Tapping on my first backs and sides, have questions!
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:28 pm
I got my first back and side sets - one Honduras mahogany and one black walnut - and i was just tapping them to see if I could learn anything about tap tone and sounds. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, but to my great surprise I could hear stuff! Also to my surprise, the mahogany has a real ring to it, while the black walnut doesn't sound like much. So this brought up a few questions:
1) I thought black walnut was supposed to be between mahogany and rosewood, but I'd say this bw is definitely below this mahogany in tone - now I know every piece of wood is different but this surprised me. The bw back is closer to flat sawn, very pretty but might account for the lack of tone?
2) I bought this wood online from a reputable supplier (RC Tonewoods, Peter is great) and I like it, but of course couldn't listen to it before I bought it! So how do you guys buy stuff without listening to it? Or is that why there are pretty liberal return policies from tonewood suppliers? And is it also that the tone of the back and sides doesn't really matter that much so you can buy for looks as opposed to sound?
3) So what about tops where the rubber hits the road?!? I'm not flying to Alaska to tap on soundboards! So you just rely on the supplier and cross your fingers?
Fascinating stuff - thanks for any advice!
Clay
1) I thought black walnut was supposed to be between mahogany and rosewood, but I'd say this bw is definitely below this mahogany in tone - now I know every piece of wood is different but this surprised me. The bw back is closer to flat sawn, very pretty but might account for the lack of tone?
2) I bought this wood online from a reputable supplier (RC Tonewoods, Peter is great) and I like it, but of course couldn't listen to it before I bought it! So how do you guys buy stuff without listening to it? Or is that why there are pretty liberal return policies from tonewood suppliers? And is it also that the tone of the back and sides doesn't really matter that much so you can buy for looks as opposed to sound?
3) So what about tops where the rubber hits the road?!? I'm not flying to Alaska to tap on soundboards! So you just rely on the supplier and cross your fingers?
Fascinating stuff - thanks for any advice!
Clay