How much do you factor in acoustic resonance?

Loobs

Not sure it matters on stage tbh 

OilCityPickups

Kurtis said:

I suppose if it's too resonant it will feedback. 

Um .... of course ... that's why semi acoustics feed back ... because of the resonance their tops (and to some extent their backs). 
Solid guitars will never resonate at all the low frequencies that the 'bass drum skin' of a semi acoustic will ... that's why we have solid guitars ... 


Dominic said:

I think it's very much what you 'want' to think .
A 'dead' sounding guitar can zing with life after a new set of strings.......it can be that simple
I've had a shitty lump of a strat weighing 11 lbs ( SQUIER ) that sounded great and fat with massive sustain but sounded awful unplugged and light resonant guitars that were hugely underwhelming.
When it comes to electric guitars the exceptions totally disprove 'the rule '
.....ultimately their sound comes from a box with a speaker in it which in turn sounds all kinds of different according to the room /hall/studio it's sitting in and varies according to the volume,power, 1x12/ 4x12....angle of projection ....height etc etc etc 
once you add in the guitar's wiring,caps,pickups,players technique,plectrum etc I don't think the acoustic sound of the guitar actually has that much ultimate significance once it's been passed through so many variable windows.

I agree, I'm always surprised by guitarists (particularly aging ones) to ignore physics science and research based evidence and retreat into superstition and shamanic bone shaking. If the Wright brothers had showed the same attitude to flight ... we'd still be taking to balloons and airships. :-) 
I cite the old computer programmers maxim .... rubbish in = rubbish out  ... if your guitar for example lacks treble or bottom end, you can't boost frequencies which are largely absent without loosing something: either introducing unwanted noise or causing unwanted compression or a host of other issues. It is better to start with good rather than to endlessly trying to polish a turd. :-)

BillDL

OilCityPickups said:

It is better to start with good rather than to endlessly trying to polish a turd. :-)

A glob of T-Cut and some elbow grease tends to work for me, although occasionally I have to use something like 600 through to 1,500 grit paper for a really polished look.  Corn kernel pericarp and residual bran flakes can be a bastard to get smooth though.

Kurtis

OilCityPickups said:

Kurtis said:

I suppose if it's too resonant it will feedback. 

Um .... of course ... that's why semi acoustics feed back ... because of the resonance their tops (and to some extent their backs). 
Solid guitars will never resonate at all the low frequencies that the 'bass drum skin' of a semi acoustic will ... that's why we have solid guitars ..

Um...yes...that's why I said it 

Kurtis

If you look at any ngd thread it's amazing how often the new guitars are the best, and most resonant, the new owner has ever laid their hands on.

Very rarely does anyone else notice a difference in sound.


It would certainly be interesting to hear some recordings of the difference between a "dead" guitar and a "better" one. 

BillDL

I posted the link to this YouTube video in another thread about guitar manufacturing in India and was reminded of Jerry Donohue's playing and "tonewood" observations about resonance.  I remember taping this documentary in 1987 on a VHS recorder and watching it quite a number of times.  Skip to 11:42 of the hour long video to hear what he says:

mrleon83

I think all my guitars sound great acoustically, I really love it, even more so when it’s so resonant that you can feel the vibration all over the guitar, feels alive! 

Of course , heavy strings help :-) 

Lewy

I don't factor it in at all these days. I strive to play with a very light touch and so even my most resonant guitars don't exactly vibrate in my hands or anything. I also never practice unplugged because it causes me to play harder than necessary so it doesn't matter to me how a guitar sounds played like that either.

On the whole, since I really started to put a lot of effort into technique I've become quite a cheap date in terms of what I need out of a guitar....mostly just fretwork and pickups.