I just aquired an Alverez MD350. Solid rosewood back and sides, Solid spruce top, Ebony fret board and bridge, ect, ect. Chinese made. Heres the thing. It has a brighter sound than I generally prefer. I've changed the strings to GHS vintage bronze which really helped but would still like to tone it down a bit. I have recently ordered buffalo horn bridge pins and am going to upgrade the saddle and nut also. Will this help? I like this guitar and the sound is pretty good as is ( the overtones that come out of this box are incredible!)but would just like to mellow it out a bit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi, From my experience, new strings tend to sound very bright initially, and will usually lose their initial brightness within a few days. Also, most of the guitar's tone is generated by the wood; and Rosewood is usually quite bassy in tone, especially once it has opened up from extensive playing. If the guitar is new, you may just need to play it regularly for a year or two in order to mature the wood. One friend likes to set his new guitars on a stand near a speaker with loud classical music playing to help vibrate the wood. Hope this helps you out. Play On! Allen.
You can also try a coated string such as Elixir strings and go a bit heavier on the gauge...thicker strings produce a deeper tone. If you're worried about the extra stress on the neck, tune down a step and use a capo...your guitar should be able to handle the pressure...they're not made like they use to be! Hope this helps.
You may also try using a Dampit humidifier to bring the wood back to the proper moisture content. When the guitar is dry the tuning will go sharp and the tone will be brighter. The suggestion of heavier strings is a good one also. I use D'Addario EJ17's and they seem to have a great bass and all over full sound.
I'm the guy with the too bright acoustic. First off, thanks for the replies and suggestions. The guitar sounds great now so I thought I would tell what I did and my experience. Thought it might help anyone else with a new acoustic that has considered sending it packing because of tone issues like this. First off I replaced the nut, split saddles, and bridge pins with black buffalo horn, mainly for cosmetic reasons,(I like the look of the black horn with the ebony fretboard and bridge) but it did add to the tone. Seemed to make it deeper with more sustain. I went through about four sets of strings before settling on Elixer Polywebs, light gauge. I Believe the combination of changes and the few weeks of age, and gettin it good and played in has done the trick. Like I said it sounds great now. Deep resonant lows with sparkling highs. Really warm and mellow without the bright metalic sound it had before. Just thought I'd throw this out there in case someone could use the info. Thanks again for the response and the help.
Hey, it's me again. Just thought I'd ad as a foot note that the guitar came with a case with a built in hydrometer and I've noticed that the humidity definately has an effect on the tone. It sounds it's best when the hydrometer shows about 80 percent humidity. The "normal" range according to the markings on the hydrometer is between about 43 to 73 percent. I hope it doesn't hurt it. I guess will see.
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