[jmagill]

I have no problem with all the physics being mentioned here: the volume of air being moved, the resonant frequencies of different body sizes, etc. – all those things that can be measured. I love all that stuff. However, the OP's question was asking if a bigger guitar is louder, in other words, do we hear it as louder, and now we're talking about perception, not physics.

Guitars vibrate air, which reaches our ear, but it's only when that air vibrates our eardrum, those little bones behind it and the cochlea, that signals of a certain type get sent to the brain that it recognizes as auditory information and we 'hear'. Our bodies collect sensory data (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch) and send it to the brain where the brain registers it as one of our senses. In other words, we hear with our brains, not our ears.

This is why I asked in post #85, Louder to whom? The player, or a listener out front, ten feet away? which seemed to puzzle some here.

I think many if not most here would agree that a guitar sounds different to the player and a listener. This is why many suggest, when guitar shopping, that a guitar-playing friend accompany them so they can hear what the guitar sounds like from out front as well as in their lap. Guitars are relatively quiet compared to other instruments, and they're designed to throw sound out, so the amplitude the player experiences (volume) is not quite the same as what a listener experiences (projection). This is what led to the development of archtop f-hole guitars, which were designed to have greater projection so they weren't overpowered by other instruments in an ensemble setting.

Crisp, small-bodied guitars can often have plenty of volume for the player but not much projection for a listener, and of course the inverse can also be true.

So, I ask again, Which amplitude are we talking about and which is more important to you?
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