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What is your loudest guitar????


onewilyfool

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... I have a Washburn OM size arch top guitar from 1932, called a Collegiate, which is VERY loud, especially with a pic, and can cut through any mix of guitars at a jam....

 

At 20 paces, I'll put my '47 L-7 up against any flattop. To be loud AND project IS what archtops were designed to do.

 

I have a some ambient recordings of a few of us sitting around a room sawing on acoustics. My L-7 is ALWAYS the prominent voice on the tape, even over a Taylor and a resonator.

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IMX Ovations....particularly the recent contoured deep bowl variety...are loud and well balanced....

 

Slightly confused by their role as plug-in electros.... [biggrin]

 

The 12 string models look and sound superb...the multi-hole aesthetic still outclasses many young upstarts in the design area...

 

V

 

:-({|=

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A strange question

 

What's your fastest car ?

Kinda depends on who's driving ..

I've never really whacked my guitars as hard as i could to see how loud they were .

 

I'm a bit baffled by this thread

I took it to relate to the instrument that comes off as loud under your 'normal' playing attack and my essential reference was what I'm playing a room or two over when my wife tells me I play louder than I realize. One of those 'all in good fun' threads, more or less....

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A strange question

 

What's your fastest car ?

Kinda depends on who's driving ..

I've never really whacked my guitars as hard as i could to see how loud they were .

 

I'm a bit baffled by this thread

Interesting point. . So just picking away - my Martin D-45 VR.

 

Strong strumming - can't call it between my adi-top AJ and my J-200.

 

I just compared my 6 strings, because my Guild F412 12 string blows them all away. . B)

 

 

.

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One thing I've noticed about Gibsons, and it's probably true of other guitars that I don't have experience with, is that they sound way different to the player than to someone standing about four feet in front of the sound hole. And it's not just the volume but the tone too. I experienced this one day a couple of years ago when I loaned a friend my J-50 and sat across from him while we played some songs. I think this characteristic is especially prominent in Gibsons for some reason (others will weigh in I'm sure). My J-185 projects and cuts like no other guitar I own and I suspect that has to do with the size and shape of the soundboard coupled with the maple in the back and sides. I can, and regularly do, play all of my guitars really loud at times when I need to but the J-185 is what I choose when playing with an ensemble. I don't think of it as a loud guitar though. My loudest would have to be my Eastman E10-SS, which is Adirondack over mahogany. It's a standout when it comes to volume and I'm not sure it has reached its limit yet as it just keeps morphing as time goes on.

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One thing I've noticed about Gibsons, and it's probably true of other guitars that I don't have experience with, is that they sound way different to the player than to someone standing about four feet in front of the sound hole. And it's not just the volume but the tone too. I experienced this one day a couple of years ago when I loaned a friend my J-50 and sat across from him while we played some songs. I think this characteristic is especially prominent in Gibsons for some reason (others will weigh in I'm sure). My J-185 projects and cuts like no other guitar I own and I suspect that has to do with the size and shape of the soundboard coupled with the maple in the back and sides. I can, and regularly do, play all of my guitars really loud at times when I need to but the J-185 is what I choose when playing with an ensemble. I don't think of it as a loud guitar though. My loudest would have to be my Eastman E10-SS, which is Adirondack over mahogany. It's a standout when it comes to volume and I'm not sure it has reached its limit yet as it just keeps morphing as time goes on.

Playing vs. Listening - what I mentioned in my earlier post - supposedly a phenomenon not limited to Gibson guitars.

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Playing vs. Listening - what I mentioned in my earlier post - supposedly a phenomenon not limited to Gibson guitars.

 

This is not a phenomenon limited to ANY specific musical instrument, they're ALL designed to project sound to listeners, not to the player.

 

And due to this, it is also impossible to judge tone or volume of a guitar you are playing.

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Are you speaking of what used to be called 'cutting power'? I'm not sure if that's a synonym for projection as you use it here, but if that's the case I tend to agree with the concept.

I think so! Although I'm not 100% sure. :) It sure is hard to talk about sound with words.

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Good points made about perceived tone and volume... [thumbup]

 

Hearing one's own sound accurately makes a big difference to confidence and enjoyment of the performance..

 

As well as vocals....hearing back a well mixed guitar sound on stage is to be desired...

 

V

 

:-({|=

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This is a very interesting question. I have a Washburn OM size arch top guitar from 1932, called a Collegiate, which is VERY loud, especially with a pic, and can cut through any mix of guitars at a jam. My 1961 00-17 is amazing loud for it's size, but even across the strings, and just good tone. My EARS, tend to gravitate to my J-45 Pure Voice, which has the Adi top which gives the trebles a nice ring, AND has that heavy bass. I think generally, I hear guitars with lots of bass as being louder. Probably a preference developed over years of jamming with Dreadnaughts. I did have a J-200 Jumbo Koa, but despite of it's size, it wasn't as loud as my J-45 Pure Voice. What is YOUR loudest guitar?

 

 

Toss up between maple J200-12 and hog Hummingbird 12

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This is a very interesting question. I have a Washburn OM size arch top guitar from 1932, called a Collegiate, which is VERY loud, especially with a pic, and can cut through any mix of guitars at a jam. My 1961 00-17 is amazing loud for it's size, but even across the strings, and just good tone. My EARS, tend to gravitate to my J-45 Pure Voice, which has the Adi top which gives the trebles a nice ring, AND has that heavy bass. I think generally, I hear guitars with lots of bass as being louder. Probably a preference developed over years of jamming with Dreadnaughts. I did have a J-200 Jumbo Koa, but despite of it's size, it wasn't as loud as my J-45 Pure Voice. What is YOUR loudest guitar?

 

 

Toss up between maple J200-12 and hog Hummingbird 12

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