First Session: "Is Dense-Grain Wood Really That Good?"
Introduction
Hello. I'm Inoue, the manager of Advance Guitars.
Lately, I've been getting more opportunities to write articles for music magazines.
As I continued writing, themes I wanted to explore further—ones I hadn't been able to fully cover in articles—gradually began to accumulate.
Furthermore, through daily interactions with customers and observing the guitars themselves,
I often find myself stopping in my tracks and wondering, "What's the real story here?"
Can't we talk about the questions and realizations we feel in such moments in a freer way?
And that's how I started my "Solo Narration Series" on YouTube.
In this series, I cover topics related to acoustic guitars as broadly as possible, focusing primarily on things I personally find interesting.
This article summarizes the series, supplementing aspects that are difficult to convey through video alone.
I hope you'll enjoy the world of acoustic guitars from a slightly new perspective.
First Session: "Is Dense-Grain Wood Really That Good?"
Is there a difference in the quality of the wood grain for top-grade wood?
As I begin this series, I thought it might be interesting to consider the "killer phrases of acoustic guitar shops," so I came up with this content.
That's when I came up with the theme: "Is densely packed wood really that good?"
That's because I myself have mentioned that this guitar uses densely grained wood, and I've even added that to the product description.
In other words, wood with a dense grain is considered good in the first place, as a compliment,
To put it bluntly, I began to wonder if they were using it as a sales pitch at the music store.
So is dense-grained wood really that good?
I took the time to gather my thoughts again on what exactly is good about it, and then I spoke about it.
Where is dense-grained wood used?
When it comes to acoustic guitars, it seems to be primarily used for body materials (such as spruce and rosewood).
Regarding mahogany for the neck and ebony for the fingerboard, you may also see them described as having "density."
What is the meaning of the term "dense-grained wood"?
I have never seen it used in a negative sense.
It is used as a compliment for the guitar, in a positive sense.
To put it another way, from a music store's perspective, you could call it a sales pitch.
What exactly is dense-grained wood?
Since it's an acoustic guitar, I'd like to consider spruce.
The grain of spruce wood is the width of the growth rings themselves.
Some spruce trees display their grain floating sideways like a ribbon, but we'll set that aside for now.
Dense-grained woodThat is to sayThe width of the tree rings is narrow.refers to the matter.
width of tree ringsThat is to sayWood growth rateTherefore,Wood with tightly packed grains grows slowly.That's how it turns out.
Tree growth is influenced by climatic factors, so it varies depending on the local environment—such as temperature and hours of sunlight—as well as the type of tree.
Uniform grainThat is to say,Stable and growingindicates.
So is dense wood good?
Since it's an acoustic guitar, I'll use Martin spruce as an example.
Martin guitars are said to have eight grades for their top wood.
When dense wood is preferred, higher grades will have denser grain.
However, judging by Martin's guitars, that's not necessarily the case.
The width of the grain on a Martin D-28 and a Martin D-45 doesn't actually differ that much.
I don't know what these eight-stage grading criteria are, but I believe they involve a comprehensive assessment of factors like appearance and tonewood characteristics.
In some circles, a standard based on the number of growth rings per inch is apparently used. Even if Martin employed such a standard, it would only serve as a minimum benchmark. In reality, I believe an expert can immediately assess the quality of the appearance without relying on such criteria. Therefore, I consider statements like "This spruce has dozens of grains per inch" to be nothing more than numerical values.
In other words,You can't judge the quality of an acoustic guitar based solely on whether the frets are level.I think.
When considering the quality of acoustic guitar wood, I believe there are three main factors.
These are the characteristics (processability/rigidity/weight), acoustic properties, and design appeal.
The balance between these elements is what allows craftsmen and us, the recipients, to judge quality based on our own subjective standards.
Should you avoid wood with a wide grain?
Considering the opposite of "fine-grained wood is good," wood with wide grain patterns would be bad, but it's impossible to determine the exact point at which grain width becomes too wide to be considered good.
As mentioned earlier, such materials are pre-screened out, so for those used as top wood on finished acoustic guitars,
I don't think we need to assume that bigger necessarily means worse.
For example, Gibson models from the 2010s sometimes feature a wider grain pattern than usual.
Based on my experience trying them out, they all had a soft, rich, and beautiful tone, making each one an excellent choice as a beloved instrument.
On the other hand, perceiving wood with uniformly dense grain as "beautiful"Totally fineI think.
Since acoustic guitars inherently convey less visual information than electric guitars and the like, I find it truly wonderful to appreciate and cherish their aesthetic beauty as a point of praise.
Furthermore, I believe the width of the grain pattern also plays a role, to some extent, as a tonewood.
I'd like to talk more about this as we go along.
Bonus (Thoughts on guitars with very wide grain)
I wondered if there was a tree with wide growth rings to tell this story, so I looked into it.
Apparently, there's a fast-growing Japanese paulownia called Japalonia, and its trunk grows about 40 cm in just four years.
The width of the growth rings is 10 cm. Since dreadlocks are about 40 cm wide, I think it's possible to make one with eight wood grain patterns.
I think people will judge it as good or bad once it's made, but manufacturers probably won't make it...
Probably a dull, thudding sound, huh??