The most recent guitar I built was a Redwood/Macassar Ebony OM and I was very impressed with the redwood. Sounds sweet in the trebles, but with nicely balanced bass and mids, although limited in volume as you have said. It has been much admired. One picker (and friend) visiting said that when he saw it, his first thought was it couldn't possibly sound as good as it looked. Changed his mind after playing it. Looking forward to using the other tops I bought with that one, they're tapping even better than that one did.
I’ve had a redwood/koa Running Dog mini-jumbo for 16 years now. It really is amazing. What I’m after is a guitar with huge dynamic range, and it really delivers. I play with both a pick and fingernails, from delicate strokes to rock and roll pounding, and it does all of it perfectly. It never runs out of steam or sounds overdriven when played hard, but it also doesn’t thin out or sound weak when played delicately. It’s rare to find such a big range in a guitar.
Hi Michael, I had the pleasure of owning a Petros Tunnel 13 Redwood, OM cutaway, 12 Fret with Walnut back and sides. Overtones were amazing. Beautiful bottom end and trebles. I found this particular guitar to be very loud with a lot of headroom. I owned a Cedar top guitar that really sounded limited and would distort when played hard, but not the Petros. For financial reasons it was sold. Picked up a D28 modern deluxe as a replacement. A good Martin always seems to put a smile on my face :). Thanks for another great video.
One of the pioneers of redwood tops was Craig Carter. Craig was a real character, a real life renaissance man from the 80's. Sadly he passed away at and early age. I was a Factory rep ( District Manager) for Mercedes-Benz of No America, I met Craig at the Mercedes dealership in Oakland , California. I singled him out be cause he road 26 miles round trip to work every day on a vintage Italian bicycle. As another bike freak we connected. I then discovered he was a fine classical guitarist and on the cusp of leaving Mercedes and venturing off to build guitars, but more than that he wanted to harvest downed and sinker redwoods as an enterprise. I moved his shop and his household to Petrolia , Calif, in the thick of the redwood empire. There he began his quest for the best of old growth redwood. Eventually he found the "lucky tree". I thickness sanded hundreds of those tops for him which he sent to Ramirez, Contreras, Gibson, Martin and many others. At the height of his enterprise he fell ill and had to discontinue his wood/guitar making aspirations. I still have a considerable quantity of his his wood which will remain with me until I build my coffin from it. RIP Craig Carter.
What an amazing story Jeff! Thank you so much for sharing! I was familiar with the story of the Lucky Strike but didn’t know much about Craig himself. So cool. You’ve made my day. Thank you.
@@MichaelWatts You are welcome Michael. Very sorry I did not find you on You Tube earlier. Excellent. More on Craig an Petrolia. Petrolia is remote on the north coast ( Lost Coast) and named such because it was the first location of oil found in California, the remains of that well are still there amid the redwoods. A river flows though it to the Pacific Ocean, right by Craig's house and shop. Before the river dumps into the ocean the water goes into a lagoon, this is where he first began the "sinker" rescue. Also, at night next to a major road, we would "harvest" down dead trees, ducking when cars drove by so as not to draw attention to the scavenging. Scavenging was considered poaching by the Forestry Service , we considered it a criminal waste of wood. The rest of Craig's wood was taken by legal permit. Craig was a fine classical guitarist and owned many fine guitars to include Hauser, Fleta and De LA Chica. He originally built guitars with Randy Angella who is still building. Craig also was buying quite a bit of Brazillian rosewood of the finest quality for his classical guitar building. Fortunately it went to the right folks . I remember him fondly, spirited bike rides, restoring and driving vintage Mercedes Benz cars, 500 mile trip to help rescue my dog, and he had quite a "colloquial" vocabulary !! Thanks again Michael for the fine You tube channel.
@@jeffhildreth9244 That's going to be quite the lovely sounding coffin you'll build. Please, don't use any quarter sawn pieces. Great stories by the way, thanks. I love the illegal harvesting/salvaging/rescuing. I would so do that if I lived there.
Great analysis Michael. Thank you. I have a redwood top guitar made by a small bench California luthier, Kevin Corcoran. It is one of the most complex sounding guitars I have ever heard or played. You hit the nail on the head when you said it sounds like the sound has been compressed. The magic on this one happens under light attack and if you wait for it it will start talking to itself in a most desirable way, resonant without being chimey. You can't rush it though, but once it starts it is almost as if it wants to help you make the music. I go to audition other guitars (wood combinations) that I am pretty sure I need to balance my sonic palette but I am envariable drawn back to Redwood/Mahogany and while others sound great none sound better. I do believe Redwood works as a fascinating tonewood but I hope it does not gain too much steam, I would be sad if Redwood went the way of Brazilian Rosewood.
jumpin jeff s Thank you Jeff! I’m familiar with Kevin Corcoran by name only but I hope I’ll get the chance to play one of his guitars at some point. The point you make about a light touch is also very perceptive. Redwood guitars definitely like a more gentle attack.
What a GREAT sound, Michael!!! So clear, so round, so mellow! It's a cryin' shame that Redwood has been so neglected as a guitar tone wood for all these years! I just finished making a Native American Style Flute out of Redwood, and when I first made it, it sounded rather green and brash, but as I play it more, the tone is quickly mellowing out like fine wine.
Sounds so good. I’m currently building a redwood guitar with mahogany. I’m not a professional builder as this is my second build. Thanks for this. I feel like redwood would fit my playing style.
Excellent assessment of redwood. Very nice Taran you've got there and I really enjoyed your playing to accentuate the tone you get with the redwood top.
Lance's work was (and continues to be) is pretty lovely indeed. Really cool that you gave him his due here. You gotta play one of his baritones if you haven't yet. BEASTLY. Fab description of Redwood here, too. "Shiny and *liquid* top-end...." YES!
I've built about thirty redwood-topped guitars, and for a long time, it was my hands-down favorite of all top woods. I particularly have a strong affinity for the best Sinker tops, and the train tunnel ones, all from gigantic trees harvested well over a century ago. In addition to their extraordinary tonal properties, you are using recycled wood, and not incurring a karmic deficit from molesting any of the remaining live trees. Though I am currently going through a strong Red Spruce (Adirondack and Appalachian) phase, in my opinion, Redwood tops are extraordinarily good on guitars that are optimized for open tuning fingerstyle play. There's so much depth and mystery in the sound, it's entrancing and intoxicating, and sort of the sonic equivalent to a perfect Cabernet, dark Swiss chocolate, and a note of tangy citrus to top it off...
Andy Bowen I can’t claim any credit sadly, that’s all Pierre Bensusan - both the technique and the name. He’s a genius and studying with him in my 20s changed my approach to the guitar completely
I had a guitar made from Lucky Strike Redwood and Tasmanian Blackwood by David Worthy in Australia. It's beautiful. It has a very unique sound, slightly dark and zingy!?! Every time I play it, it just blows me away. It does suit certain styles and tunings. Dadgad sounds great
I love redwood tops... I am in the middle of building a Sinker Redwood / Honduran Rosewood guitar now that should sound fabulous if it comes close to previous examples.
As a man who has lived in California for most of my life, and a recent adopter of fingerpicking, I'd love a redwood acoustic. I'd imagine it's a difficult wood to work with - it's stringy and splintery.
Taylor Sinker/Cocobolo here. I got it at a road show when I was experimenting with a lot of styles and was at first frustrated by not getting the emphasis I wanted out of various strumming patters and attacks. After moving to more fingerstyle/percussive style, I can't think of a better match. (Although I have played some wonderful cedar tops). I still get frustrated over some uncontrollable overtones and some of the unwanted err... basically I'm trying to say it accentuates my good playing as well as my bad playing moments. I liken it to the room quieting right before someone farts. I have found too that 80/20 bronze strings seem to balance the low end with the treble a bit better than phosphor bronze (especially if uncoated) and it requires a little less umph to get the top moving. I will say if I were to get another redwood guitar, I would pair it with either black/claro walnut or Tasmanian blackwood.
Keenan Spencer that is one of the most accurate and poetic descriptions of the redwood guitar experience I have ever read! Obviously walnut is a great pairing, koa too can be superb. I tend to like dryer woods with big guitars when it comes to redwood so the idea of a wengé and redwood OO or parlour makes me very happy... a jumbo in those woods would be too much for me.
I've had two sinker redwood topped guitars. One was a 16" lower bout OM type, with palo escrito back and sides, and it's notes seemed to be airy but they carried well, wood chime, not the same overtones as spruce or cedar. Different. I think I liked that one more for open tunings. The other one was a mahogany Martin OM someone had retopped and the trebles and a special sweetness to them. I've just started building and I hope to experiment with it. I just dug out my stash and I found I had a dozen big, tight-grained, one-piece redwood tops, curly redwood tops, and 6 or 7 sinker redwood tops. Exciting.
I have a 12-fret Venetian cutaway OM guitar (25.3" scale) with a 150 year old Tunnel 14 Redwood top acquired from the shop of the late famous classical guitar luthier, Richard Schneider with 100 year old perfectly quarter-sawn, tight grained Madagascar rosewood b&s and Red Spruce bracing taken from the sound board of an R.S. Williams piano built in1892 played by Oscar Peterson. French polished, The sound is absolutely fabulous even when compared to some of the great vintage guitars such as a Martin '30 000-45 and a '29 OM-28. The Redwood OM is remarkably responsive throughout the tonal spectrum with exceptional note clarity, intonation and sustain that goes on and on.
Micahel I own a Taylor Custom shop made for NAMM 2017 Sinker Redwood top and Amazonian Rosewood body and back Absolutely visually stunning and I 'm so glad to find this review , even though Its 2 years late, because everything you've said abiut the properties and sound is EXACTLY muy own pewrceptionsw so I now kniw its not just my OWN ear ! Its a GS midel so it has a lot of bass response. more tha n the GA Taylor atnadard I feel so much so you get that distinct classic drreadnought low end and low middle Thump when you give it some attack And very clear spakly trebles but as you say, its the epitome of that scooped mid range which as a singer songwriter is exactly what I wouldd prefer Also just like you, the overtones and hqrmonics are amazing, I actualy do exaxctly what you did in this video, I will pluck a string continually , letting it ring and just lisrtenjng to the harmonics over and over Great sustain and repsonsiveness and incredibky r full ich and warrm sound , it doesn't have tthat straight down the middle punch reliability of sound that the 914 or 814 , with them I feel you know excaclty what your getting in every situation BUT to me it is a guitar with far far more potential to create somethimg unique , its far more mysterious and unpredictaable if thats the right word, you can't be as sure as to what you'll get as the 814 or 914 BUT its POTENTIAL to cretae something incredibly beautiful and unique is much higher than them Of course some of this is splitting hairs, at this level of woods and craftmanship your talking very small imcrements and its nit about which is better in a general sense but different and as such more suited for ceratin styles And of course no 2 guitars even wiuth exaxct same soecs fro the same workshop are rthe same , wood is a living , changing organism each peice with its opersonality traits just as we are I will say though that i much prefer the CV bracing with relief on this custom shop than the new V class as I kniw many others do, there is a string hint of the emporeres clothes about it if you ask me with Taylor putting too much at astake in its ground breaking new design for it to be allowed to fail ! For comtrast I also own a Rainbow series Custom shop Furch G LC with beautiful Alpine Moon spruce top and Cocobolo body and sides A beautiful guitar more classic looking but with less bling but a gorbeous finiish I will confidently say this is the BEST guitar i have ever played in over 35 years of playing and I specifically wanted this wood combination just as I did the Sinker rosewood Its like a 914 on steroids , It has such a clean balanced tone though across the whole fretboard and range , no mid range bump, EVRYTHING IS BUMPED its like boosting everything but witHouit loosing ANY clarity and with no distortion , incredible headroom and sustain I would happily pitch against ANY Martin Dreadnought from the 4O series with total confidence it would hold its own in a BG Jam Its closest I guess to an ADI top in the headroom and sustain than Sitka but the Cocobolo punches hard and Furch make the best price to quality ratio out there Both guitars are well north of 5000 Euros, the Taylor is officially 2000 Euros MORE than the Furch even soi we are talking seruous miney so again we are talking small differneces between world class guitars BIUT the Furch is an even better guitar IMO It actually the reason I wanted it, for me its the oerfect partner for the Taylor Sinker Rosweood warmth and richness I can also see Cocobolo going the way of some other increasingly rare and protected tone woods
I have played quite a few redwood guitars, mostly paired with rosewood. The complexity of tones was definitely there BUT… there is one thing they all had in common (to my ears). The trebles and mostly the entire register on the high e sounded harsh and zingy. I won’t go near one again. Think a good spruce is much more versatile and particularly warmer. Great post as usual Michael!
Great video, Michael. I've played a Breedlove Focus SE with a Redwood top and E.I. Rosewood b/s for years and found it to be a great finger style guitar albeit lacking in the mids. I picked up another Focus SE, still redwood top but figured Walnut back and sides and am very much enjoying the more balanced tone offered by the walnut. I think I'll sell the Rosewood Focus and save up for a luthier built guitar. Keep the great channel content coming!
Thank you very much for watching Gregory and for your kind words - interesting to see that your experience mirrors mine. Rest assured there will be more on all aspects of the playing experience in future videos.
Really interesting. I am still debating (in my head) about whether to go with a very old and beautiful piece of sinker redwood with BRW for a Taran or a great Italian spruce top I also have in my wood stash... my technique would benefit from that 'natural compression' you mention, yet I also do like to attack now and again and make the most of the dynamics on offer... simple answer is of course to get Rory to build me one of each!
@@eppynt Sadly not, was a bit tongue in cheek, as cant afford two... but I have saved some pennies for a new build, but deciding on what to go for is the 'lucky' dilemma... In part because like many average players, I am in a rut, and if I simply wanted to stay in it, I would just go out and buy a Martin dread and strum and pick the same stuff I have done for the last 20 years... I figure the best way to get out of this is to invest in an instrument that this going to inspire me to develop my technique, challenge me to get the best from it and also inspire me two practice more... its a great dilemma to have ;-)
Enjoyed that review Michael, interesting stuff - my brother is having a sinker redwood over ancient bog oak built at the moment, so really looking forward to hearing this guitar, and from the wood selections it should look amazing too :)
Hi Michael... well I have a wee update for you on the new Avalon - Sinker Redwood over Ancient Fennel Bog Oak. My brother received the guitar a couple of months back and it is stunning. It’s a 12 fret with a 25.4” scale length and a 16” lower bout. The sinker redwood is visually dramatic with beautiful linear coloration, while the ancient bog oak has a surprisingly prominent and well balanced grain, which creates a natural centre spine down the back of the guitar. With matching ancient bog oak headstock and bridge and an understated abalone rosette, the guitar looks amazing. And, of course, the sound and playability... well, I can tell you that the luthier has voiced the guitar incredibly well. The tone is warm and rich with a clear and crisp top end, while the base is not over-powering yet ever present and well controlled. The guitar feels like it has been played-in over a number of years and has had all the sharp, undesired, edges smoothed away. The fundamentals are ever so present and beautifully accompanied by balanced overtones - all of which is projected effortlessly when playing fingerstyle. Moving the bridge into the sweet-spot of the guitar body gives this guitar a unique personality. The only issue is... once you start playing this guitar you just can’t stop and endless time passes as you sink into its realm. I was lucky enough to get a loan of the guitar for a week and was envious giving it back. I think, Michael, you’d enjoy playing this one... talk soon my friend :)
Cool video. I have only tried a couple red wood guitars, and found them to have a bit of a cedar characteristic, but with a big three dimensional quality, much like European spruce. For my playing style I need a bit more headroom, but I really love the appearance of this beautiful lumber!
I wonder if Jason has a stash of Lucky Strike? A new MDW possibly? Michael Bashkin built an 0M using LS Redwood/ Ziricote...the sound was haunting! Thx Michael!
There’s a brilliant book by Steinbeck, called “Travels with Charlie” ( Steinbeck’s French Poodle) Theres a passage where he writes about these trees being about, when there was a political assassination in Jerusalem and so on. Tunnel 13 conjures up similar Americana stuff for me. Just magnificent Michael and I do hear a difference, from the Kostal guitars of yours.
Andy Bowen Steinbeck is a superb writer and has certainly shaped my thoughts about America. The trees are orders of magnitude older than the country as we know it and it’s a privilege to play a guitar made from that wood. The tunnel 13 train robbery was an appalling, senseless crime. I’m glad the name can be associated with something beautiful.
Hey Michael! What is the name of the tune you play @3:11? I recently sold a sinker redwood/E.I.R Breedlove Concert Legacy model. I loved it, but I also have a Cole Clark Redwood/Tasmanian Blackwood, which I still own...and I liked it a little bit better. Peace. 🐰💙🇺🇸🗽🎸🎶✌️
Cool vid, fella. I'm learning more about Redwood for obvs reasons and it's a fascinating wood. Just out of interest, is your RH pinky always anchored? For RH stability?
It's interesting that you describe redwood as having scooped mids. I've never had the chance to play a redwood guitar, but from listening to numerous redwood guitars on RUclips, they always seem to me to be lacking in bass volume. Sometimes it seems like I can barely hear the bass. Perhaps that's some RUclips audio artifact? But I really want to try one as a player, because the rest of the redwood sound seems gorgeous to me.
That’s interesting and is pretty much the opposite of my experience - especially with rosewood back and sides I associate redwood guitars with a big bass and sparkling trebles especially on the open strings
@@MichaelWatts Obviously I need to actually play one. It could be that when I think I'm hearing louder bass on e.g. sitka guitars, I'm just sensitive to some of the overtones the top emphasizes. This year has really taught me how subjective a lot of this is. For example, I recently learned that spruce-topped guitars often have a prominent resonance between G and G# just below the 220Hz A, and that luthiers can try to move it to a less-obtrusive spot between them than closer to G or G#. While I didn't know anything about that, I did know that some spruce guitars seemed to emphasize the fundamental on the open 3rd string so much that it sounds unpleasant to me. I would hear a recording of a guitar that produced G or G# notes that sounded to me like someone hit a plastic bucket with a stick: pronounced fundamental, rapid decay. And when I talked to other people, I found that some heard the same thing as I did quite clearly, while others didn't hear it at all. It really makes me wonder abput how mich difference there is in what we all hear.
@@MichaelWatts I should also say that your playing is just lovely. I went and looked at North American Guitar to see how much that absolutely gorgeous-sounding Taran Oreval redwood/walnut would cost. Yeah, sadly not likely to be in my future.
Michael, do you feel there is a significant difference in tonal qualities, including sustain and overtones, between a Tunnel 13 top and a Sinker Redwood top? Is the difference primarily appearance and mystic or is the Tunnel 13 actually worth the extra money (which could be spent on other features of the instrument)? Thanks, John Gig Harbor, WA
Very good question John! Bearing in mind that everything depends on the specific set of wood and the luthier in question AND the scale-length and design of the guitar - sinker redwood to my ears is often very vitreous and detailed in the treble, even more so that standard (if there is such a thing!) redwood. Sinker redwood is very close to glass. It’s incredible stuff!
@@MichaelWatts Thanks Michael. I am thinking of a Redwood top with Walnut back and sides for a guitar I have ordered with Rory Dowling at Taran. Thanks, John
Hi Rob! If it's an acoustic guitar and I'm playing it then you can safely assume it is in DADGAD, and part of that tuning's charm for me is the sympathetic resonance
@@MichaelWatts gotta day your playing style is very unique and really inspires me to try and get new sounds out. Thanks for all your hard work making the videos too.
Let me know your own experiences with redwood right here!
The most recent guitar I built was a Redwood/Macassar Ebony OM and I was very impressed with the redwood. Sounds sweet in the trebles, but with nicely balanced bass and mids, although limited in volume as you have said. It has been much admired. One picker (and friend) visiting said that when he saw it, his first thought was it couldn't possibly sound as good as it looked. Changed his mind after playing it.
Looking forward to using the other tops I bought with that one, they're tapping even better than that one did.
@@132colinnorth Good to know! Thanks for your comment!
I’ve had a redwood/koa Running Dog mini-jumbo for 16 years now. It really is amazing. What I’m after is a guitar with huge dynamic range, and it really delivers. I play with both a pick and fingernails, from delicate strokes to rock and roll pounding, and it does all of it perfectly. It never runs out of steam or sounds overdriven when played hard, but it also doesn’t thin out or sound weak when played delicately. It’s rare to find such a big range in a guitar.
Hi Michael, I had the pleasure of owning a Petros Tunnel 13 Redwood, OM cutaway, 12 Fret with Walnut back and sides. Overtones were amazing. Beautiful bottom end and trebles. I found this particular guitar to be very loud with a lot of headroom. I owned a Cedar top guitar that really sounded limited and would distort when played hard, but not the Petros. For financial reasons it was sold. Picked up a D28 modern deluxe as a replacement. A good Martin always seems to put a smile on my face :).
Thanks for another great video.
One of the pioneers of redwood tops was Craig Carter. Craig was a real character, a real life renaissance man from the 80's. Sadly he passed away at and early age.
I was a Factory rep ( District Manager) for Mercedes-Benz of No America, I met Craig at the Mercedes dealership in Oakland , California. I singled him out be cause he road 26 miles round trip to work every day on a vintage Italian bicycle. As another bike freak we connected.
I then discovered he was a fine classical guitarist and on the cusp of leaving Mercedes and venturing off to build guitars, but more than that he wanted to harvest downed and sinker redwoods as an enterprise.
I moved his shop and his household to Petrolia , Calif, in the thick of the redwood empire. There he began his quest for the best of old growth redwood. Eventually he found the "lucky tree".
I thickness sanded hundreds of those tops for him which he sent to Ramirez, Contreras, Gibson, Martin and many others.
At the height of his enterprise he fell ill and had to discontinue his wood/guitar making aspirations. I still have a considerable quantity of his his wood which will remain with me until I build my coffin from it.
RIP Craig Carter.
What an amazing story Jeff! Thank you so much for sharing!
I was familiar with the story of the Lucky Strike but didn’t know much about Craig himself. So cool. You’ve made my day. Thank you.
@@MichaelWatts You are welcome Michael. Very sorry I did not find you on You Tube earlier. Excellent. More on Craig an Petrolia. Petrolia is remote on the north coast ( Lost Coast) and named such because it was the first location of oil found in California, the remains of that well are still there amid the redwoods. A river flows though it to the Pacific Ocean, right by Craig's house and shop. Before the river dumps into the ocean the water goes into a lagoon, this is where he first began the "sinker" rescue. Also, at night next to a major road, we would "harvest" down dead trees, ducking when cars drove by so as not to draw attention to the scavenging. Scavenging was considered poaching by the Forestry Service , we considered it a criminal waste of wood. The rest of Craig's wood was taken by legal permit. Craig was a fine classical guitarist and owned many fine guitars to include Hauser, Fleta and De LA Chica. He originally built guitars with Randy Angella who is still building. Craig also was buying quite a bit of Brazillian rosewood of the finest quality for his
classical guitar building. Fortunately it went to the right folks . I remember him fondly, spirited bike rides, restoring and driving vintage Mercedes Benz cars, 500 mile trip to help rescue my dog, and he had quite a "colloquial" vocabulary !! Thanks again Michael for the fine You tube channel.
@@jeffhildreth9244 That's going to be quite the lovely sounding coffin you'll build. Please, don't use any quarter sawn pieces. Great stories by the way, thanks. I love the illegal harvesting/salvaging/rescuing. I would so do that if I lived there.
Great analysis Michael. Thank you. I have a redwood top guitar made by a small bench California luthier, Kevin Corcoran. It is one of the most complex sounding guitars I have ever heard or played. You hit the nail on the head when you said it sounds like the sound has been compressed. The magic on this one happens under light attack and if you wait for it it will start talking to itself in a most desirable way, resonant without being chimey. You can't rush it though, but once it starts it is almost as if it wants to help you make the music. I go to audition other guitars (wood combinations) that I am pretty sure I need to balance my sonic palette but I am envariable drawn back to Redwood/Mahogany and while others sound great none sound better. I do believe Redwood works as a fascinating tonewood but I hope it does not gain too much steam, I would be sad if Redwood went the way of Brazilian Rosewood.
jumpin jeff s Thank you Jeff! I’m familiar with Kevin Corcoran by name only but I hope I’ll get the chance to play one of his guitars at some point. The point you make about a light touch is also very perceptive. Redwood guitars definitely like a more gentle attack.
What a GREAT sound, Michael!!! So clear, so round, so mellow! It's a cryin' shame that Redwood has been so neglected as a guitar tone wood for all these years! I just finished making a Native American Style Flute out of Redwood, and when I first made it, it sounded rather green and brash, but as I play it more, the tone is quickly mellowing out like fine wine.
Sounds so good. I’m currently building a redwood guitar with mahogany. I’m not a professional builder as this is my second build. Thanks for this. I feel like redwood would fit my playing style.
Thank you so much for watching!
Excellent video, wonderful information, and fantastic playing. Thank you so much!
Thank you for watching!
Excellent assessment of redwood. Very nice Taran you've got there and I really enjoyed your playing to accentuate the tone you get with the redwood top.
love your playing.
@@Vancat2 thank you!
Lance's work was (and continues to be) is pretty lovely indeed. Really cool that you gave him his due here. You gotta play one of his baritones if you haven't yet. BEASTLY. Fab description of Redwood here, too. "Shiny and *liquid* top-end...." YES!
Brian Truesby Credit where it’s due and I remember seeing Lance’s work when my own luthier made guitar journey started and loving it.
I had my custom Redwood guitar (Madrose back & sides) made over 7 years ago. Excellent guitar for fingerpicking.
I've built about thirty redwood-topped guitars, and for a long time, it was my hands-down favorite of all top woods. I particularly have a strong affinity for the best Sinker tops, and the train tunnel ones, all from gigantic trees harvested well over a century ago. In addition to their extraordinary tonal properties, you are using recycled wood, and not incurring a karmic deficit from molesting any of the remaining live trees. Though I am currently going through a strong Red Spruce (Adirondack and Appalachian) phase, in my opinion, Redwood tops are extraordinarily good on guitars that are optimized for open tuning fingerstyle play. There's so much depth and mystery in the sound, it's entrancing and intoxicating, and sort of the sonic equivalent to a perfect Cabernet, dark Swiss chocolate, and a note of tangy citrus to top it off...
That’s very cool Stephen!
As surely you know, Ben Wilborn uses a lot of (Tunnel 1x) redwood in his Comma series guitars. I'd love to hear you explore some of those!
I met Ben Wilborn in Texas last year - his designs are certainly intriguing!
What an exquisite tone from that Redwood ! I might also add that your incredible technique and velvety touch and feel are a huge factor.
Thank you so much for watching Mark, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Nail returns is such a good way of describing that awesome trick you do.
Andy Bowen I can’t claim any credit sadly, that’s all Pierre Bensusan - both the technique and the name. He’s a genius and studying with him in my 20s changed my approach to the guitar completely
I had a guitar made from Lucky Strike Redwood and Tasmanian Blackwood by David Worthy in Australia. It's beautiful. It has a very unique sound, slightly dark and zingy!?! Every time I play it, it just blows me away. It does suit certain styles and tunings. Dadgad sounds great
That sounds like a wonderful guitar Simon! Congratulations!
I love redwood tops... I am in the middle of building a Sinker Redwood / Honduran Rosewood guitar now that should sound fabulous if it comes close to previous examples.
Great review!
As a man who has lived in California for most of my life, and a recent adopter of fingerpicking, I'd love a redwood acoustic. I'd imagine it's a difficult wood to work with - it's stringy and splintery.
Taylor Sinker/Cocobolo here. I got it at a road show when I was experimenting with a lot of styles and was at first frustrated by not getting the emphasis I wanted out of various strumming patters and attacks. After moving to more fingerstyle/percussive style, I can't think of a better match. (Although I have played some wonderful cedar tops). I still get frustrated over some uncontrollable overtones and some of the unwanted err... basically I'm trying to say it accentuates my good playing as well as my bad playing moments. I liken it to the room quieting right before someone farts. I have found too that 80/20 bronze strings seem to balance the low end with the treble a bit better than phosphor bronze (especially if uncoated) and it requires a little less umph to get the top moving. I will say if I were to get another redwood guitar, I would pair it with either black/claro walnut or Tasmanian blackwood.
Keenan Spencer that is one of the most accurate and poetic descriptions of the redwood guitar experience I have ever read! Obviously walnut is a great pairing, koa too can be superb. I tend to like dryer woods with big guitars when it comes to redwood so the idea of a wengé and redwood OO or parlour makes me very happy... a jumbo in those woods would be too much for me.
Right before someone farts 😂. Great description
Just ordered that is redwood top with rosewood back and sides. Will give an update when I receive it
Ming Wu please do!
What guitar did you order and how did you go?
I've had two sinker redwood topped guitars. One was a 16" lower bout OM type, with palo escrito back and sides, and it's notes seemed to be airy but they carried well, wood chime, not the same overtones as spruce or cedar. Different. I think I liked that one more for open tunings. The other one was a mahogany Martin OM someone had retopped and the trebles and a special sweetness to them. I've just started building and I hope to experiment with it. I just dug out my stash and I found I had a dozen big, tight-grained, one-piece redwood tops, curly redwood tops, and 6 or 7 sinker redwood tops. Exciting.
Definitely exciting! Congratulations and enjoy your builds!
I have a 12-fret Venetian cutaway OM guitar (25.3" scale) with a 150 year old Tunnel 14 Redwood top acquired from the shop of the late famous classical guitar luthier, Richard Schneider with 100 year old perfectly quarter-sawn, tight grained Madagascar rosewood b&s and Red Spruce bracing taken from the sound board of an R.S. Williams piano built in1892 played by Oscar Peterson. French polished, The sound is absolutely fabulous even when compared to some of the great vintage guitars such as a Martin '30 000-45 and a '29 OM-28. The Redwood OM is remarkably responsive throughout the tonal spectrum with exceptional note clarity, intonation and sustain that goes on and on.
Micahel I own a Taylor Custom shop made for NAMM 2017 Sinker Redwood top and Amazonian Rosewood body and back
Absolutely visually stunning and I 'm so glad to find this review , even though Its 2 years late, because everything you've said abiut the properties and sound is EXACTLY muy own pewrceptionsw so I now kniw its not just my OWN ear !
Its a GS midel so it has a lot of bass response. more tha n the GA Taylor atnadard I feel so much so you get that distinct classic drreadnought low end and low middle Thump when you give it some attack
And very clear spakly trebles but as you say, its the epitome of that scooped mid range which as a singer songwriter is exactly what I wouldd prefer
Also just like you, the overtones and hqrmonics are amazing, I actualy do exaxctly what you did in this video, I will pluck a string continually , letting it ring and just lisrtenjng to the harmonics over and over
Great sustain and repsonsiveness and incredibky r full ich and warrm sound , it doesn't have tthat straight down the middle punch reliability of sound that the 914 or 814 , with them I feel you know excaclty what your getting in every situation
BUT to me it is a guitar with far far more potential to create somethimg unique , its far more mysterious and unpredictaable if thats the right word, you can't be as sure as to what you'll get as the 814 or 914 BUT its POTENTIAL to cretae something incredibly beautiful and unique is much higher than them
Of course some of this is splitting hairs, at this level of woods and craftmanship your talking very small imcrements and its nit about which is better in a general sense but different and as such more suited for ceratin styles
And of course no 2 guitars even wiuth exaxct same soecs fro the same workshop are rthe same , wood is a living , changing organism each peice with its opersonality traits just as we are
I will say though that i much prefer the CV bracing with relief on this custom shop than the new V class as I kniw many others do, there is a string hint of the emporeres clothes about it if you ask me with Taylor putting too much at astake in its ground breaking new design for it to be allowed to fail !
For comtrast I also own a Rainbow series Custom shop Furch G LC with beautiful Alpine Moon spruce top and Cocobolo body and sides
A beautiful guitar more classic looking but with less bling but a gorbeous finiish
I will confidently say this is the BEST guitar i have ever played in over 35
years of playing and I specifically wanted this wood combination just as I did the Sinker rosewood
Its like a 914 on steroids , It has such a clean balanced tone though across the whole fretboard and range , no mid range bump, EVRYTHING IS BUMPED its like boosting everything but witHouit loosing ANY clarity and with no distortion , incredible headroom and sustain
I would happily pitch against ANY Martin Dreadnought from the 4O series with total confidence it would hold its own in a BG Jam Its closest I guess to an ADI top in the headroom and sustain than Sitka but the Cocobolo punches hard and Furch make the best price to quality ratio out there
Both guitars are well north of 5000 Euros, the Taylor is officially 2000 Euros MORE than the Furch even soi we are talking seruous miney so again we are talking small differneces between world class guitars BIUT the Furch is an even better guitar IMO
It actually the reason I wanted it, for me its the oerfect partner for the Taylor Sinker Rosweood warmth and richness
I can also see Cocobolo going the way of some other increasingly rare and protected tone woods
Very cool!
W(F)ood for thought...Deciding right now between Tunnel 14 Redwood and Moon Cut Swiss Spruce on a Brian Applegate build. Thank you, Michael. Be well.
Oscar Grouch that’s a nice problem to have! So much depends on personal choice, touch and technique but I don’t doubt you’ll get a great guitar!
What wood did you choose? How did your guitar turn out?
I have played quite a few redwood guitars, mostly paired with rosewood. The complexity of tones was definitely there BUT… there is one thing they all had in common (to my ears). The trebles and mostly the entire register on the high e sounded harsh and zingy. I won’t go near one again. Think a good spruce is much more versatile and particularly warmer. Great post as usual Michael!
🔵 thanks ❕ Redwood is my favorite top tonewood❕💙
Thank you for watching!
Great video, Michael. I've played a Breedlove Focus SE with a Redwood top and E.I. Rosewood b/s for years and found it to be a great finger style guitar albeit lacking in the mids. I picked up another Focus SE, still redwood top but figured Walnut back and sides and am very much enjoying the more balanced tone offered by the walnut. I think I'll sell the Rosewood Focus and save up for a luthier built guitar. Keep the great channel content coming!
Thank you very much for watching Gregory and for your kind words - interesting to see that your experience mirrors mine. Rest assured there will be more on all aspects of the playing experience in future videos.
Really interesting. I am still debating (in my head) about whether to go with a very old and beautiful piece of sinker redwood with BRW for a Taran or a great Italian spruce top I also have in my wood stash... my technique would benefit from that 'natural compression' you mention, yet I also do like to attack now and again and make the most of the dynamics on offer... simple answer is of course to get Rory to build me one of each!
Frank Cousins one of each is definitely the answer here Frank! Thanks for watching!
You’ve got too much money dude
@@eppynt Sadly not, was a bit tongue in cheek, as cant afford two... but I have saved some pennies for a new build, but deciding on what to go for is the 'lucky' dilemma... In part because like many average players, I am in a rut, and if I simply wanted to stay in it, I would just go out and buy a Martin dread and strum and pick the same stuff I have done for the last 20 years... I figure the best way to get out of this is to invest in an instrument that this going to inspire me to develop my technique, challenge me to get the best from it and also inspire me two practice more... its a great dilemma to have ;-)
Frank Cousins Godspeed
Inspiring approach
Enjoyed that review Michael, interesting stuff - my brother is having a sinker redwood over ancient bog oak built at the moment, so really looking forward to hearing this guitar, and from the wood selections it should look amazing too :)
Very cool! I look forward to hearing more about it when it's completed!
Hi Michael... well I have a wee update for you on the new Avalon - Sinker Redwood over Ancient Fennel Bog Oak. My brother received the guitar a couple of months back and it is stunning. It’s a 12 fret with a 25.4” scale length and a 16” lower bout. The sinker redwood is visually dramatic with beautiful linear coloration, while the ancient bog oak has a surprisingly prominent and well balanced grain, which creates a natural centre spine down the back of the guitar. With matching ancient bog oak headstock and bridge and an understated abalone rosette, the guitar looks amazing. And, of course, the sound and playability... well, I can tell you that the luthier has voiced the guitar incredibly well. The tone is warm and rich with a clear and crisp top end, while the base is not over-powering yet ever present and well controlled. The guitar feels like it has been played-in over a number of years and has had all the sharp, undesired, edges smoothed away. The fundamentals are ever so present and beautifully accompanied by balanced overtones - all of which is projected effortlessly when playing fingerstyle. Moving the bridge into the sweet-spot of the guitar body gives this guitar a unique personality. The only issue is... once you start playing this guitar you just can’t stop and endless time passes as you sink into its realm. I was lucky enough to get a loan of the guitar for a week and was envious giving it back. I think, Michael, you’d enjoy playing this one... talk soon my friend :)
Cool video. I have only tried a couple red wood guitars, and found them to have a bit of a cedar characteristic, but with a big three dimensional quality, much like European spruce. For my playing style I need a bit more headroom, but I really love the appearance of this beautiful lumber!
Lucas Haneman I think the cedar comparison is a good one. Redwood can be like “Super Cedar” depending on who is making the guitar
Love my sinker redwood/walnut 12 fret Lowden....
I wonder if Jason has a stash of Lucky Strike? A new MDW possibly? Michael Bashkin built an 0M using LS Redwood/ Ziricote...the sound was haunting! Thx Michael!
Paul Boden I think Jason actually built a redwood guitar pretty recently in fact! The first one as far as I’m aware
There’s a brilliant book by Steinbeck, called “Travels with Charlie” ( Steinbeck’s French Poodle) Theres a passage where he writes about these trees being about, when there was a political assassination in Jerusalem and so on. Tunnel 13 conjures up similar Americana stuff for me.
Just magnificent Michael and I do hear a difference, from the Kostal guitars of yours.
Andy Bowen Steinbeck is a superb writer and has certainly shaped my thoughts about America. The trees are orders of magnitude older than the country as we know it and it’s a privilege to play a guitar made from that wood. The tunnel 13 train robbery was an appalling, senseless crime. I’m glad the name can be associated with something beautiful.
Hey Michael! What is the name of the tune you play @3:11?
I recently sold a sinker redwood/E.I.R Breedlove Concert Legacy model. I loved it, but I also have a Cole Clark Redwood/Tasmanian Blackwood, which I still own...and I liked it a little bit better.
Peace. 🐰💙🇺🇸🗽🎸🎶✌️
That’s a piece called Rialto, glad you like it!
@@MichaelWatts Very pretty. Is it an original?
Probably great for accompanying singing
Very true Victor!
Cool vid, fella. I'm learning more about Redwood for obvs reasons and it's a fascinating wood. Just out of interest, is your RH pinky always anchored? For RH stability?
Steve Harvey Thank you chap, glad you enjoyed it! Pinky anchorage depends on the moment, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
It's interesting that you describe redwood as having scooped mids. I've never had the chance to play a redwood guitar, but from listening to numerous redwood guitars on RUclips, they always seem to me to be lacking in bass volume. Sometimes it seems like I can barely hear the bass. Perhaps that's some RUclips audio artifact? But I really want to try one as a player, because the rest of the redwood sound seems gorgeous to me.
That’s interesting and is pretty much the opposite of my experience - especially with rosewood back and sides I associate redwood guitars with a big bass and sparkling trebles especially on the open strings
@@MichaelWatts Obviously I need to actually play one. It could be that when I think I'm hearing louder bass on e.g. sitka guitars, I'm just sensitive to some of the overtones the top emphasizes.
This year has really taught me how subjective a lot of this is. For example, I recently learned that spruce-topped guitars often have a prominent resonance between G and G# just below the 220Hz A, and that luthiers can try to move it to a less-obtrusive spot between them than closer to G or G#. While I didn't know anything about that, I did know that some spruce guitars seemed to emphasize the fundamental on the open 3rd string so much that it sounds unpleasant to me. I would hear a recording of a guitar that produced G or G# notes that sounded to me like someone hit a plastic bucket with a stick: pronounced fundamental, rapid decay. And when I talked to other people, I found that some heard the same thing as I did quite clearly, while others didn't hear it at all. It really makes me wonder abput how mich difference there is in what we all hear.
@@MichaelWatts I should also say that your playing is just lovely. I went and looked at North American Guitar to see how much that absolutely gorgeous-sounding Taran Oreval redwood/walnut would cost. Yeah, sadly not likely to be in my future.
Michael, who in your opinion, if you have one on this, does redwood the most justice? As far as builders go. Maybe there are a few you have in mind?
Good question - I think the best redwood sound I have ever experienced came from Petros guitars
Michael, do you feel there is a significant difference in tonal qualities, including sustain and overtones, between a Tunnel 13 top and a Sinker Redwood top? Is the difference primarily appearance and mystic or is the Tunnel 13 actually worth the extra money (which could be spent on other features of the instrument)?
Thanks, John
Gig Harbor, WA
Very good question John! Bearing in mind that everything depends on the specific set of wood and the luthier in question AND the scale-length and design of the guitar - sinker redwood to my ears is often very vitreous and detailed in the treble, even more so that standard (if there is such a thing!) redwood. Sinker redwood is very close to glass. It’s incredible stuff!
@@MichaelWatts Thanks Michael. I am thinking of a Redwood top with Walnut back and sides for a guitar I have ordered with Rory Dowling at Taran.
Thanks, John
Excellent video. What back and sides tone wood to pair with Redwood to retain a powerful bass and the sparkling highs?
Well?
👋, in regard to sympathetic resonance: was the guitar in standard tuning at the time of the recording or different ?
Hi Rob!
If it's an acoustic guitar and I'm playing it then you can safely assume it is in DADGAD, and part of that tuning's charm for me is the sympathetic resonance
Hey can you tell me what mics you are using for recording your playing in this vid? It sounds so good!
Thank you very much! I use a matched pair of Gefell M300s on all my videos.
@@MichaelWatts Sweet thanks for replying so quickly! Just found your channel and live the quality feel they have and your flawless, inspiring playing.
Hey Micheal what tuning were you in there? very cool
Thanks for watching! I’m in DADGAD for pretty much everything I do
@@MichaelWatts gotta day your playing style is very unique and really inspires me to try and get new sounds out. Thanks for all your hard work making the videos too.
Not sure of I like redwood at all. Almost all redwood guitars I have played sound cold. This in particular goes for the higher register.
Farhad Tajarobi I know what you mean, so much depends on the attack you use and also your nailcare approach
Michael what happened your lovely hair lol!
David Heenan self-inflicted COVID cut!
@@MichaelWatts yes you're not alone. A clippers and a youtube video and youre good!
David Heenan I didn’t even watch the video! Just went for it with some “full metal jacket” clippers I found on amazon!
@@MichaelWatts lol, thanks for the easy going humour and great videos, really enjoying them👍
David Heenan Thank you for watching! There’ll be more soon!
It sounds muffled.