#16
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If there is a blind guitar player among us, please speak up on this. I am constantly troubled by how much subtle influence wood, grain, headstocks and, of course, brands affects what we think we hear. Why else would we all love posts with pictures the most?
My guess is that the blind player will have an exquisite feel for nut width, neck shape, overall setup, weight and feel for an instrument - all of which really affect playability at least as much, if not more, than whether the back is maple, the sides are laminated or the spruce is Sitka or Adirondack. |
#17
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I love a pretty back but I guess my point is that it's kind of a waste since you don't see it while playing and don't see it when it's on a stand or hanging.
Last edited by Rosewood99; 05-12-2016 at 12:38 PM. |
#18
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Is a beautiful looking guitar back necessary?
It's not at all necessary but really nice when it is beautiful.
I love looking at the back of my 414 when not playing it, beautiful grained ovangkol which helps the guitar sound good too. Would it sound as good if the wood didn't look as good? Hard to say, as presumably the wood is what it is both aesthetically and acoustically so you get one with the other so to speak!
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#19
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Obviously you have never looked at the back of an old -18 series martin.
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#20
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The most obvious place to place highly figured and exotic woods is on the front of the guitar. The headstock plate, the binding and the most effective place...the top!
That's one of the reasons why I like Ovations...
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#21
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Not necessary, but possibly detrimental
I guess it depends on what constitutes "beautiful." When I first started reading about BRW/IRW, I thought I learned that the straighter and tighter the grain was, the better the tone would be. As such a dark piece of rosewood with tight straight grain was called beautiful. Now, it seems the wavier or more figured or flamed, the more beautiful and to heck with tone considerations. So if a tight straight grain makes for better tone, is a "beautifully" figured (as in wavy) a detriment to tone ? Aesthetic vs toneal beauty may be two different issues.
John
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#22
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To some people a beautiful-looking guitar back is not necessary.
To others it is. People vary. Questions like this are problematic because they are based on the incorrect assumption that people do not vary, hence one way is correct for everyone. Then people endlessly debate, fight, crusade even go to war to force everyone in line with THEIR version of what's correct. IMO not accepting this, that people just vary, is what is behind the biggest problems we humans face. |
#23
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do what counts
Just make some good music. That is what counts. A lot of inspiring music has been made by wrong tuned & half broken instruments... Whatever instrument brings your imagination and creativity, that is the right one
B. https://www.reverbnation.com/bergzea https://soundcloud.com/bergzea https://bergzea.bandcamp.com |
#24
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Is a beautiful partner necessary? Of course not but if everything else is right, it's a nice to have backs somehow play a proportionally larger role in a player's decision than its actual contribution to the guitar. My back does not get much viewing time as compared to the top (only when I'm cleaning my guitar down after every playing session) but whenever I think about my guitar, the back is what comes to mind and it's just comforting to know that I have a beautiful guitar, but only because it has the sound to match its looks. If it sounded like a dud, I don't think I could care less about how beautiful it looked unless it was merely a piece of visual art that I hung up in my house.
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#25
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necessary for what??
I guess it doesn't matter much since most good tone woods are, by their nature, attractive. |
#26
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#27
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Everyone is missing the point of my post. I probably should have chosen a better subject line. I'm not commenting on whether looks are important or the sound is more important, yada, yada, yada.
I guess I'm trying to say that the beauty of the back of a guitar is kind of waste because you don't view it when you are playing it or when it's on a stand or hanging. I need to reverse display it sometimes so I can appreciate it more. |
#28
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It's kinda like a waste, there's a lot of thought going into having a nice matched pair, but I can think of other matched pairs that are equally nice to gaze upon but are really quite useless.
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#29
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I seem to recall a few Ferraris being sold because of looks. I might be wrong, though.
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#30
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but seriously though, I made a post about this here in the past week or so. you would almost think builders would put the figured stuff on the top, and just figure out how to make it sound good.
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