African Padauk...

[ros41]

Does it add anything to the guitar as far as tone?
or is it mostly cosmetic?

[Jeremy_9]

Not anymore than rosewood,maple,koa or a dozen other tonewoods. The tone of a specific wood is all up to the guitarist taste, I myself tend to lean towards the warmer tones of rosewoods and mahoganys rather than the brighter tones of maple and others. I think Paduak the wood used in the center piece of the back on the dm3md is to add personality, seeing as Dave is from africa and paduak is from africa. Though i'm sure it also adds something to the tone, but i reckon its an extremely subtle one. Besides all that, the top wood is going to color the tone of a guitars sound far more than its back and sides. But if your looking for a guitar with paduak back and sides your most likely going to have to go with a custom builder ( and pay a huge amount), cause besides martins limited highly sought after and higher pricey dm3md I don't know of any other manufacturers that offer a guitar with padauk back and sides.

[T714]

the padauk on the DM3MD makes no impact on the guitars tone, it's merely for cosmetic purposes...if the guitar's back and sides were composed completely of padauk and the guitar was braced differently with a different top wood, you'd have an argument that it would be a unique sounding instrument. but, you could've put a slice of brazilian rosewood (as martin did on the D-35's in the 70's) in the center back strip and that still wouldn't add or subtract anything from the tone...

[seth_southerland]

murof gnorw



i didnt say it!