How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

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Stray Feathers
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Re: How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

Post by Stray Feathers »

I don't know how similar it is to Yellow Cedar, but I used that for two ukulele necks, and was surprised to find that it soiled very easily (until it was finished). So keep an eye on that when you're working with your Port Orford Cedar. Good luck with it; it seems to be highly regarded for fingerstyle so I'm interested to hear how it goes. Bruce W.
koolimy
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 3:59 pm

Re: How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

Post by koolimy »

MaineGeezer wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:31 pm I like the OM-style guitars I've built. Of course, the person behind the guitar has a lot to do with how it sounds; ref: Doc Watson fingerpicking his Gallagher draeadnought. But most of us ain't Doc Watson! Or this guy, playing a Gibson, I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbFS3iQPxig And Dave Van Ronk played a Guild.

I think guitars keep changing for a long time. There is that initial settling-in period when all the pieces get used to being a guitar, but it keeps going. You may not notice it week to week, or even month to month, but you'll pick it up sometime and notice a change. I was playing my first guitar that I built 5 or 5 years ago, and noticed that the sound seemed richer than I remembered.

I've just started a guitar to be built entirely of Port Orford cedar that I hope will resonate spectacularly... we'll see.
That's interesting to know that a guitar can keep changing its sound over the years. Maybe my guitar will sound richer as it ages, especially since it has a red spruce top.

I remember you had a post about your Port Orford Cedar guitar. Hope it goes well and would be interested to hear what it's like!
MaineGeezer
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Re: How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

Post by MaineGeezer »

RE: wood getting dirty during construction:
Yes, I'm all too familiar with the problem. I find that I have a problem when I sand down,say, ebony or some other dark wood binding, and the dust gets ground into the nice formerly pristine wood top. A sealing coat of shellac helps.
Don't believe everything you know.
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Diane Kauffmds
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Re: How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

It might take quite a while for your guitar to open. You've used the same materials as I used in my second guitar. She took a while to really open and now she plays if you even look in her direction. Red spruce is a really responsive wood and is my goto on my builds.

There are so many things that go into the voice of a guitar. Certainly all construction details, including woods and at times, just plain old dumb luck.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
koolimy
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 3:59 pm

Re: How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

Post by koolimy »

Diane Kauffmds wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:52 pm It might take quite a while for your guitar to open. You've used the same materials as I used in my second guitar. She took a while to really open and now she plays if you even look in her direction. Red spruce is a really responsive wood and is my goto on my builds.

There are so many things that go into the voice of a guitar. Certainly all construction details, including woods and at times, just plain old dumb luck.
I remember you built a Cherry OM, I'm guessing that's the guitar you are talking about? I hope my guitar can continue to open in a good way like yours. I like my Cherry J-185 already and honestly would be perfectly okay if it retained its current voice, but of course I would also be glad if it could become more responsive and gain more overtones. I only had 1 other acoustic guitar so I'm learned a ton about the acoustic guitar while building my J-185, and I am still learning as it matures. This forum has been a ton of help with that learning, I really appreciate y'all's knowledge and advice.
MaineGeezer
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Re: How to get more overtones and responsiveness from a guitar?

Post by MaineGeezer »

A couple more thoughts. From what I've been able to find out since I asked the question, a 12-fret neck may produce a more resonant guitar because of the shifted bridge location toward the center of the lower bout. And, according to the article i posted describing facalate bracing, it gives better resonance than X bracing. Who knows.....
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
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