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maple or cypress
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TANúñez
Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS
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 RE: maple or cypress (in reply to ramon roman)
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quote:
Hi all,
I am looking to buy a flamenco guitar. I need info, as to what is better, a cypress back and sides, or a maple back and sides?? Also are there opinions as to a thin body vs standard depth. Any pros and cons on a cut away or no cut away? How about electronics, yea or nay? I know it is a lot of questions, but it would be very helpful.
Thank you,
You should first ask yourself what your planning on playing with the guitar. If your playing strictly or mainly flamenco, go with cypress and a standard body depth. Basically a traditional flamenco guitar. Electronics if your a gigging musician but not necessary. You could always mic up which I prefer.
If you play latin based music in general and you gig, then I can see going with a thin body cutaway with electronics as many musicians do and I'd probably go with maple.
I personally feel there is a bit more than a minimal effect on the tone. Especially when comparing between cypress and a rosewood. Particularly in the basses. I like maple because to my ears, it's a nice mix between the two.
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Tom Núñez
www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars
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Date Nov. 11 2012 22:54:50
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Ricardo
Posts: 14819
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: maple or cypress (in reply to elias)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: elias
What are the big differences tonally between cypress and maple? I don't think I could point out the difference between the two blindfolded but I don't have much experience with maple. Maybe more warmth and woodiness (oud sounding) to cypress? Maple more crystalline while retaining a strong fundamental?
You have to qualify the differences somehow. I have a Sanchis Maple (Arce) and had the opportunity to compare it to the cypress and Indian Rosewood equivalents. So the main difference between cypress and Rosewood was the Rosewood guitar had more perceived bass, brightness, and sustain, the cypress has more mid range and rapid decay. In this regard the maple was right between the two….the bass was certainly there but it was not AS bassy, or bright, but not as midrangey and dry as cypress. I had similar experience with “Lawson cypress” aka port orford Cedar. I would say those two woods had more in common with each other than they did with either Mediterranean cypress or Rosewood. Weight is also “in the middle” so to speak, where cypress would be lighter weight and rosewood heavier.
When I went to record myself and have a blind playback, the rosewood, cypress, port orford, and maple, all sounded exactly the damn same!  I could not tell which guitar was which despite having just played them moments before. Perception is key. Cypress smells the best BY FAR!
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Date Dec. 3 2023 19:31:03
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Ricardo
Posts: 14819
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: maple or cypress (in reply to Echi)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Echi
The differences I see between cypress and maple are about dampening and weight.
I agree with the observations of Ricardo: maple flamenco guitars are midway between cypress and rosewood.
The problem I have with soft maple is mainly with the dampening effect (same as Pau ferro) which does something at the note transient: generally speaking it adds a kind of soft touch and slightly less presence at the beginning of the note.
Yes, I noticed this too, but I only had to compare pau ferro on Hermanos Sanchis lopez, but yes that was the effect. I will say though, the effect seems more from the payer’s perspective, because the recordings come out pretty normal. Everyone wants to purchase my maple sanchis for its tone. I travel with it, to keep my Condes safe. But truth is, I agree about that soft response thing when I am playing it. The Lawson Cypress (and port orford that Estebana built, which is the same wood apparently but a different cut makes it look different) had the same issue. However, as you can see in the middle video I posted above, when I put La Bella strings (820 red) it behaves a bit more immediately. Unfortunately my Sanchis does not like those 820s, sounds really bad with them. Luthiers sound good, but the soft response remains. My only regret was recording the Live in Fresno album with Jesus Montoya…I did not know it was gonna be recorded. I was accompanying and the guitar is great for chords, but if I had known we were going to record, I would have brought my Conde out there.
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CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com
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Date Jan. 6 2024 19:20:43
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