I Wish I Knew This Before Buying An Acoustic: THE TOP

Summary

Paul Davids delves into the significance of a guitar's top, exploring various materials and their acoustic impact. Through a journey starting in Czechia, Paul collaborates with Furch Guitars to uncover how the top's material—ranging from Sitka spruce to Koa and Sinker Redwood—affects sound. By playing identical guitars with different tops, he discovers subtle nuances in tone and dynamics, underscoring the importance of understanding your guitar before purchasing. The video serves as both an educational guide and an invitation to appreciate the art of acoustic guitars.

Highlights

• The top of the guitar is vital for its resonance and sound. Holding your hand on it can completely dampen its beautiful frequencies 🎵.
• Paul travels to Czechia to learn from Furch Guitars about the importance of the top in acoustic guitars 🌍.
• Five identical guitars were crafted with different tops to explore how top material changes sound 🎸.
• Sitka spruce is a popular choice for its bright and dynamic sound 🌲.
• Cedar offers a warmer, more delicate tone, ideal for fingerpicking 🎶.
• Koa, with its stunning visuals, delivers clear articulation 🏞️.
• Sinker Redwood, submerged for years, provides a warm, responsive tone 🌊.
• Rosewood, often not used for tops due to elasticity, offers a unique tonal quality 🌹.
• Guitars become more distinguishable with time and familiarity 🎸.
• An upcoming acoustic guitar course is offered to enhance understanding and skill 🎓.

Key Takeaways

• The top of an acoustic guitar is crucial for its sound quality and dynamics 🎸.
• Various woods like Sitka spruce, cedar, and koa have distinct acoustic properties 🌲.
• Identical guitars with different tops can reveal subtle tonal differences 🎵.
• Understanding these details can enhance your guitar-playing experience 🎶.
• Exploration and knowledge can guide you to your perfect guitar 🎯.

Overview

Paul Davids takes viewers on an insightful journey into the world of acoustic guitars, specifically focusing on the importance of the guitar's top. Starting in Czechia, he collaborates with Furch Guitars to unravel the mysteries behind their sound. By examining different wood types like Sitka spruce and cedar, he reveals how each material imparts its unique tonal characteristics, making it clear why the top is considered a pivotal element in a guitar's sound.

With a hands-on approach, Paul demonstrates how even subtle differences in top material can create significant variations in tone and resonance. Using five identical guitars with distinct tops, he showcases the stark contrasts each wood presents, from the bright, dynamic Sitka spruce to the warm, responsive Sinker Redwood. His exploration highlights not only the importance of the top but also the depth of artistry involved in crafting acoustic guitars.

Concluding with reflections on his extensive research and playful discoveries, Paul emphasizes the value of education and personal exploration in choosing the right guitar. For those eager to delve deeper, he introduces an acoustic guitar course designed to enrich players' understanding and technique, inviting viewers to embark on their own musical journey.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Guitar Tops The chapter 'Introduction to Guitar Tops' discusses the significance of the guitar's top in producing sound. The speaker demonstrates how the top resonates to create beautiful frequencies, overtones, and volume. By obstructing the top, all these elements are eliminated, underscoring its importance. The discussion leads into an exploration that begins in Czechia, questioning what the most important element of an acoustic guitar is.
• 01:00 - 03:00: The Importance of Guitar Tops The chapter titled 'The Importance of Guitar Tops' focuses on explaining the significance of the top of an acoustic guitar. Peter Fur, CEO of F Guitars, emphasizes that the top of the guitar is crucial, as 90% of their research and development efforts on sound are centered around it and its bracing. The chapter advocates for guitarists to gain basic knowledge of the guitar, specifically starting with understanding the guitar top, before purchasing an acoustic guitar.
• 03:00 - 25:00: Different Guitar Tops The video is part of a series focused on acoustic guitars. This chapter, 'Different Guitar Tops,' delves into the significance of the guitar top in determining the instrument's sound quality. The speaker had five identical guitars made, differing only in the type of wood used for the top, to demonstrate the unique impact each type of wood has on the guitar's sound. This follows previous videos discussing guitar body types, shapes, and common wood combinations for the back and sides.

I Wish I Knew This Before Buying An Acoustic: THE TOP Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 so let me demonstrate the importance of the top of a guitar so this is resonating beautifully if I hold my hand on the top completely killing all the beautiful frequencies all the overtones all the volume everything is gone I wanted to know more about this so my trip started in czechia what is the most important element of an acous guitar you
• 00:30 - 01:00 you know the most important part of acoustic guitar is the top this is Peter fur CEO of f guitars and I visited Factory for a very special opportunity I would say 90% of our research and development in terms of sound it's related to Tops and bracing and as guitarist before buying any acoustic guitar I think it's absolutely necessary to equip yourself with some basic knowledge about the guitar and a really good starting point I would say the the best starting point is to check out my
• 01:00 - 01:30 video series about the acoustic guitar where we first looked at the different body types and body shapes and secondly the most seen wood combinations of the top and the back and sides of guitar and now in video three of that series we're looking at what many consider is the most important part of any acoustic guitar in terms of materials the top I kindly asked them to build me five identical guitars with just one difference each of them had a different top I hand selected
• 01:30 - 02:00 the best ones and here we are Rosewood Rose cedar cedar Kaa Kaa Sitka Sitka think top itself works as a sort of like a membrane of the speaker so it vibrates the the air around it so uh acoustic properties of uh various materials are different so I selected my favorite model in their online guitar configurator I made all the fancy appointments beautiful tuners beautiful inlays beautiful headstock beautiful bind in and uh here we are five
• 02:00 - 02:30 identical guitars with different top [Music] woods so out of the five Woods the most most common one is definitely Sitka
• 02:30 - 03:00 Spruce the first one we have here is Sitka which is probably the most you are you are most familiar with this one it's very very common wood for acoustic guitars the tonal quality the balance over tal Spectrum dynamic range very big dynamic range this is kind of common thing you as I said you probably familiar with how Sitka Sitka sounds [Music]
• 03:00 - 03:30 so this is Sitka spru and I think this is the most popular choice for Tops it has a bright and open Sound and its main strength has to be its big dynamic range so this means it handles Quiet [Music] Sounds but it also handles loud playing
• 03:30 - 04:00 [Applause] [Music] so next up I love comparing Sitka to Cedar and this is very interesting so I didn't have much experience with cedar on steel strings but I was kind of Blown Away by how it sounds it's super delicate seear comparing to Sitka it's very
• 04:00 - 04:30 lightweight it's very lightweight wood so uh it doesn't take too much energy to start to like a vibrate to start to play it so it a very very light input from your fingers it starts to starts to move already [Music]
• 04:30 - 05:00 that is exactly what I noticed I love how much comes out of this guitar when playing nice mellow finger style it just somehow it gives you more than you expect it feels lifted up there's more coming out of the guitar than you put in it's beautiful and honestly as a player you hear and feel a big difference and I'm not entirely sure it translates to audio one onone but compared to sit guy just the notes pop out of the guitar more
• 05:00 - 05:30 easily especially when playing quiet and delicate pieces like this but uh on the other side of the spectrum if you put like a lot of energy which Sitka can handle Cedar cannot do like a stop you if you do give too much energy so it works as a compressor in that way you know it will just don't allow you to go with the Dynamics too far uh so it's great for a finger style you know if you have a light technique finger technique as Peter said there's less dynamic range so when playing loud it tops out more easily
• 05:30 - 06:00 [Music] so from Cedar we go to the next one blows my mind every time I see it Hawaiian
• 06:00 - 06:30 [Music] Goa and hawne kaai is most famous for its stunning looks I mean the flame on here is just gorgeous and often you see an old haa guitar so back sides and top all made from that same wood but here it's very interesting to hear just how much that top changes the tone so Kaa has very
• 06:30 - 07:00 clear articulation and [Music] [Music] focus havan Kaa very nice material visually very nice material uh right now it doesn't look so because it's not not finished but uh but when you do finishing and all the Flaming go out
• 07:00 - 07:30 amazing material Kaa I would recommend for the for the smaller body guitar so right now we have om so this is the really suitable for that my experience with Kaa I've played some older Kaa guitars and somehow they are always warming up beautifully getting more played in getting more mature over time and just opens up and gives you more warmth the looks as well as the tonal characteristics it's definitely unique it's for players who like a bolt choice and I'm all for it
• 07:30 - 08:00 so the next one wow this is it super special Sinker Redwood and there is something about Sinker that's just it's just magical these locks are often buried underneath Rivers underwater in North America possibly having been there for 100 and plus years it's totally unique it's amazing [Music]
• 08:00 - 08:30 so Sinker really has a warm natural tone to it it's very [Music] responsive now we got a sink Redwood it actually has been in water in the bottom of the river for a while and in sort of carbonized over years and uh sort of behavior act like Cedar but it's it's a very fine and very fast response
• 08:30 - 09:00 [Music] what I noticed more comparison to Cedar
• 09:00 - 09:30 is there is a lot of string to- string definition [Music] so there's something all these guitars smell Beautiful by the way but there is something totally unique about Sinker I also play the Sinker mahagany Martin a while back in London and it still lives in my mind rent free it was a beautiful guitar and definitely that's part of the
• 09:30 - 10:00 Sinker that's charm anyway um so compared to Cedar I would I would say it has that same warmth and that same depth to it but it still keeps some of that Clarity that you don't have in Cedar so it's an interesting wood [Music] definitely all right so um lightweight as well M I love it so next up to the last one and this one is very special a little bit
• 10:00 - 10:30 experimental as I said where is it here we are so this is an all Rosewood guitar back sides and top and there's something very strange when you do [Applause] [Music] that so the reason why people often do not use Rosewood for Tops is because of
• 10:30 - 11:00 the elasticity it is very stiff not along the grain like this but also like this as opposed to the other tops we've seen so far very interesting one Indian Rosewood because what makes it different is that parallel elasticity of that material it's uh very similar to perpendicular elasticity which is different for these materials we are uh like a spruce Cedar
• 11:00 - 11:30 and so on they have like parallel elasticity very small but perpendicular very high very different this direction or that direction this one is quite similar this way quite similar this way so uh that sort of brings almost like kind of like an artificial sound to to to the to the sound of the guitar sort of like a carb carbon fiber top or something like that which is very very different to the to to what you are used to and honestly I've played some carbon
• 11:30 - 12:00 fiery guitars and this is really really familiar to me it sounds a lot like this carbon fiber [Music] guitar I my first instinct is to say a little bit hollowyoutube [Music]
• 12:00 - 12:30 [Music] [Music]
• 12:30 - 13:00 and you know what I found so fascinating I really want to tell this so first when I got these guitars I unpacked them and I was a little bit underwhelmed with how much differences there were between the different models so I was a little bit Bound by this because we spent so much time in selecting all the woods and crafting these guitars but then something very strange and peculiar happened as I started playing them a
• 13:00 - 13:30 little bit more the differences grew louder and louder and I picked on them so much more easily it's fascinating [Music]
• 13:30 - 14:00 I think that says a lot about comparisons on YouTube or comparisons in general the more you tend to hear a sound and get used to it the easier it is to distinguish different types if you hear four different strats well yeah it's going to sound like a strat each of those times but if you really love one
• 14:00 - 14:30 and you play another one you're going to hear the differences pretty pretty easy and with this is the same and it's so cool to accustom yourself to these differences because you can way more easily tell which guitar is which and where your preference lie and that is the key to all these videos that I'm making I want you to be as well educated as you can be I would love to know by the way if I make a fourth video in this series what should we take a look at maybe
• 14:30 - 15:00 strings that would be very interesting so if any of these videos help you out or you just love the guitar just as much as I do I do want to show that I do offer an acoustic guitar course that's tailor for the acoustic guitar bringing the best out of the instrument it goes from that swampy finger Style Blues to that Jazzy strumming and from that John Mayor technique to well everything you want to know about the acoustic guitar and starting plays is this beautiful map where you can visit the different places that will teach you all about the acoustic guitar and well it's a wonderful of course teaching you
• 15:00 - 15:30 everything you need to know about becoming a good acoustic guitar player thank you so much for watching and thank you for for these lovely guitarists it's been an amazing and fun experience and I wish you a lovely day goodbye