Excellent comparison, thank you. Both sound great, but to my surprise, I liked tapered a little more! The latest trend seems to value scalloped as being better, but now I'm not so sure...
Here in the UK, just acquired an old '63 D-28 & trying to play along with you, but I can't flatpick as good as I can fingerpick. Damn! Love your videos.
Thanks Bryan for the great comparison i was waiting for this one.... very honestly shop guitar sounds amazing it got the sound i am looking for .... Tapered to me was good but did lack that extra punch... please please keep making videos we all learn so much ..please dont stop
Totally fair!!! Like I said.... I know a lot of people are gonna like the boomy sound. I'm just trying to open up eyes and ears to different sounds and what they're good for.
To my ears through a phone speaker, the tapered 18 had a more cohesive 'jangle', less harsh, more balanced mids, a more pleasant output. The shop 18 had more of the specific mids that I would turn down on my Baggs ParaDI if plugged in. The shops mids were relatively unpleasant to my ear. The phone speaker is not ideal but it serves to emphasise those mid frequencies that bug me... Also you were playing the tapered 18 more skillfully which would be a neck thing AND because you 'found the sound' and varied your technique to get the best out of it. Anyhow I'm convinced that real difference was not the taper, but the missing 15th fret. I'm off to pull the 15th out of mine right now!
@@Bryankimsey Well - it has been mine since 1982 and I know Rusty (original owner) never changed them and the re-fret, bridge work, and neck re-set were all done by Judge Wolfe so Martin must have done it.
Awesome great video. I love both D18s. I don't think either one was louder than the other. But in the first two picking sessions, I think the second D18 had a deeper tone/volume but after that, I think they sounded pretty much the same. I always thought the D18 was a better-sounding guitar cause they don't have all that trim around them. They are pretty much nude as far as extra trinkets go. Sadly, Martin stopped making Scalloped Bracing. I was not aware of that.
D's were scalloped until 1944. Then there's a fuzzy period until 1948 during which you can find tapered and non-tapered (straight) braces, along with steel and ebony truss rods. Straight braces only until the HD-28 in 1976... but that was a "cookie cutter" scallop and still not a true "prewar" scallop. No D-18's were scalloped until, I THINK, the D-18 V in 1996 but STILL a "cookie cutter" scallop. The real prewar style scallop didn't show up until, I THINK, the D-18 GE in 1999. The really correct scallop showed up on the various Authentics. I can't think off-hand of ANY new Martin with tapered braces... maybe some special signature model? Red spruce tops are gone by 1946. Therefore, if you were gonna compare equivalent guitars with tapered braces to scalloped, you would have to get a 1943 D-18 and a 1945. The chances of getting two relatively unmolested (no bridge changes, for instance) examples of those together is REALLY slim. But... these two '72 D-18 have the same woods, construction, and modifications and this is the first and only time I've been to get THIS close to a decent A/B of scalloped vs tapered.
Think the Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) reproduction of mid-fifties D-28 has tapered bracing. Also think my early '52 D-28 might be tapered but not altogether sure. I would have to get in the sound hole with my phone on preset flash (I'm pretty low-tech) to get a pic to see for sure since my cosmetic mirror and flashlight aren't the best. Lol. 😂
Nothing wrong with sticking the phone in there on "Timer" and flash. I have some photos of a '53 with "sort of" tapered bracing but it's still just a little different from the '45 I have photos of. I checked the specs on the Rich and they just say "Non-scalloped" but that doesn't mean anything. I'm hearing rumors of "tapered", too. I honestly don't know if Martin even recognized "tapered" bracing. I'll find out.
ijmem.avestia.com/2012/001.html The scalloped point is where Martin puts it and both guitars sound a lot better than they did stock. That's what matters.
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Excellent comparison, thank you. Both sound great, but to my surprise, I liked tapered a little more! The latest trend seems to value scalloped as being better, but now I'm not so sure...
Here in the UK, just acquired an old '63 D-28 & trying to play along with you, but I can't flatpick as good as I can fingerpick. Damn!
Love your videos.
Thanks Bryan for the great comparison i was waiting for this one.... very honestly shop guitar sounds amazing it got the sound i am looking for .... Tapered to me was good but did lack that extra punch... please please keep making videos we all learn so much ..please dont stop
Totally fair!!! Like I said.... I know a lot of people are gonna like the boomy sound. I'm just trying to open up eyes and ears to different sounds and what they're good for.
Great comparison, great info. Thanks Bryan 👍
Love your videos
To my ears through a phone speaker, the tapered 18 had a more cohesive 'jangle', less harsh, more balanced mids, a more pleasant output. The shop 18 had more of the specific mids that I would turn down on my Baggs ParaDI if plugged in. The shops mids were relatively unpleasant to my ear. The phone speaker is not ideal but it serves to emphasise those mid frequencies that bug me...
Also you were playing the tapered 18 more skillfully which would be a neck thing AND because you 'found the sound' and varied your technique to get the best out of it.
Anyhow I'm convinced that real difference was not the taper, but the missing 15th fret. I'm off to pull the 15th out of mine right now!
That 15th fret was key. It makes the guitar lighter.
That's how I heard them as well
@jessehudson And the missing 15th fret was key for you, too? :)
You're playing has become Blue Ribbon from start to finish
It's all the banjo playing I've been doing. :)
I play a 71 D-18. Really nice guitar. I have tapered braces in mine.
Someone must've done it because they'd be straight braces from the factory.
@@Bryankimsey Well - it has been mine since 1982 and I know Rusty (original owner) never changed them and the re-fret, bridge work, and neck re-set were all done by Judge Wolfe so Martin must have done it.
It sounds fantastic, doubt you will get a trade.
I can't really trade it. I need the shop guitar for A/B s.
Awesome great video. I love both D18s. I don't think either one was louder than the other. But in the first two picking sessions, I think the second D18 had a deeper tone/volume but after that, I think they sounded pretty much the same. I always thought the D18 was a better-sounding guitar cause they don't have all that trim around them. They are pretty much nude as far as extra trinkets go. Sadly, Martin stopped making Scalloped Bracing. I was not aware of that.
D's were scalloped until 1944. Then there's a fuzzy period until 1948 during which you can find tapered and non-tapered (straight) braces, along with steel and ebony truss rods. Straight braces only until the HD-28 in 1976... but that was a "cookie cutter" scallop and still not a true "prewar" scallop.
No D-18's were scalloped until, I THINK, the D-18 V in 1996 but STILL a "cookie cutter" scallop. The real prewar style scallop didn't show up until, I THINK, the D-18 GE in 1999.
The really correct scallop showed up on the various Authentics. I can't think off-hand of ANY new Martin with tapered braces... maybe some special signature model?
Red spruce tops are gone by 1946. Therefore, if you were gonna compare equivalent guitars with tapered braces to scalloped, you would have to get a 1943 D-18 and a 1945. The chances of getting two relatively unmolested (no bridge changes, for instance) examples of those together is REALLY slim. But... these two '72 D-18 have the same woods, construction, and modifications and this is the first and only time I've been to get THIS close to a decent A/B of scalloped vs tapered.
Think the Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) reproduction of mid-fifties D-28 has tapered bracing. Also think my early '52 D-28 might be tapered but not altogether sure. I would have to get in the sound hole with my phone on preset flash (I'm pretty low-tech) to get a pic to see for sure since my cosmetic mirror and flashlight aren't the best. Lol. 😂
Nothing wrong with sticking the phone in there on "Timer" and flash. I have some photos of a '53 with "sort of" tapered bracing but it's still just a little different from the '45 I have photos of.
I checked the specs on the Rich and they just say "Non-scalloped" but that doesn't mean anything. I'm hearing rumors of "tapered", too. I honestly don't know if Martin even recognized "tapered" bracing. I'll find out.
The D-18 has been scalloped for a few years now, as well as the HD-28. D-28 isn’t scalloped today.
With Scalloped bracing. The high points of the braces should preferably coincide with the nodes of that brace.
ijmem.avestia.com/2012/001.html
The scalloped point is where Martin puts it and both guitars sound a lot better than they did stock. That's what matters.
The scalloped is woofier on the low e
Looks like one of them has a Mitchel’s PlateMate installed. Would that make a difference in the sound?
Neither one has one. Those are my bridgeplates....not sure what you are seeing