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I am going to be building a cocobolo 15 1/2 fingerstyle guitar. I am looking to add a little bit more trebel to the cocobolo sound. I was leaning toward german spruce. But I am hoping to hear some other opinions. Anybody have an opinion on the subject?

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com

Chris;
do you mean a 15 1/2" wide guitar?
Mike

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Mike Collins

European spruce can be a great top wood. But I never heard anyone accuse cocobolo of lacking for treble.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I finished 2 OM's earlier this year with German spruce tops, (one EIR, one Silkwood) and they have fine trebles (and a rich bass too) - a recent remark about one (EIR) was it sounded almost like a 12-string the way it rings.
But it's all down to the individual piece of wood and how it's used.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Stainless steel frets will do it.

Mike, yes the guitar is 15.5" wide and 20" long.

The last coco I built was an OM with a carpathian top and it sounded nice. But I thought it was a little lacking on the trebel side. Now I guess I should mention that it was more trebel-y when strummed then plucked. And since I am a finger picker myself, that is why I am looking for a little more trebel.

Should I be considering carving the finger braces on the trebel side lighter with the intention of gaining more vibration from that side of the board?

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com

I think I'll second the stainless frets suggestion. I think the reason it sounded more trebly when strummed was that there may have been a pick in the equation. Using stainless I think may make up for that.

Made 2 cocobolo so far. one with cedar top and one German, the german I will +1 on Howards comment. German is a great choice for finger picking also use a maple bridge plate to bring out the treble ! are you sure it was the coco that make the last one lack treble ? I find that rosewoods are better for longer notes than strummed as it rings a longer time than maple, mahogany etc. Most friends I know playing bluegrass prefer mahogany as they dont want the notes to take out eachother.

Lars