Does Your Guitar's Back Affect it's Tone? Is it a Reflector, Diffuser or an Absorber?
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2023
- We recently went into great depth on the Anatomy of the Acoustic Guitar, where we discussed top design, bracing, voicing and more. But many of you commented that we didn't mention backs! We believe backs are super important, so today on Alvarez TV, we're going to dive into this fan-requested episode and ask: Do guitar backs affect tone? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Anatomy of an Acoustic Guitar: • Anatomy of an Acoustic... .
Featured in this Episode:
Yairi DYM70: alvarezguitars.com/guitar/dym70
Alvarez MD70BG: alvarezguitars.com/guitar/md70bg
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Great info! As one who has been playing on stages for decades, I have come to the conclusion that it is much more important for a plugged-in guitar to sound good to the audience through the PA, than it is to sound good to me sitting on my couch.
My Alvarez 8 string, with laminated body, and LR Baggs Element sounds great amplified! (my #1 stage guitar is a RainSong jumbo with Stagepro Anthem)…. How the Alvarez sounds to me, playing at home, is honestly inconsequential…and, the laminated body is more resistant to humidity fluctuation, so it has a more consistent tone, show to show.
So, I guess it depends what you use the guitar for, and if it is a stage guitar, what electronics you use. Example: Glenn Frey’s #1 stage acoustic, a Takamine EF360 dreadnought, had laminated back and sides. Yet, his signature Takamine has a solid back… a nod to the player requiring tone at home.
BTW, my 8 string sounds great in my living room!
We love that, you made some great points Jed. Thanks for playing Alvarez 🙌
You knocked it out of the park. Acoustic guitar dynamics are fascinating to me, and this is the best video on guitar sound and construction I've ever heard. It really conveys the complexity of acoustic guitars and does it in a very useful and informative way. Thank you!!!
Wow, thanks @waynzwhirled6181 🙌
Did you just take a nap while playing? Excellent technique. 😉 In the "Zone". I love you guys. Keep these awesome videos coming. Great, great content. Intuitive, educational and fun.
Maybe at some point you could compare/contrast a Breedlove. My favorite choice would be their Redwood/East Indian Rosewood Premier Concert CE. Thanks again for all your hard work and insights. I always end up watching you guys before work and it sets off my day in a good mood. Priceless
We love this! Thanks for the comment @mattnelson8325, glad you enjoyed🙌
Personally this is one of the most insightful and interesting acoustic guitar channels on UA-cam. You guys are asking very interesting questions and talking about subjects that A lot of us players find fascinating.
We love to hear this, thanks you for the comment @LucasHaneman 🙌
Great Video. My Alvarez ARD70 has a Rosewood back and sides. The guitar is nine years old and with the Rosewood back and sides the response and vibration is quite good. I had loaned the guitar to my son during Covid and now the vibration coming from the back has really increased ten fold.
Great news, thanks for playing Alvarez🤝
I'm pretty sure that because of these videos, my next acoustic will be a Yairi. Probably the FYM66HD. You guys have done your job in raising interest and awareness of your brand, for sure!
Thank you for the amazing feedback, and your kind words. We really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and supporting Alvarez! 🙌
Super interesting! Love the rubber band and lock demonstration too 😄
I just bought an Alvarez ag60ceshb acoustic guitar and I love it. It's playability is phenomenal and it's resonant all over.👍👍😎😎😎😎😎
We love hearing this! Enjoy your new Alvarez👍
Amazing!! Love it and can’t wait to see the mock ups . What other company is doing this in such a honest and fun way?! Alvarez for life
Ha! We love hearing that. Thanks for watching, George 👍
Great video! I've always wondered about this
I'd say so. Imagine playing an acoustic guitar without a back and or sides
I build the sides strong as possible to for the top to work at its max potential. (Conservation of Momentum). The back as you stated must be semi flexible like a tight drum to reflect and work with the top. The back can emit quite a bit of the sound if you let it.
I've heard the difference with and without a Tone Guard frame on mandolin and guitars. Thankfully God gave me freakishly long arms and I play sitting. As far as back woods I'll admit to purchasing a guitar because the back wood was just amazingly beautiful, funny, they sound beautiful too.
Why doesn't the inside of a guitar get a finish [Lacquer/Poly]?
How does an arched/round back affect the sound compared to a flat back?
Probably would add weight to the guitar and muffle the sound.
Excellent discussion. Look forward to those future videos on the progress of the experimental builds. May lead to guitar innovation that Mr. Martin never thought about. Worth the effort even if it does not. Please keep up these great videos.
The She is my New Alvarez I named Suzi , Macassar Ebony Artist cutaway , She talks alot but She's Sweeeet ! 😉🎸✌😁
Outstanding video gentleman. And I think you hit every topic, on the back and sides (and even the neck) perfectly. It's a package... It's a system... They all work together to make sound. You know you have a great guitar when you can feel the vibration through the finger board, neck, and the back. If you don't, I've found, the guitar sounds dead and has very little projection. They are nice to use for outside playing or learning on but for serious guitar playing, it's all solid wood, all the way.
I did a video on all solid wood guitars. I too discussed a lot of what you guys brought up in this video.
I gave my Alvarez to my son, who's guitar was stolen, so I'll have to save up and get another one. I really miss it
Outstanding video.
Thank you! Good luck with the Alvarez 👍
Like the tonebar-film this is just great. It's fresh, innovative, instructing, informing, exciting, expanding and of course, , , , , , , , cliff-hanging.
Thanx ^ Look forward to the follow up.
We love that, thanks for commenting. 🙌
I like the vibe in your studio living room. Great information which only goes to increase the respect I already has for those who build these marvelous machines.
Thank you @CameraLaw!
great little feature gents, keep them coming. the myriad of factors and and permutations, which effect your choice of guitar(s) is mind bending. the vast majority of guitarists practice, practice, practice, play. why ? to enjoy improve, learn, develop. how it hums through your bones, and sounds to your ears simultaneously, on the wrong side of the guitar while practicing, and playing for your own enjoyment is so important, and motivational. i love to feel the guitar hum, and enjoy that, combined with the sounds i hear. i play because i love to play, and gradually improve. I reckon for most players, how it feels and plays, is as important as how it sounds. How it sounds in the kitchen, vs living room will be very different. a guitar that plays great, will rarely sound less that lovely. i have 3 acoustics with "45mm" nut width, and 1 is 2mm narrower string spacing at the nut, and believe it or not, it's very significant to how it plays ( that nut is being changed soon for the prefered spring spacing). Horses for courses, buying more guitars has now been fully justified, that's what I'm telling the missus at least ;-). i guess more important than anything- play, struggle on, love what your doing, fall in love with it. you don't need to be rich to play a lovely guitar. play on good people.
That's the best Jam I've heard from You Guys Exquisito ! Thank You for all Your generous efforts to this Ol World. Of course The whole Guitar is a Body , any time a part of the Body is missing or not resonating properly, It will affect the Whole Body.So the whole body is important every edge every curve ! That's what She said anyways ! 😁
Chris, I would love to see a Yairi 12-fret dreadnought or OM style guitar with a spruce top & Honduran mahogany back & sides, similar to your DYMR70SB. I'd be a buyer for that combination.
Cool idea! We'll pass that on👍
I think i remember that Furch voice the back of their guitars.
So does Breedlove on their Oregon built guitars.
Back and sides definitely affect the tone. For example, maple guitars will have a short but well defined sustain where rosewood or mahogany will have longer but less defined sustain and that's pretty consistent. Most of my favorite guitars have been maple and walnut, I like midrange. I suspect the back is more important than the sides too.
Great video!!! Interesting as anything. I’m a big black walnut fan with a spruce top, but I own many guitars with different to/back/side combinations. I have a question though. I just purchased an Alvarez Age910 with the Macassar Ebony back and sides and spruce top laminate. What do you guys think of that rare tone combo? Most of my guitars are all solid as compared to the laminate back and sides. I’m excited to play it! Any feedback is welcomed! Thanks so much!
How do you find Honduran compares to Khaya and then sapele?
I haven't tried Honduran...
Khaya is mid-rich. Characterful. Mid-hump. Very focused.
Sapele flat EQ, similar bass, more sparkly trebles. Maybe not the same mid range "character" but applies to wider range of styles since doesn't have country twang.
Super interested to hear how Honduran compares if you'd be so kind
All I can say it "Ditto" to Waynzwhirled6181 I want the book Chris!
Great discussion confirming why acoustics have soul and electrics are just lumps of wood
There have been luthiers who've made the backs out of paper mache.
Why don't you put dot inlays on any of your guitars?
Thanks for the question, the dot inlays are located in the binding of the fingerboard.
@@AlvarezGuitarsOfficial Ahhh, right! Thanks
💪 Promo'SM
Good subject for a video and love the guitars! It's quite simple though. The back and sides contribute almost nothing to the overall tone of the guitar. And by that, I mean what you can actually hear. Even more so if the back and sides are laminate. Unlike the soundboard, the back and sides are not made to flex and resonate. They are there as a soundbox and as a means by which you can add more strength to the overall structure without impacting the resonance of the soundboard. It is especially misleading when manufacturers and dealers extoll the virtues of the back and sides on laminate guitars. Because we are talking about an extremely thin veneer stuck on top of what is very often cheap base woods and it lends absolute zero to the tone of the guitar. They know this yet they keep up with the marketing spiel.
Think so? Try taking that box away. Without the chamber created with the back and sides, that top isn't going to create a very good sound. It won't sustain, it won't resonate. Change the dimensions of the box, and you change the sound. Change the materials, and you change the sound. Those parts of any instrument are not inert.
@@jimcasler7847 That is pretty obvious. It is why I said the back and sides are a "sound box". What they are made of, however, still does not lend anything to the tone of the guitar. However, that is just an opinion based on over 50 years of playing guitars, working on guitars and writing about guitars. I am not telling anyone else what they should think or believe. I buy guitars based on whether I like the sound and playability. That is really the only thing that matters.
@@yamahamusicians and other people writing about guitars and building guitars have their say, too, and they tend to disagree with you. I mean, you shouldn't be able to tell the difference between, say, a Yamaha and an Ovation, if what you say is true. I do think people can, though, and again, if what you say is true, why in the world would any guitar manufacturer spend real money on the materials they use for the back and sides? Why wouldn't So they can can charge more? That makes no sense. We're capitalists here; if manufacturers could use a cheap material to save on costs, they would, and they'd charge whatever they could get away with anyway.
@@jimcasler7847 Of course you can tell the difference between a Yamaha and an Ovation. A bowl back reflects sound differently from a standard design. If however, you take a guitar of the same make, let's say an FG800, FG820 and FG830, they are all the same guitar with different back and side material. But in a blindfold challenge, you would not know which is which. There will be plenty who disagree with me. I am ok with that. It is after all just my personal opinion. Everyone has a right to their opinion on this. I am in no way insisting that everyone should agree with me. And really it doesn't matter. If you like the guitar. Like the way, it sounds and plays. That is the only thing that is important. 👍
Thanks for the dialogue, great we all have our own opinions👍