Red Wood Tops,

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    • #4970
      Hank
      Participant

        The FTC that I recently purchased from Eddies Guitars is Granadillo / Redwood.

        What should I expect from the Redwood top as it ages?  With lots of playing time ,how long might it take to ‘Mature” ? I may be too old to be around when it reaches its’ peak tone.

        I’m VERY happy with its’ voice now….. and I love the neck. I do not know the neck shape but it is the easiest neck/fingerboard to play of any of the current Ramuda.

      • #4974
        tadol
        Senior Moderator

          I think we’re gonna find out – I don’t think it’s been used long enough, in enough higher-end instruments, to really know how it will respond over the years – plus, the FTCs are kinda unique as well. If I were to hope, it would be to mellow and relax just a little bit – to soften slightly, if that makes sense –

        • #5059
          Matt Hayden
          Participant

            The oldest redwood-topped instruments I know about are from the 80s, and they still sound excellent (made by Frank Fuller, several redwood/walnut things, which are really nice).

            Redwood as a material is a little more brittle than spruce (I don’t know why).  It’s got a very bright ring when tapped.

            I would guess that properly dry redwood is going to sound good right out of the gate and maybe get brighter as it ages (and dries).   In an FTC, this would probably translate to more incisive chop chords (go Freddie Greene!) and maybe more cut on the leads when coupled with the reflective granadillo on the back.

            I suspect it’ll sound something like Steve Khan’s redwood-topped rosewood David Russell Young guitar on Donald Fagen’s True Companion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ULgo1MTl8 – bright and punchy but not dry.

            Alternate and probably better listen: Steve Khan playing the same guitar on Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02BgGKgtjZ8&list=OLAK5uy_kwPLwg0TFcJXi2pbrxlRopJUno2C5q8QM, which is basically 50 mins of the same guitar with only Rob Mounsey’s keyboard behind him, playing mostly Monk tunes.  This is pretty much a high-wire act in which both the payer and the guitar are laid bare without a lot of ornamentation.

            I’m presuming the back and sides are dalbergia granadillo – there are a lot of woods called ‘granadillo,’ unfortunately, including the excellent red macacauba, platymisicum pinnatum, which I learned about from Brazilian builder Roberto Gomes.   Either way, it’s probably a very reflective material and will increase brightness….

            Enjoy it.

             

          • #5062
            Hank
            Participant

              Wow Matt…That’s a whole bunch of insight….. I really appreciate it.

              I have much appreciated the extreme sustain that the guitar produces now……so much so that I have to adjust my “attack” (such as it is) to allow for it. IE: i slow down to allow the notes to express themselves.

              I think Acoustic Soul should give this a spin .

              Tad would know the exact woods involved.

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