Interesting stuff, and worth experimenting with. I’ll definitely take their licks and tricks into my knowledge base.

But sometimes I actually kind of like the plunky sound they are trying to avoid. If I want to do some solo using less sustain, I choose one of my acoustic guitars. For example, most people would say that trying to play bluegrass or fast flatpicking on an electric sounds pretty terrible. And from an opposite perspective, I have sometimes spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to have less sustain when soloing on an electric. But only if a certain song calls for it, of course. And the only way I have found to reduce sustain on an electric is to become an expert at all kinds of palm and finger muting techniques. Or do like the bass players, where they put a sock over the head so that no strings ring out as open.

sunjamr wrote:

Also, as for not holding your guitar against your body: I learned a while back that the sound of an acoustic guitar depends a lot on where your ear is relative to the guitar body. My ear can hear a difference while I play holding the guitar against my body vs held away a bit. Yet when I put a mic near the guitar and record it, on playback I can’t hear any difference.

Absolutely true. From the perspective of a listener in front of the guitar, over 85% of the sound comes from the soundboard. So the fact that the guitar is held against the body of the guitarist or not makes very little difference. But that’s obviously not true for the guitarist. If the back of the guitar is allowed to vibrate more freely the sound that reaches the guitarist’s ears will be different.

sunjamr wrote:

Same with the location of the sound hole in the guitar face. Some guitars have the sound hole higher on the body closer to the neck, kind of like to one side. I think all or most Ovation acoustics have an asymmetrical sound hole, and when I sit and play one, the bass sounds incredibly rich and full….like no other guitar. Stick a mic in front of it, record it, and it sounds the same as any other acoustic. So what is the answer, put the mic next to your ear? That way it would be hearing the same thing as your ear. Or would it?

The effect of the sound hole’s shape, size and location is a very complicated subject. The short version of the story is that all these things do affect the sound of a guitar, but not necessarily in the way people think it does.

As I wrote above, the soundboard is by far the main source of sound waves, not the sound hole. The vibrating strings communicate their motion to the bridge which in turn puts the soundboard in motion. This causes the air molecules above it to vibrate, projecting a sound wave towards the listener. The shape, size and location of the sound hole will affect the soundboard’s vibration modes (as will the bracing of the soundboard), and hence the tone.

However, the soundboard also forces the air inside the body of the guitar to vibrate, which in turn makes the back of the guitar vibrate too (but out of phase w.r.t. to the soundboard). The sound hole is essential in letting the inside air vibrate; this creates the so-called Helmholz resonance (HR), whose primary role is to favor the vibrational coupling of the various parts of the guitar and in particular the vibration modes of the soundboard. If the HR frequency is not properly tuned, the guitar will not function optimally. Changes in the sound hole’s location, or size, or shape, will affect the HR frequency and therefore the tone.

Nice on John! I’m familiar with Rhett but not the samurai. Lots of good tips in there that are worth a look.
Mike

Talking about sound holes, here is a video (in French) with Jean-Félix Lalanne presenting his Lâg Double-Je.
The “classical side” doesn’t have any sound hole because the “folk side” already has one.

If you don’t know Jean-Félix Lalanne, I strongly recommend you check him out; he’s certainly one of the best and most versatile guitarist worldwide.

I think Rhett is overthinking it. Sheer work, theory study, talent and a touch of destiny.

Have you ever seen Molly Tuttle, or Billy Strings, take a solo?

We’re going to see Molly and her excellent band Golden Highway in the Fingerlakes Saturday and I can’t wait. She does some great video tutorials also, search on YouTube and be amazed.