Teaching your Guitar to sound better??

slinger
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:13 am

I thought this was and interesting discussion by Canadian guitar builder Robert Godin about soundboard tops on our acoustic guitars.
....did I find another excuse why I sound so :S ??




What's your guitar been listening to??


thereshopeyet
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:46 pm

Thanks


wrench
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:58 pm

thereshopeyet wrote:
Hello Slinger

I read in a book I got a while back that some luthiers go to great extemes to tune their sound boards.... and others are reluctant and think it's extreme.

I would wonder if the later is correct as, from this video, it's a variable that's dynamic and changes depending on what's played.
Soundboard tuning and soundboard aging are two different things. Subjecting the soundboard to sound will not tune it, but it will change its physical properties such that it resonates better.


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:47 pm

Subjecting the soundboard to sound will not tune it, but it will change its physical properties such that it resonates better.
Is there research to back this idea that Godin expresses about the sound ageing the wood Dan? I'm sure that there's a lot of subjectivity involved in evaluating the sound of a well played guitar. I'm just wondering if you or anyone else knows of some solid evidence to back this fascinating idea. I admit, I'm a little sceptical.


thereshopeyet
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:50 pm

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wrench
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:45 pm

thereshopeyet wrote:
Wrench Wrote
but it will change its physical properties such that it resonates better.
Hello Wrench
I don't know much about it other that the few things I've read.

They are different.... I see what you mean... each soundboard has it's own resonance qualities.
Tuning the sound board refers to finding the optimal response and can be improve through various means
and a manual processes

Where as the video is refering to the effects of it's environment, age and what's played on it.

Referring to soundboard tuning... do you think theres a limit to adjustment and some luthiers might be extreme.

For example .... on a different topic....some might argue it's pointless making a HiFi system with a 40 Khz frequency response when most people
start with the ability of hearing about 20Kz and falling substantially with age.

From another point of view I suppose an experienced musician may be able to respect the difference.
The factors that determine how a soundboard vibrate are many and complex. Some of those factors are the physiology of that particular piece of wood, so yes, there are limits to how well a soundboard can be tuned. As far as luthiers' extremes, I would only be concerned if the luthier didn't go far enough, and I don't think a luthier can tune excessively. The better the tuning, the better the instrument will sound. I don't think a soundboard can sound so good a human cannot detect its overtones. I see the logic in your HiFi example, but most systems perform best when not at their service limits. Following your example, a HiFi with an upper frequency response of 300kHz (my old Harman Kardon) does in fact sound better to me than more conventional systems with 20kHz upper limits.

On guitars, though, we don't need to guess or evaluate qualitatively. We can measure a guitar's sound capability and determine the health of the guitar quite accurately and easily. If a luthier tells me he tap-tested a board and it rang like a bell, I can quantify the sound quality of his bell.


thereshopeyet
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Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:24 pm

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