Which is better mahogany or rosewood

I think mahogany is great for strumming, voice accompaniment, and fingerstyle. Wade Hampton. Another way to think of it is as "fat" and "skinny. I gravitate to rosewood or koa back and sides with spruce tops when playing solo because there are more harmonics and it's a fuller sound. But when I'm playing in a group it's usually with either walnut or mahogany backs and sides because I like the clarity and focus of those tonewoods.

They cut through the mix better, and it's easier for me to lead the singers and other musicians when they can hear my instrumental parts better. This is true for both my guitars and my mountain dulcimers I'm a former US Champion on mountain dulcimer.

My main stage dulcimer when playing solo has koa back and sides, and I like using my rosewood for solo gigs, too. But when playing with others I've got a great spruce-topped walnut dulcimer, a walnut Larrivee OMW, a walnut Klepper KJ Advanced Jumbo-style slope-shoulder dreadnought, and a Martin D with an Adirondack spruce top and Honduran mahogany back and sides.

So for me the use I'm going to put the instrument to has a lot to do with which one I grab as I'm heading out the door. But my general rule of thumb is "lush," harmonically rich tonewoods like koa and rosewood for solo gigs, and "clear," direct-sounding tonewoods like walnut and mahogany when playing with others. Hope that makes sense. Wade Hampton Miller. Rosewood is chimey with overtones that mush together.

Good if you want a more complex sound. Less articulation of individual notes if you strum a chord. Mahogany has more warmth, clarity and mid-range punch. Good if you want tightness and clarity. Steel and wood. To me, mahogany represents a darker more one dimensional tone which I really like and even prefer than rosewood which is potentially more complex.

I feel like I'm talking about wine. Originally Posted by Steel and wood. I think this is well done. I pretty much am in agreement with the characterizations given so far. I found that Rosewood just isn't "me". It isn't that I don't like it because I really do. It's more about the clarity of Mahogany and the woodiness. Some people feel that mahogany guitars are easier to mic when recording or playing live, because the complex harmonics and the thicker fluctuating bass of a rosewood guitar can sound muddy or cause other issues.

And some of those mahogany lovers find the rosewood sound is simply too complex for their taste, or feel it is too thick or too throaty or too woofy. But most guitarists can find plenty to love about both tonewoods, which makes such a choice so difficult.

Martin Quality, Martin Tone That all being said, we are not talking about enormous amounts of difference here. When it comes down to it, a mahogany Martin and a rosewood Martin of the same basic build each sound more similar than they sound differently.

It is only when you focus on the details down inside the voice of the specific instrument do we start to discern those subtle differences that can become more noticeable in certain circumstances, like when you are trying to decide which guitar to buy, for example. Our friend Spoon Phillips put this way.

It is only obvious when I am playing a mahogany guitar by myself or sitting next to someone who is. It is like, in my mind, each note was made of colored glass, hand-blown into a delicate sphere. The glass has lovely pigment and inner depth, but remains translucent, so that my ears see right through it, which gives the feeling of space and air to the interiors of each individual bass note. And when I play a D, I hear that translucent coloring in the whole voice, which has a sort of dried out old wooden box sound, to my ear, compared to the chocolate cake richness of rosewood.

Rosewood tends to fill up that space, with darker coloring in the bass notes, in the high harmonics, and down in the heart of the voice, that fills the space like smoke in a sunbeam. Mahogany has plenty of depth and breadth, but it is defined by the brightly lit spacious cellar under that top voice. Rosewood fills up that cellar with that colorful smoke, and keeps the lamps darker and warmer. Most of the time it is a guitar and the music he is making with it.

When it comes down to it, even when listening to people playing live and unplugged, the subtleties that separate a from a are heard much more by the player hovering over the guitar, than anyone on the other side of the song circle. They both have that full, round bass, those throaty, beefy lower mids compared to other brands, and the punchy upper mids, and that angelic purity in the trebles that make a Standard Series Martin so wonderful to play and to hear. And for someone claiming they sound similar, he made mahogany and rosewood sound quite differently, but only in the details.

Bridge materials, like fretboards, cannot make or break an instrument, but they serve to enhance or edit the tonal contributions of other materials found on the guitar. It is important to remember that wood, when considered generically, can be responsible only for certain aspects of the tone of any guitar.

So it? Tonal characteristics often come down to personal preference and that is certainly the case with Rosewood and Mahogany. Firstly, everyone perceives sound differently. So to some they prefer the softer highs and the more-meaty midrange sound of mahogany and might find Rosewood too crisp and resonant for their ears.

On the other hand to some people? The other thing that depends on what is best for you is the type of music you want to play and the sound you are looking for. Mahogany is often sought after for blues but it is also very versatile — especially when used as back and sides with a different top wood.

If you? Or if you are just looking to mellow out a crisper sounding top like Spruce then it? Rosewood is also very versatile and will of course differ depending on the top that you pair it with. It is said to be particularly good for blue grass because of its full lows and bright highs but it really can be used for anything that requires a bright, resonant full sound with distinctive lows and highs.

I have heard some people say that they prefer Mahogany on bigger bodied guitars and rosewood on smaller bodied guitars. This is perhaps down to the fact that they might find Rosewood too much on already loud resonant guitar but they like it on a smaller bodied guitar because it?

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