I consider everything said above to be true. So maybe only the lower-priced cedar top acoustic guitars are too easily over-driven into breakup mode by being played aggressively. I've played a lot of cedar top acoustics, but it is true I was playing expensive ones. Or, what I find to be the most logical explanation in my case is - the cedar top guitars I had been playing were very fine guitars built by true master builders. It's possible I don't drive the strings nearly as hard as I think I do. I flatpick bluegrass melodies using a very heavy pick and driving into the strings heavily with my (right) picking hand, and when I have done this on cedar top guitars, I have not experienced any of this tonal failure or over-driven effect. But I must say what my own experiences with cedar tops are, and my experiences are very different.

I've read about this so many times and in so many places I find it very hard to dismiss. The second major caveat you will hear about cedar top guitars is that if you play aggressively, or loudly, with a pick or fingers - then the cedar top can be over-driven, and the sound will break up and become distorted and ugly. It would be wisest to use a less than medium gauge string set on a cedar top guitar. Oh, you can use those medium gauge strings if you want to, but you probably shouldn't use them all the time, and you certainly should only use them tuned to standard tuning or some manner of alternate tuning involving strings slacked from standard tuning. What this means to you is using heavier strings on a cedar top guitar is not so advisable. First and foremost it should be stated clearly here that in the general sense, meaning more often than not - cedar is a softer, less stiff wood than is spruce.

Egmond acoustic guitar 24