Trend toward smaller body guitars (AGF sponsors)?

[Filum]

Definitely comfort for me..

Plus, i have no need in competing volume..

[Otterhound]

Very simple . Players are finally leading instead of following . They have found that those large bodies don't necessarily equate to a balanced sound and there is no need to compete with a banjo or fiddle unless you are playing Bluegrass .
Music changed . It just took a bit longer for the players to adapt .
I suspect that as Bluegrass becomes more and more a thing of the past that the Dred will eventually become an aspect of the market instead of a dominant force .
I do not wish to disparage Bluegrass , but it is the reason that the Dred was built and popularized . Bluegrass will always have a presence , rightfully so , but time and musical tastes have moved on .
Try to keep in mind that there was a time when the trend was towards larger and larger guitars .
Full circle . Should be a fun ride if you choose to come along .

[Silly Moustache]

I have certainly observed this trend and thoroughly approve.

Not so long ago, about the only guitar shape you could buy was the 14 fret rhythm designs - dreadnought or Jumbo sizes and so everybody thought that that was what guitars were about ...even fingerstylists, and children and small people had to struggle with them.

I put it down to a lack of knowledge of the guitar. It was only in 1934 that these "Giant" sized guitars became commercially available from Martin and Gibson. The Dreadnought , like the OM were originally called both "bqass" guitars and Orchestra models.

Prior to that the Martin 000 had been the largest flat-top available from Martin since 1902 until about 1931 when guitars were sold according to the size of venue.

Gibsons had the L-o,1,2, L-oo pretty much the size of a Martin 00.

Other makers had their own designs but the initial Martin dreads - Ditsons etc were intended as dual purpose Hawaiian/Spanish and conspicuously unpopular - even Martin called them "gross".

I have said before that all the best flat-top designs were made prior to 1934, and Martin particularly designed the 0,00,and 000 as ergonomic, and with a balanced sound across the strings. With the Dreadnought - as Chis Martin Says - all the went out the window.

see: (watch it all or scroll to 9.00).

Whilst one can play almost anything on any guitar (if it's measurements permit) the guitar shape, size: width, depth, and fretboard should be appropriate to your style and body size.

As many of us still admire the music made during the 20s to 30s it is understandable that the guitars designs used by solo blues and folk players.

In their endless search for new ways to sell to a limited, saturated and possibly shrinking market the makers have reintroduced the smaller shapes and people are discovering that there is more to the steel strung guitar than the dreads and Jumbos.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Otterhound

I do not wish to disparage Bluegrass , but it is the reason that the Dred was built and popularized .

Actually the Dread predates Bluegrass. It would be more accurate to say that as it developed Bluegrass took advantage of the Dreadnaught.

[Guildman]

Originally Posted by Doranged

My point is I think a lot of the post 50 crowd are buying smaller guitars as they age. It sure feels great picking up a small light guitar and the sound is wonderful.

This is me in a nutshell. If all I had left was my 000-18e retro I'd be ok for life.

[Mycroft]

I first got into mid and smaller-sized guitars back in the late 90s, moving down from Guild jumbos. At the time, I was looking for smaller and shorter than standard 25.4-scale guitars. They were a bit hard to come by at the time, compared to Dread and Jumbo designs. There has been a gradual drift toward an increasing availability of smaller and shorter-scaled guitars over the two decades, but it is not a recent thing.

[6L6]

Welp...

I believe the trend to smaller guitars relates directly to guitar-buying Boomers getting fat guts. Fat fingers have lead to Martin making 1 3/4" nuts standard on their 2018 Standard series.

Arthritic shoulders are in the mix too.

[fatt-dad]

perhaps we all ask, "Who is our audience?"

OMs and smaller are fine for my work.

f-d

[Orfeas]

For me was comfort after experimenting with a Guild jumbo and a D55, but know that the OP brought that up, I noticed that lots of artists playing with OMs, OOOs, OOs etc. I also do believe that the amplification technologies changed the game also for those who perform.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have been building for 51 years, and I have always made more small guitars than large ones. In fact, I was not even asked to make a D until a year ago, though I had made several just because.

[FrankHudson]

Yes, it's a trend, and a good thing.

Bob Womack's post is highly accurate besides being funny.

Weird thing is that I was ahead of curve. Back in the early 80's I needed an acoustic to play open mics with a piano player. I went to the Podium in Minneapolis and played a whole bunch of "I could sort of afford them" guitars, and left with a tiny Japanese made 00-28 like guitar because I could make it speak with heavy pick attack for playing with the heavy handed piano player and also have it respond decently to my attempts at solo finger picking which mutated over the next decade to cross-picking with a flatpick.

Mind you, I was playing with a piano player who had a solid and loud left hand, so I didn't need loud bass runs most of the time. I needed treble and midrange that cut.

The size was so weird at the time that the staff at the Podium where I decided on buying that guitar just referred to it "that little guitar." And smaller guitars were rare enough that I thought it was 000 sized.

I'm drawn to larger 12 strings, but I still like the sound of smaller bodied acoustic guitar. Seems more balanced to me. It's funny, but even when I record songs with bass string runs, I find that I need to EQ out low end on a dread (maybe because I've become accustomed to playing on smaller bodied guitars or am otherwise technique challenged).

I am old and have limited range of motion in my shoulders, but I can manage a dread or even jumbo OK (guitar on left thigh, maybe a footstool) but for older right thigh resting players I can see the comfort advantages too.

[NotValid]

Originally Posted by fatt-dad

perhaps we all ask, "Who is our audience?"

OMs and smaller are fine for my work.

f-d

Its the resurgence of folk/americana. People want that vintage roots sound. Its the shin dig on spotify.
Others buy them for comfort, but the music is the driver.

[Jeff Scott]

Regarding the OP's question - bigger is better, right?

Originally Posted by Doranged

Five or so years ago I was buying the big acoustics even including Tak EG523SC12...

How do you keep track of that model number?

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

These fashion trends come and go. I've lived through many of them, from the universal dread fad in the '70s to the GA fad in the '90s and 2000s, to the recent small guitar trend.

Fadss also existent in the electric guitar world. I call the gear trend periods "SNEER PERIODS" and find it fascinating what guitarists find to sneer about:

Just as in the world of clothing, in the world of guitar, styles come and go. And just as you can end up on the wrong end of a disparaging look if your clothing is out of fashion, you can be sneered at in the guitar community. Okay, here are some “sneer periods” I’ve survived:

1. You are still playing a single-coil pickup guitar? You’ll be really hip when you get a Les Paul.

2. How can you still be using a 50 watt amp? Really, now. You need at least 100 watts.

3. You are still using a Fender combo amp? Oooo… Uncool. You need a Marshall stack. Or maybe TWO.

4. You are still using the factory guitar case? C’mon, real men need a REAL case (toe nudges a 50 pound black Anvil monster with 20,000 nicks, two handles, and the ragged remains of all-access passes from 42 states, though it has never left this one).

5. Are you still using the factory saddles and nut? No, no. You need BRASS for that extra sustain.

6. You aren’t really still using those stock Gibson humbuckers are you? I feel sorry for you. DiMarzios have so much more gain!

7. Still using a Les Paul Standard? You know, my CUSTOM is so much nicer! It’s got THE tone and low frets and action.

8. You are still using a solid-body guitar? No, no, you need an ES-335 or ES-175. More character!

9. DiMarzios? They’re for metal-heads. So brash and dirty! You need EMGs or Seymour Duncans!

10. If you don’t play a Rick, you’ll just never fit in.

11. I can’t believe you like to play that ancient, drab guitar. Get with it! You need something with rad, splashy colors and cool points and angles!!!

12. You are still playing a hard-tail guitar? No, no, laddie! Where have you been for the last ten years? You need a Floyd! It can dive-bomb, squeal and whine!

13. Face it, if you play a guitar, you are a fossil. MIDI is IT! (1983)

14. Well, I can tell you that the only way you are going to get the flexibility you need is by tossing those old amps and building a custom stereo system into a rack. You’ll need loops out to a chorus, flanger, two delays, and a digital reverb to be complex enough. You’ll want to get a MIDI controller for it all.

15. I’m sorry, we need a Strat player. Those humbuckers are just so DARK. You know, Gibsons are passe’.

16. All your gear is so new! How do we know how long you’ve been playing?

17. Those rack setups are so cold. Only vintage, low-wattage combos get the really warm power amp distortion sound. What you need is to go out and find a late’50s tweed amp or a booteek reproduction.

18. I think pointy guitars are soooooo ugly, don’t you? And every time you break a string on that Floyd it takes ten minutes to retune!

19. I can’t believe you sold all that cool stuff you had in the seventies!

20. Single-coil pickups are so shrill. You need a Gibson with humbuckers. Preferably a Les Paul Standard with fat frets. I never could handle those LP Customs with their slinky frets.

21. Can you believe that some turkey replaced the original saddles and nut with BRASS and the pickups with DiMarzios, for cryin’ outloud? It took months to restore this thing. Stock EVERYTHING is the way to go for that authentic sound.

22. You know, I’ve never liked the quality of mass-produced instruments. To really get THAT tone, you need a hand-built one-off from a small shop. This beauty only cost me $9300.

23. Humbuckers are too dark and single-coils are too clean! You've got to have P-90s pickups to get that sound. And not those awful modern humbuckers - you need to track down a set of vintage Gibson P-90s.

The list goes on and on. The moral: PLAY WHAT YOU LIKE AND LIKE WHAT YOU PLAY. Oh, and hold on to the good stuff. It'll be back in style before you know it.

Bob

Maybe, that's why I still wear t-shirts and jeans (and alway have).

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

...I can manage a dread or even jumbo OK (guitar on left thigh, maybe a footstool)...

I've been eyeing this little number for guitar playing:

https://stickley.com/OurProducts_Det...h=&Collection=

[Shades of Blue]

I’m so thankful I stuck with my 000-28. My ears have grown to prefer the 000 sound over my D-18. The D-18 sticks around for when I need volume at a jam.

[ataylor]

I have to think that advances in guitar production allowing for more overall precision and consistency have led to smaller-body guitars being lighter and more responsive and better-sounding than they might have been in previous decades.

It's certainly not the only reason for the trend, but I think it has contributed.