Murray, congratulations on the new guitar! I'm sure you'll get much enjoyment from it. I just went through a long process in getting a new instrument. I think I learned alot (we shall see).

I don't view mahogony as "inferior". My D18 is 25 years old with mahogony b/s and spruce top and has developed a nice resonant sound. As I played the new Martins in the music stores, the mahogonys had a richer tone then the rosewoods, however none rang like the veteran. This was disappointing as I was looking for "the" guitar and I was having a hard time finding something that sounded better than what I already had. I decided I was a mahogony guy.

I then wandered into Larivees. Neat guitars, good prices. Played two identicals (can't remember the models)except one had a gloss finish and the other satin (matte). The satin guitar sang! So I'm thinking the gloss finish will definitely affect tone in a dampening way.

Finally, the action of the guitar will affect the tone and resonance. Now I'm getting out of my area (perhaps others can explain) but again, playing two identical guitars with identical strings (elixsors) produced a remakable difference in resonance in favor of the one with the higher action. In discussing this with folks, some said action was the cause, others disagreed. One luthier mentioned a guitar being set up to take advantage of its "sweet spot".