Hi Daryl,
Can't help you with your specific request. But I have played cedar/rw (my own) back to back with engel/rw, both in GA body, if that helps.
First off, they are tonally
very similar as their body woods and shape clearly sound like they are closely related; cousins, if you will. That said, there is a distinct difference in their timbre that, to my ears, focused primarily in the upper register. The cedar has a crisp top. Not bright by a long shot, but a crisp "outline around the notes." This and that oft-repeated "warm" mids thing going on.
Very pleasing and the reason why I love ced/rw like I do. Not to mention very touch sensitive, as if the volume knob were turned up when playing lightly or with soft attack.
What the englelmann top brought to the table is a louder, more-pronounced high-mid tone. Not "middle-mids" where the warmth lives but the
upper end of the mids (how's that for confusing
), that seemed to "sharpen" the notes a bit, adding a tad more definition or "edge" around each note. Single notes or strummed, I noticed this enhanced individual-note definition. The notes are still cedar-like thick and warm, but that upper-mid bump created a "clearer line," if you will around the notes. Anyone nudging up the 1k-2k sliders on a GEQ knows exactly what I'm talking about. Even the bass notes, though just as deep and low as the cedar, seemed to have more definition "around" them. None of which is "better" mind you, as much as it is simply different. And ultimately, the very top end is perhaps a bit more crisp with the engel. On this latter point, I say "perhaps" since both really did have a nice top end, but that "crispness" is more similar between the two than the upper mids which were absolutely distinguishable. Oh, and I find engelmann
just as touch sensitive as the cedar, which is to say very nice; and both still
very amenable to all but the most ham-fisted strumming.
Disclaimer: all the above applies to exactly two guitars I've played (one of which I know well as it was my own GA7e). But who knows how much the aforementioned differences are attributable to the normal differences between guitars vs the simple difference in top wood. But given the general tonal similarities of the two, I'd personally say the obvious differences seemed like they were due to the top woods since what I heard is consistent with what is often said about these two woods. All FWIW, anyway
Edward
