tidalcaster" that he shows on his KZread channel Driftwood Guitars. He has innovated with the neck joint to improve the solidity and resonance of that joint.

just subscribed and have watched several of your videos. love your honesty and dedication to your craft. your work looks and sounds incredible. I don't know if any of your guitars are in the u.s. market yet but I can't wait to play one. I wish you the best and much success. I will continue following and look forward to learning more about something I love, guitars.

right away you can already hear the bassy & roundness of a mahogany wood. Awesome wood to my ears indeed.

Legendary wood like this gives the guitar a story and soul and if an expert luthier can craft and adorn it into a majestic looking instrument then that would ascend its status to the holy grail of guitars. I've seen beat up guitars auction for well over $1 million just because of its history. Value is in the eye of the beholder.

It's a lovely piece with an interesting history. Personally, I would like to see it used in a build for an instrument that's going to be played and gigged, rather than hung on a wall to be admired as an "objet d'art" or a collectors item.

"The Tree" is historical in nature in that there will most likely never be another like it in our lifetime, perhaps many lifetimes. That being the case, yes, I would enjoy any type of instrument fashioned from "The Tree". Heavy figuring generally weakens a wood's structure, the heavy quilt pattern most often seen in woods from "The Tree" are no exception. Be careful when you form the sides using that mahogany. Scary and exciting for sure. Great Content, thank you for sharing.

Hi, gorgeous woods from that part in central America, and that Atlantic's coast natural resources and trees, were used a lot by the UK and Spain, since 17xx, legendary trees. Take care.

great video! I love when timber has its story, when you can imagine, what it might has seen in all the time.... lovley! I´m an electric guitar builder, so I am more looking for aestethics and workability

I like the history behind it, it’s beautiful. If I had the dough I would have you make me a guitar with it

I have a piece of ZEBRANO ... I used it for a model train display . C.F. Martin makes excellent guitars with exotic woods , $50,000 is insanely expensive .

I don't think I'd ever be able to play a guitar made from "the Tree" wood. Just the hype and value and everything would make me want to lock it in a vault and just watch it appreciate in value. "Oh my god, that pick scratch just devalued it! Is that a grand off of it's price? Gaaaahhhhh!"

This is fascinating. When I was in the Caribbean, I saw a beautiful mahogany tree cut into little bits because someone was clearing it out of the front yard. It was painful to see! Such amazing wood, and that was just a normal tree, not a super-duper amazing /marketed/ tree! Great videography and story, Daisy - thanks.

Interesting story about a rare and exotic tree. My basic understanding is that highly figured/exotic exotic suffer sometimes in tonal qualities. Tap tones are very cool to compare between different species.

Splendid, thanks! I've always had doubt about the Three. Just the hype, to my mind. Sorry for my English...

"If a luthier does their job right, they can make any wood sound great." Bob Taylor here in the States built a guitar from all pallet wood to prove this point back in the 1990s.

Please give it a hug, a kiss, a loving caress and an appropriate prayer of gratitude before cutting into it...Old growth timber is vanishing at alarming rates. Thank you for your quality videos

I once play tested a rather expensive guitar but ultimately ended up choosing a guitar that cost 1/4 as much because it not only felt better in my hands but actually sounded better and had better harmonics and playability. It's difficult to ask a guitarist which is the best guitar. That's akin to asking dog owners which is the best breed of dog? It is as equally subjective as it is to choose the best guitar. Ultimately, it is an individual choice. For me, I love the different kinds of woods, but to just pay such an inflated difference in price without getting a noticeable and far more enjoyable sound and playability would be a wasted experience. Your experience will likely differ. I do enjoy your videos! Cheers!

Nice video, by the way.

I am also underwhelmed… have a piece of wenge that’s beautiful and rings like a bell, and I didn’t have to re mortgage the house! Interesting story thank you daisy!

Hmm, I did not know this. (any of it!) Thanks much. Take care. -Mike

There is a documentary about old growth trees that were harvested in the 18 hundreds in the northern Great lakes region USA. The method to transport the trees was to float them. Many of these became water logged and sunk. A diver discovered these and devised a way to float them. Because of the density of the wood due to the water and the beauty it became highly desirable for instruments. I can't remember the prices that the wood was selling for but it was unbelievably high and a lot of European violin makers were buying it.

@u-N16z0rz

Жыл бұрын

What's the title of the documentary???

@garymiller1216

Жыл бұрын

also where dams were created, forests were flooded, the trees that were later harvested became known as sinkers kzread.info/dash/bejne/k4aZrM2Mp9TKZrQ.html

@J_____C

11 ай бұрын

I doubt that. European Spruce and maple are normally used for violins. Michigan & that area isn't known for growing the type of maple used in instruments. They have sugar maple trees. And you won't find European Spruce there either lol

Two requests (if I may): would love to see a video on finishes and another video on a Tempest solid body (bolt-on neck or other sort of neck). Faithfully submitted, f. m. (no static at all)

Love your 'wood nerd' vids. I think your 'the tree' guitar more likely to be worth the money for the look. Example. I recently fitted my beach cottage kitchen with a worktop of porcelain edged with 'extreme figured' Honduras mahogany. The last and most 'difficult' part of a log I bought in 1972. This was so unstable it had to to set in epoxy to work. The figure of this wood is so fine and detailed that I get lost looking at it waiting for a kettle to boil. Would I have paid £6000 for it? Sadly yes because I can't think of anything that would give me more pleasure over the years for that sum.

It would be interesting to hear this compared to some more traditional woods. The first couple of strikes had a nice low end ring, but then, I suppose you were holding it differently, the ring sort of went away and it just sounded, well, not so good. So I suppose it matters where you hold it. I got into woodworking when I took about 7 years off from my music making thinking I was retiring (guess again lol. KZread came along and I found a second career in music, but that's another story) and I made a xylophone and learned some interesting things about wood and tone. You are supposed to use a hard wood for the bars, but I had lots of leftover pine from a project and took my time tuning it (learned to tune the harmonics midway the process and that makes a huge difference) But in order for the bar to ring well it has to be supported at a certain point in the wood called a node where the vibration crosses the zero axis if I'm making sense. So I'm guessing you were holding it in a good place at first. But it did have a nice low end ring at first. Again tho, I'd love to hear some comparisons side by side with some other woods and then it "wood" become obvious which wood would be preferable. By the way, the xylophone turned out great to be made from scraps so to speak. Learned a lot in the process. Always thought of making a guitar, but at my age now and having none of the specialized tools and clamps etc not to mention I'm back to making music and videos, I doubt that will happen now. I'm enjoying your channel (just found you) so I will do it vicariously thru you!

I believe such A cute luthier can make beautiful guitars even from scratch!

Hi! I live in Kerala, South India and I have some mahogany wood from a tree that was felled in our property about 3 months ago. It was about 30 years old. When the put the chainsaw to it, the noise was so loud. The planks ring out when tapped and it sounds unusually loud even when i scrape my dry finger tips over it.

I'm hearing resonant frequencies of Bmaj. and Gmaj. Cool piece!

I tune my tops and sometimes backs using Chlandi sound patterns and thickness according to the pattern to form a circle.

I have to wonder if how the tree grows. For example if the wood comes from the North facing side of the wood which would cause closer growth rings as opposed to the south side of the tree? I know to make a Yew bow staves were and are prefered to come from the north side of the tree.

Great video. I tried to skip but it pulled me in...

Interesting result but I'd need a standard sound to compare it to to make any decisions. What does the back piece of wood in a $200, $2000 & $20000 guitar sound like in the same test. Also the sizes of the pieces of wood before being cut to whatever shape will effect the tone.

I love beautiful guitars. They are works of art to me but I have to play them!

As it wasn't a theme of the video, I find it interesting how it immediately started a conversation about who does or does not deserve the wood. (It's got to be used by a real musician; got to be in a classical 6-string guitar, etc.) So much gatekeeping! Fine. I think it should top a small set of ukuleles. And only be played by children. Who draw dinosaurs and unicorns on them with crayons. 🤘

You need to tap the timber in the center as it’s all about how the timber vibrates to create a tone. If you test for to towards the edge of the block or plank you need to knock on it like knocked on a door.

It’s worth it. I have built furniture out of veneer’s like that we call it quilted Mahogany. Put a little lacquer thinner on it to see the grain pop out on it 👍 have a great day

No sure about the Tree or Moon spruce but what a maker needs to work out is why sitka / mahogany works so well or why a J45 is a killer recording guitar. I'm way more interested in tonewoods than blingwoods.

@jeffhildreth9244

2 жыл бұрын

I have owned approximately 100 guitars since 1961. For steel string.. my choice is still mahogany and sitka. I currently have two such Martins. My all time favorite guitar (stolen in 1965) was a 1946 J 45. For Classical; older, reddish/black East Indian backs and sides and Hauser style bear claw euro spruce tops. For Flamenco ( I am not a player of Flamenco but prefer them over classical) again for a negra.. Older East Indian, and for a blanca : Mediterranean Cypress, or Alaska Yellow Cypress with Port Orford or Euro spruce.

So much talent, Daisy you are going to be a big player. Passionate, articulate, dedicated to your craft and adorable. Love your videos and hope to get one of your guitars before they cost too much. I am sure any guitar you build will appreciate. If it is unique and has an interesting back story it will definitely grow in value. Not sure what something like that cost but I like it when my guitars have a story. I feel connected to certain instruments because of how or why I bought them.

I would want it to be both aesthetically pleasing as well as superior sound for that price.

It produces a nice kick drum sound.

As you said yourself, if a luthier does their job right, they can make any wood sound great. Even if I had money to burn, I wouldn’t pay silly money for ‘wood from the magic tree’. Nice gift though.

Very interesting. I would definitely not commission an instrument to be made out of rare wood. Firstly because that's not really what I love. I love getting a good, solid, workhorse kind of instrument and playing it for decades (and maybe tweaking it) until it feels like an extension of me. Secondly, even if I'm not the one being ripped off, rarity inflates prices and leads to fraud and other crime. The violin world, for example, has seen a ridiculous situation where all the really expensive instruments are bought and sold by bankers and trust funds who can't even play them, creating the perfect conditions for fraud.

@davidrees1840

2 жыл бұрын

You don't need to look any further than old Les Pauls for that example -they say about 550 1958-60s were made, but only 2000 still exist. Funny thing about violins is that most experts prefer the sound of modern violins, but we still can't say the same about modern Les Pauls and copies.

@SkunkworksProps

2 жыл бұрын

Most violin soloists will not own their own instruments, they are generally loaned to them by museums, collectors, or even these trust funds. And in blind tests as has been said, it's generally 50/50 as to whether people prefer the old or new instrument.

I think the sound is great for both types of instrument. If a person was interested in investment qualities, that type of wood would be ideal.

Can we see closer shots of the wood itself? 👀

@jeffhildreth9244

2 жыл бұрын

The wood ? , you missed the point of the video.. Just my opinion.

Having made several acoustics and ukuleles ( for newborn) I love working with Mahogany. That wood sounds good and should NOT be made into a cutaway, despite a client's rquests , as that imbalances the bass side at the front to the timbre of the top. Anyhoo , if it is good wood, that old , I'd build with it. You may not feel confident to cut it and shape the body yet. I'd like to see that as a dreadnought and with Moon spruce as a top, or maybe a lighter sounding spruce. Good videos. Not carry on like the Yanks but straight to the matter.I Hope you read our comments as I am trying to give you some advice after many years ( 55) of playing, making nuts, repairing and onto my own business, Cheers, Terry from Oz.

Sorry that I’m a bit late to the party, but I just saw and enjoyed your video. I am curious though. How would you use that piece? I’m guessing as the sides of the guitar since it doesn’t look big enough to be the back or thick enough to use for the neck. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commission that from you. I recently bought a $2000 guitar that I had to think long and hard about - and it will be a while before I’m ready to spend that much again.

StewMac currently has sets of "The Tree" for sale at over $7000 a set. I'm sure someone has, but a luthier with deep pockets should pair "The Tree" with the 3000 year old Sitka Spruce they found in Alaska. 😅

you are awesome x

Would have been cool to have other pieces of mahogany there as a general control, like what does a nice piece and a relatively cheap piece sound like when put next to "The Tree" piece?

@jeffhildreth9244

2 жыл бұрын

No fair interjecting a reality check.

Is that one piece big enough though for a top or do you have a book matched pair. That piece doesn't look enough for an acoustic top

It's interesting that, when talking about a violin, the thing that gives it the tonal quality is the dimensions, placement of the bass bar and the age, thickness and kind of wood preservative used... Which makes me think that the tonal quality of an acoustic guitar is not dependent on the type of wood so much as placement and size of the sound hole in relation to the size and shape of the body, as well as the age of the wood preservative. I know that, with lap steel guitar, the major factors are the placement and proximity of the pickup(s) and string tension more than anything else. I'm thinking that "tone wood" is less of a thing than most would suspect. I cut a cavity in the body of my lap steel, slathered Tung oil on with two coats and covered that with lacquer, and a year and a half later noticed a certain timber that wasn't there before. It's made of hard maple. I'd like to see someone make a Spanish guitar out of cast aluminum. The first electric guitar was made of this and arguably remains to this day the best sounding lap steel there is. If someone did this, they just might find their own niche in the world of guitar building. It might have to be electric or maybe not.

I vote for locating some historical scrap of tin, to make a fine shepherd's rabel.

How about a video on Brazilian rosewood?

Whoa

Great video and interesting story. I play electric so I can get away with plywood sounding decent behind a lid stack and a tone of fuzz…but I know that acoustic players are fing nuts about tonewood.

@PG-ex3kl

2 жыл бұрын

So true I made a junior out of plywood, chambered the f out of it and slapped on a p-90. It sounds amazing unplugged and through an amp!

Think you are right good luthier could do good with less but interesting to see how good it would be if you did use that wood to make whole guitar.

would be great to heart an equivalent size piece of tone wood mahogany as a comparison maybe?? And the question, investment or playing instrument.......why would anyone have a beautiful guitar and not take it out and play it ????? x

Fine Woodwoking magazine did a story about this tree and wood many years ago.

nice

If you want wood to ring, you should hold it from a nodal point, which is ~22% from one end and edge.

If I had the means I would definitely commision one (or buy a set and build my own, though I make electric guitars, and I don't think this would be the wood for my first acoustic). And I would use it as an instrument, taking it wherever it was the best suited instrument for the occasion, though it would not likely be making an appearance by a campfire, like, ever.

I have a piano from the 1860s made with mahogany veneer that has that kind of quilt.. i think there are other trees out there

I think you need to look at this in two ways. As an object of art and beauty, the cost of the wood is right. It will make something that is beautiful to look at, admire and bring beauty into the world. The legend of the wood and it's path into the guitar adds to the value of the art. As a guitar, I personally don't think it's worth it. I appreciate that there are diminishing returns when purchasing an expensive guitar and the "mojo" of a piece of wood in intangible but exists. I wouldn't get the benefit of a £3,000 guitar over a £600 guitar because I'm a sh*tty guitarist but my world would be a better on with this wood reaching it's potential in a beautiful guitar that brings joy into the world.

You would know way more than i would but as a guitarist i would think once made into a guitar the acoustics from the rest of the body would bring out more qualities, and personally I would keep it as a show piece with the history the wood has.

interesting bit of timbre

I am lucky to have 2 sets of flamed Mahogany and 2 of quilted Mahogany backs and sides all within CITIES regulations

I find it a little sad that the tree couldn't have been protected & examined by highly skilled botanists to discover the source of the mutation. Perhaps that defect could've been leveraged in Honduras before we harvested their species to the point of near extinction. I have a few guitars made with Honduras mahogany & won't part with them for that reason. Anyway, back to your point. I don't know that this mammoth tree would provide a "superior" sounding tone-wood, so much as it would sound "slightly different". Very subtly different to an expert. (Like a chef discerning sodium chloride from sea-salt). And as you've said, the construction is the other half of the "tone DNA". Bob Taylor (Taylor Guitars) once made a guitar from "pallet wood" & it actually sounded pretty good. Anyway, I wish they'd preserved the tree as it was priceless.

That wood is worth it. Please build a definitive guitar with it to become your sound a la Stradivarius.

I think that no luthier really needs more than maple and spruce (and cedar too, for the tops). Domestic woods are more than enough. To use exotic woods is just for luxury.

I've only just heard this. I have a couple of old cuban mahogany sets here which sound every bit as good as this tree set. Personally I think there are better value for money sets out there but sheer beauty there is only one serious competitor and that is a master grade set of Brazilian Rosewood..

I'd be pretty skeptical of anyone who says this is some "magical sounding" wood. It may sound slightly different, but you'd have to really REALLY know you're guitars to notice. That being said, I would definitely sell my car to buy some of this if I could.

Like the video, the content is awesome. the level of the music between dialogue vs the level of the dialogue has me turning the volume up and down constantly. try normalizing the audio in an effort to reduce the differences between the two. not trying to be mean, just offering it as constructive criticism. normalize.

I deal two reforestation programs in Costa Rica and we are planting mahagony ¨IN SPANISH ; CAOBA

Seems more a speculative investment than player guitar due to the wood's history, uniqueness and scarcity.

Would make a beautiful top for a les Paul custom

I am not convinced "The Tree" has inherently better tonal qualities than other highly figured (key!) mahogany. But because its scarcity has driven the price so high, it tends to fall into the hands of the better luthiers. I am convinced a really good luthier can make a wonderful sounding guitar out of almost anything - and when inspired by wood as beautiful as this, then you get a guitar than sounds heavenly.

@hereasafanofallsorts5164

7 ай бұрын

What other highly figured mahogany ? Mahogany is not highly figured - ever - and you can quite easily find articles from the first Luthiers who used this wood - Specifically Tom Ribbeke who built two OM guitars at the same time in the 80's - one with Brazilian Rosewood and one with Mahogany form ' The Tree' - he concludes that the Guitar with the 'Tree' mahogany sounded more like Brazilian Rosewood than the Brazilian Rosewood guitar - This wass a man who had nothing to gain from promoting the wood as he was already one of the most revered luthiers on the planet.

@sbolfing

7 ай бұрын

@@hereasafanofallsorts5164 Other figured mahogany? Quilted, flamed, beeswing are a few that come to mind immediately. A really skilled luthier can make almost anything sound great - especially if a highly skilled guitarist is playing it!

@hereasafanofallsorts5164

7 ай бұрын

@sbolfing oh of course, yeah - show me this quilted beeswing mahogany that isn't from the tree. I'd be rapt to see it because it doesn't exist. That's why the tree is "the tree" - a skilled luthier would be making lutes - they wouldn't be a luthier otherwise - the guitar building community is so full of shit - making a guitar is a very learnable skill it's not magic - it's not even art it's a craft that was perfected 100 years ago and every builder is now just working to that formula or some slightly bastardised version of it because it wouldn't work otherwise

I think if the look is what you want, why not go for Pomele Sapele, looks fairly similar, and even if it's not a cheap wood, it doesn't cost 3 grand for a set.

This is like arguing over which type of chocolate icing works best on a cake: white, milk or dark? In the end, the quality of the sound is largely determined by the system consisting of the soundboard, bracing and bridge. To put it another way, If the top sucks, the guitar sucks. If the top sings, the guitars sings. The quilted mahogany from "The Tree" is gorgeous. The wood grain has a three-dimensional aspect that changes depending on the angle of view, kind of like those hologram stickers. It would be criminal not to use that set from Howlett for back and sides. That said, I might wait until I had mastered the art of building tops. I would use the best spruce I could possibly find, the pull-out-the-stops kind of spruce like ancient Sitka or old growth that was cut ages ago. When in early 1992, Santa Cruz began releasing a set of 10 limited edition Vintage Artists made of wood from The Tree, there was no reference in the marketing materials to The Tree. (Heck, was it even called The Tree back then?) Stan Jay of Mandolin Brothers, a Santa Cruz dealer on Staten Island, simply referred to the mahogany as "special quilted mahogany." lol. The main schtick used to market the Vintage Artist was that Doc Watson "said all those wonderful things about it." Which is of course why I bought a Vintage Artist. The first one in the series of 10, serial number VA-724, was finished in December 1991 and shown at NAMM in early 1992. I've been playing this guitar for 30 years. It has aged well and sounds killer. The killer sound is a function of the spruce and the high level of craft and skill used by Santa Cruz to create the top and partly due to the fact that it was played a lot at maximum acoustic volume as it aged over time. I've played maple, koa, mahogany and rosewood guitars. The top is the main determinant of quality of sound. Maybe 5% to 10% comes from the back and sides. The sheer beauty of The Tree mahogany is what makes it so special, imho.

@that_thing_I_do

2 жыл бұрын

In the end, the quality is determined by the player.

@lukasschliepkorte3019

Жыл бұрын

@@that_thing_I_do BS. When judging the quality of an instrument the player itself must be excluded.

Seems like these sets were a success of marketing more than anything else

Whatever path you choose, listen to the wood, marry it to a soundboard that will turn both loose to sing.

I have a few sets of The Tree hog, it’s more rare than Brazilian Rosewood however the acoustic performance is not as good as Braz sonically, can’t beat a Quartercut Braz.

"if a luthier does their job right, they can make any wood sound great" Perhaps that's how you know an artist from a craftsman

Wood is a living breathing material even long after it's "Mum" has been killed. The ultimate combination of coarse is a marriage of a good Luthier and a fine resonating wood. The Luthier will know how to best make it "Sing". I have a Japanese classic acoustic guitar ( no label left but seems to be a early 60s pre Aria school) it resonates nearly 50 seconds after I pluck a note.I am shure it is due to the wood quality and construction.

That tree has some history for sure! As for the question - I think most players wouldn't be able to tell any difference between that and significantly cheaper wood. It could make for one hell of a collector's item though

Very good video. I own a guitar made of The Tree. The wood is so rare and expensive that it begets a luthier's very best work. That said, any luthier with enough money (i.e., regardless of talent) can get a set, even today, and I've seen that happen, too. Mine is the most visually and aurally beautiful guitar I've ever seen or heard.

💗

Only when the guitar is singing like when the horse wins the race is when any value then can be understood cool to ponder thanks 😊

2:55 how do you land a job like that?!

Well if you can make a profit using it then it's worth using. About to do a search for a guitar made from it.

@anthonynicholson7364

2 жыл бұрын

Looks gorgeous finished. Rich and balanced sound. Seems to have a lovely natural reverb to.

As trees grow with their own potential difference. I think it's part of the tree lengths that are not tone wood.

I think it's a very nice piece of wood. And as for verification that it is actually from the tree, how is that achieved? I'd bet my house that there are multiple pieces of furniture and guitars out there that claim to be from the tree but are actually from hundreds of different trees!

Nice video. As I'm sure you know, the quality of the tap tone you get is dependant on both where you hold the plate, and where you tap it, as well as the thickness of the plate, and the size and shape. A good test would be to do a spectral analysis of the tap tone you recorded, and compare it with a "standard" mahogany plate (of identical dimensions and shape). Personally I'm not a great believer in "magic" tonewoods. As you said yourself, the skill of the luthier is far more important than the tonewoods used.

I suspect that if you assembled all of the wood allegedly from the Tree Mahogany you would be able to make an *incredibly* humungous tree.

This wood deserve to be a classical guitar. The acoustic guitars with cheap and dead woods sound better. I thought only me don't like the sound of them but I found out all the acoustic guitar parts in the last Prince's album recorded with a cheap guitar that his producer has bought for the record.

How about making a guitar from this wood for auction, to campaign to protect the rainforest in Belize?

@DaisyTempest

2 жыл бұрын

This is such an amazing idea, I’m going to try and make this happen.

@tomroucoux

2 жыл бұрын

@@DaisyTempest that would be very cool !

@tomroucoux

2 жыл бұрын

Shout if there's anything I can do to help make it happen.