Adirondack vs Sitka spruce tops

I've had two Collings D1's in my possession for the last couple of weeks. About the guitars:

D1 (Sitka/mahog dread), D'Addario p/b mediums, 1 11/16" at the nut, guitar is approx 1 yr old, I've had it for six months.

D1A (Adirondack/mahog dread), D'Addario p/b mediums, 1 3/4" at the nut, guitar is approx 6 months old, I've had it for three weeks.

About me: I play both fingerstyle (flesh & nail right hand), with a flatpick, and hybrid pick (pick between thumb and index finger, finger pick with middle and ring fingers). I have a light to medium touch, generally......only ocasionally will I really wail (usually just for single string leads, etc).

So here's my short answer as to how these two guitars differ in sound. The Sitka guitar has a narrower frequency response, not quite as brilliant on the top end, not quite as large in the bass, compared to the Adi guitar. The Sitka guitar has a bit more midrange focus and punch, but the note separation when playing chords is greater on the Adi guitar. I vacillate on an hourly basis as to which guitar I prefer.

So are the differences all due to the differences in top wood? I dunno. Probably, the Adi guitar needs more play time to "open up", so I imagine I will keep both for as long as I can afford to and make a decision down the road as to which to keep and which to let go. Or maybe I'll win the lottery and keep both!

 

so true! always best to try before you buy with an acoustic instrument!!

 

I'm keeping both for a while......the Adi guitar really needs to open up some more, and if the differences in sound down the road continue as they are currently, I'll probably keep both. I love them both for what they do.

 

they are both great, but I can't keep them both:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/91208

 

People in the know tell me Adirondack is the stiffer wood, in general (but you must realize that there are no absolutes with two pieces of wood). My experience with these two guitars is that the Sitka sounded more full out of the starting block than the Adirondack. I've had an Adirondack Collings OM1A for almost a year, and it has defintitely opened up and become more full sounding. I'm expecting more or less the same with the dread.

 

I still can't say that one sounds 'better' than the other.....they both sound great and my opinion flip-flops from day to day.

The deciding factor is the nut width.....both are great for flatpicking and strumming, but the wider nut on the Adi guitar helps me out for fingerstyle, which is what a play quite a bit of the time, since I am actually a bit more of a classical guitar nut than a steel string acoustic guitar nut.