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-   -   How to dampen volume? (https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=570319)

gfa 01-24-2020 03:00 PM

How to dampen volume?
 
I'm enjoying my new-to-me archtop, but it's LOUD. Too loud, sometimes. How can I dampen the volume? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5ebbd42fce.jpg

Steve DeRosa 01-24-2020 04:08 PM

Adjust your right-hand technique and/or use a thinner/softer pick - try a Dunlop Nylon .60 to start and work up/down from there...

gfa 01-24-2020 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa (Post 6274712)
Adjust your right-hand technique and/or use a thinner/softer pick - try a Dunlop Nylon .60 to start and work up/down from there...

Thanks, I'm asking whether there's something I can do to the guitar.

Mandobart 01-24-2020 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gfa (Post 6274778)
Thanks, I'm asking whether there's something I can do to the guitar.

IMO you're asking the wrong question. This is what learning technique and dynamics is all about.

If you insist its the guitar's fault its too loud and not your own, then I also suggest a thin wimpy pick, lighter gage strings, set the action as low as possible, use a mute (clip clothespins on the bridge between strings), a cloth stuffed under the strings just behind the bridge, shoot expanding foam into the body (please don't really do this last one).

gfa 01-24-2020 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mandobart (Post 6274816)
IMO you're asking the wrong question. This is what learning technique and dynamics is all about.

If you insist its the guitar's fault its too loud and not your own, then I also suggest a thin wimpy pick, lighter gage strings, set the action as low as possible, use a mute (clip clothespins on the bridge between strings), a cloth stuffed under the strings just behind the bridge, shoot expanding foam into the body (please don't really do this last one).

I asked exactly the question I wanted answered. Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of a cloth behind the bridge, will definitely investigate that.

Dadzmad 01-25-2020 11:58 AM

Try this - put a small soft hair tie over the head stock and park it behind the nut. Pull it forward over the nut into 1st fret territory and the open or unfretted strings will be muted keeping the focus on the fretted notes - the overall volume of the guitar is reduced since the number of strings is cut back by muting of the hair tie.

folks who use this are not trying to reduce the volume but it has that effect especially on an unplugged or acoustic guitar

MC5C 01-25-2020 02:57 PM

I favor the fill it up with spray foam idea. Also the don't play it so loud idea. Seriously. If it's too loud, get a solid body electric. There's no way to make a guitar quieter without screwing up the tone, or hurting it, except how you play it. Nice guitar, BTW. I really like the early Silvertones, I have one myself.

One idea that you could try that wouldn't hurt the guitar but would screw up the tone (reversibly) would be to put a piece of closed cell foam insulation under the bridge. Or maybe try filling it up with those foam packing peanuts so there is not much air inside, those you can always vacuum out.

gfa 01-26-2020 12:30 PM

The piece of cloth behind the bridge trick is good. Appreciable reduction of volume, no impact on tone that I can hear.

Ray175 01-27-2020 06:45 AM

Maybe also consider a bridge with 2 distinct feet (less surface area in contact with soundboard) as opposed to the continuous one you have?

mr. beaumont 01-28-2020 12:14 PM

Lighter strings (or a different material, maybe flatwounds?), lower action are the physical things you can do to the guitar.

A thinner pick is the physical thing you can use to get less volume.

Adjusting your technique is the answer you don't want to hear, but it's the best answer.

rags behind bridges and hair scrunchies will tame harmonics and pinging from the strings behind the bridge, but they won't do much about volume.

If you really want to deaden the body, use upholstery packing. Pat Martino did this for years to reduce feedback on his archtop when plugged in. Stuffed like 10 lbs of it inside his Johnny Smith. It's really for taming feedback plugged in, but it'll make your guitar sound deader than a doornail.

Backcountry 04-12-2020 09:23 PM

I tamed a wild 18" archtop by stringing it with Martin Retro Monels. The overall window shattering volume was noticeably tamed and those strings brought out the woody timbres.

gfa 08-07-2020 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backcountry (Post 6347375)
I tamed a wild 18" archtop by stringing it with Martin Retro Monels. The overall window shattering volume was noticeably tamed and those strings brought out the woody timbres.

I recently put Monels on mine. I didn't notice a reduction in volume, but I like the way they sound on this guitar.

Aspiring 08-12-2020 06:30 PM

I also find it pretty amazing how much archtops project.

I have a Collings i30 which is thin body and intended to be an electric. When I play it with headphones in the amp my kids complain it wakes them up when I'm playing in the morning. If I'm playing some of my flattop acoustics at what sounds like a louder volume to me compared to the archtop completely unplugged they don't wake up or complain.

ssynhorst 08-29-2020 04:59 PM

Archtops were designed to be loud enough to replace the piercing tone of banjos in dance bands. Then the got bigger and bigger and louder and louder to keep up with the big bands of the 1930s and 40s. So loudness is their nature. And then they amplified them.

But experimenting with strings is a simple first option. Go lighter in gauge and consider even silk wound steel strings.

Maybe the archtop concept is not for you and you would do better to switch to a flattop design.

fakedrummer 09-03-2020 08:49 PM

Try covering the F holes with pieces of plastic like a non stick pick guard. You can also cut foam pieces to fit in them to help lower the sound from the guitar.


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