hi, I'm looking for a new acoustic for general use; strumming and fingerpicking, any style of playing really. Mainly for home use. I've been trying out some Maton 808 body styles (b/c I feel uncomfortable with bigger bodied guitars). Options for the top are either cedar or spruce. The advice I seem to be getting though is that cedar is only good for fingerpicking and spruce is better for strumming. One salesperson actually said to me - you can't strum this cedar top, it can only be played "delicately". So I stopped my strumming and put it down. Personally, I like the warmth of cedar, but feel perfectly comfortable playing it more aggressively as well, so why can't I? Is there some sort of convention that I should follow? To me spruce sounds a bit thin. And yet it makes up the majority of all guitars so it is undeniably very popular and I'm probably an odd ball. Wondering if anyone can share some pearls of wisdom for me, maybe to help me feel a bit better about choosing cedar if I finish up going that way...
Cedar versus spruce
Hi FirebirdNick,
Billy here from GT! I'll be first to admit that I don't know much about guitar woods and how they may sound but I think the more important thing when it comes to finding a guitar is how it feels. If you feel comfortable playing the Cedar guitar then go for it. There's no hard rules when it comes to finding a great instrument that fits your style. I say, go for whichever guitar you think feels best in your hands. 90 percent of the sound comes from the player.
I know that answer might not have been very informative but that's my 2 cents.
I'm no expert either, but I think spruce has more volume and is kind of twangy. Cedar is warmer, but not so loud. I've owned a solid spruce top acoustic and I didn't really enjoy it so much for general at home use. Never owned a ceder though and can't speak to the strength of the wood for strumming. Seems weird to me though that someone would say you can't strum a cedar top.
I'm no expert but read a lot (more than needed) on tone woods and such. This is one time I think wood does matter. Cedar is softer than spruce, by a lot. Everything I've read says using a pick is a no no. You can strum just use thumb and finger tips, they are more designer for classical play which is finger style and usually play softly so the cedar gives more nuance. I want to think that I've read that cedar tops may also be thinner but don't hold me to that.
In the end it's yours play how you want, if I wanted cedar and to use picks, I'd have a pickguard installed to stop the chance of rubbing a hole in the top. I've also never been the type who digs in with the pick, have friends that do though, lol.
I'd go with what satisfies YOUR ear, not the salesman's agenda. if you like the sound and reinforces your affection for playing, that counts way more.
The son of a friend has a Seagull cedar top that sounds pretty sweet. He doesn't play it anymore and I am trying to scheme a trade. Lol.
The conventional view is that cedar produces a warmer, fuller, mellower sound, and spruce produces a sharper, brighter sound with more clarity.
