What can we do to affect tone on acoustics?

Soupman

If the guitar is still new, it may open up as it's played in. If it's an orange box, sell/trade it for something else - but go round the shops & try out stuff in your price range. When you find 'the one' that suits you, you'll know.
  

Mellish

I'm with @DavidR about going on a journey for a new guitar.

What boxes do we need to tick when in-store? Body shape and size, neck profile, nut width, woods, and some of us are attracted by looks. But in addition to all of that, don't we have a tone box to tick?

 

guitarjack66

bertie said:

ToneControl said:

play in front of a wall or window

if you're talking about playing at home (and not gigging specifically) then what @ToneControl says is spot on

two places I find really good, top of the stairs facing the wall, and in our "bay window" - its more a recess with window seat as our walls are 2 foot thick, makes a superb "sound chamber"

Two foot thick walls? You could invite a brass band to play and the neighbours would still be oblivious to it. My walls are like crepe paper so have to play at my Mum's end of terrace. An electric and headphones is high on my list.

Mellish

But if you want to experiment with tone on your existing guitar...

Nut/saddle materials
Bridge pin materials
Strings (pb, 80/20, monel)
Picks

Hope you find the, tone you're searching for. 

 

bertie

stand on your head and play with your feet.

takes some practice but well worth it in the end

roberty

Fill it with cement, route for a humbucker

guitarjack66

In my case,let somebody else play the guitar!

Smellyfingers

I know it’s been said but how hard and how deep to hit the strings can affect tone massively.

What I would do is pick a single chord, then temporarily forget my usual strumming technique. Then I would experiment with many different angles of attack(if using a plectrum) as well as different velocities, as well as varying between brushing and deeper plucking.

 Basically with sole focus on the strum, just try many different methods until I hit on the best tone. Sounds complicated and longwinded, but it could be quite fun and doable/findable in one session,

ToneControl

Also, other ways to change the sound:

try different plectrums
grow your nails longer, or cut them shorter
have acrylic nails fitted 

chickenbonejohn

Stop listening to the guitar, start listening to the music you are making. It won't make the guitar sound better but it might help make you and others around you happier. I know this isn't the answer that you want to hear.

Tannin

A fair point, @chickenbonejohn but you can't focus on making good music if your attention is constantly being drawn to poor-quality sounds coming from your instrument. (And if your guitar sounds bad and your attention isn't constantly drawn to that when you play, then a change of career is recommended.) This is why every musician should have at least one high-quality instrument. Well, it's two reasons actually:

(1) You can actually focus on making creative music. You are undistracted.
(2) You know your instrument is good, so you also know that any sound you make which  isn't good is your fault! No tail chasing, no "is it the guitar or is it me?" - if it sounds bad, lift your game. 

Note that a good musician can overcome limitations. If you are up to scratch and something goes wrong, you will make it work anyway. This is what you have to do when you break a string, or the singer comes in two bars early, or the foldback system cracks the sads, or your pickup switch fails and you are stuck on bridge only, or the drummer has had too much to drink  - you use your experience and skill to make the best of it and somehow salvage a decent set. But you don't do that rescue-mode stuff unless you actually have an unexpected problem. And once you've got through the immediate problem, you fix it - change your strings, work things over in the practice room, fix the foldback, have your guitar repaired, get a new drummer. Whatever it takes.

Mellish

TBF, I've not read *all* of this, so apologies if it's there but in my lazilness I've missed it.

But this guitar - is it played often OR (because of "poor" tone) rarely?



I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at here. 

ToneControl

chickenbonejohn said:

Stop listening to the guitar, start listening to the music you are making. It won't make the guitar sound better but it might help make you and others around you happier. I know this isn't the answer that you want to hear.

I spent years making do with cheaper instruments that didn't sound great
When I got pro quality guitars and amps, my playing improved rapidly

Soupman

Once I decided playing was my main hobby, I bought the best instrument I could afford at the time.

 It was a decision I never regretted & still play that guitar daily.

As I got older & could afford it I bought a better guitar. Love them both, play them both. Don't feel the need for more guitars (yet). That's probably because I wouldn't sound any different on anything else- by which I mean this is as good as it's going to get!!  
 

Tannin

Agree 100% @Soupman I am nowhere near a good enough musician to deserve any of my guitars, but I worked hard for that money and I'll spend it as I bloody want to. And - regardless of my lack of talent - I'm a significantly better player because I have nice guitars. A good guitar might make an "8" player into a "9" or even a ""10", yep. But if it takes me from a "3" to a "5", then it is worth every penny.  

My two hobbies are wildlife photography and guitar. In each case I make it a rule to spend whatever it takes to know that, no matter what is wrong with the picture or the song, it isn't the result of second-rate equipment. Anything wrong with either one is 100% down to me. That is a powerful motivation, and provides clarity of thought. 

I'm quite ruthless about that. I'm basically a miser. I drive a 20-year-old car, wear shirts I bought at the op shop for $2 until the collars are worn all the way through, bake my own bread (well), cut my own hair (badly) ... but guitars and camera lenses, I reckon spend whatever it takes.

ToneControl

Soupman said:

Once I decided playing was my main hobby, I bought the best instrument I could afford at the time.

 It was a decision I never regretted & still play that guitar daily.

As I got older & could afford it I bought a better guitar. Love them both, play them both. Don't feel the need for more guitars (yet). That's probably because I wouldn't sound any different on anything else- by which I mean this is as good as it's going to get!!  
 

I'm not so sure
I certainly sound better since I bought pro-quality guitars

Tannin

I think there is a threshold, @ToneControl Above about $3000 in my money - say £2000 GBP - the differences are subtle. 

(OK, you can't measure quality in $ or £ - sometimes a £1000 instrument plays better than one worth twice that. But generally speaking you can usually expect a certain quality at a certain price point. So I'll use price as a rough-enough-is-good-enough proxy for quality.)  

I reckon I can sound at my very best on my (expensive) WA May. Sure. If I get it right on the day. But I can sound near enough as makes no difference to just as good on the SRS-60 which cost a quarter as much. OK, I enjoy the May and I'll buy another similar-but-different Custom Shop Maton one of these days, but from the point of view of @Soupman's question "Will that improve me as a musician?" ... well, probably not. I reckon you need ONE quality instrument to bring out your ability. Let's say a £1500 acoustic, give or take. Anything past that level you do because you want to, not because you need to.

sev112

Years ago, a chap at work heard I played classical guitar and so we agreed to bring our guitars in. My was he fabulous, a real virtuous.  I played him Romanza, Cavatina and Classical Gas and he was very complimentary.  But he said, has anyone ever told you how to pluck the strings and I said no.  He said that almost all my string plucks were parallel to the soundboard and that I would get more volume and a better tone (as well as more longer sounding notes ) if I plucked more perpendicular to the soundboard.  

Was hard to start with but I got used to “pushing” the bass strings downwards into the soundhole and “pulling/plucking” the treble strings upwards away from the soundhole.  It was a revelation and made me hear my classical guitar in a whole new way I.e vibrant, loud and resonant, rather than a tight, tense, damped thing.

(now I know now that in Spanish/ classical technique there are names for different ways of plucking and that also you can go too far, and sometimes you want a bit of difference, but it was a great lesson

LastMantra

I'd say my Norman acoustic that I bought for £80 used is a "good" guitar and I like how it sounds and plays.

ToneControl

Tannin said:

I think there is a threshold, @ToneControl Above about $3000 in my money - say £2000 GBP - the differences are subtle. 

(OK, you can't measure quality in $ or £ - sometimes a £1000 instrument plays better than one worth twice that. But generally speaking you can usually expect a certain quality at a certain price point. So I'll use price as a rough-enough-is-good-enough proxy for quality.)  

I reckon I can sound at my very best on my (expensive) WA May. Sure. If I get it right on the day. But I can sound near enough as makes no difference to just as good on the SRS-60 which cost a quarter as much. OK, I enjoy the May and I'll buy another similar-but-different Custom Shop Maton one of these days, but from the point of view of @Soupman's question "Will that improve me as a musician?" ... well, probably not. I reckon you need ONE quality instrument to bring out your ability. Let's say a £1500 acoustic, give or take. Anything past that level you do because you want to, not because you need to.

I think £2.5k to £3k (new) is the threshold for acoustics for me