What is the attraction to dreadnoughts?

[BoneDigger]

Anything not a dread is a toy. Why would I play with toys at my age? [emoji1787]

Seriously though, I grew up with dreads so that's what I am comfortable with.

[Mirosh]

Good, good, good vibrations: the particular way a dreadnaught feels against your body as you play it. How it sounds, too.

[Methos1979]

There was a time when I felt the same way as the OP. Too big. Too loud. Too much bass. Ugly. I was convinced I was a 00 12 fret kind of guy and that's all I bought and played for years. But the tone was lacking. So I went up to 000 14 fretters. Much better. Still small(ish) and comfortably to play but gave me that little bit extra in the low end. Sounded great. Mostly. Well, good enough. Okay, halfway decent. I'll make do. Oh, the heck with it. Where's the biggest all-mahogany body guitar I can find. Oh, there's one on Reverb. Gorgeous. Loud, but the all hog tames it. Very even, warm and dry. Hey, not really all that big or hard to play as it turns out (I play standing). Now when I pick up a 00 guitar I giggle and think, "Who left their 10-year-old daughter's toy guitar here?"

Oh, and as for looks - BOOM!

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

There was a time when I felt the same way as the OP. Too big. Too loud. Too much bass. Ugly. I was convinced I was a 00 12 fret kind of guy and that's all I bought and played for years. But the tone was lacking. So I went up to 000 14 fretters. Much better. Still small(ish) and comfortably to play but gave me that little bit extra in the low end. Sounded great. Mostly. Well, good enough. Okay, halfway decent. I'll make do. Oh, the heck with it. Where's the biggest all-mahogany body guitar I can find. Oh, there's one on Reverb. Gorgeous. Loud, but the all hog tames it. Very even, warm and dry. Hey, not really all that big or hard to play as it turns out (I play standing). Now when I pick up a 00 guitar I giggle and think, "Who left their 10-year-old daughter's toy guitar here?"

Oh, and as for looks - BOOM!

What's the nut width/string spacing on that? That's what's always held me up on 12fret dreads is the wider nut and wider string spacing that I don't like.

[ataylor]

Originally Posted by mc1

Ok, this thread is mainly tongue-in-cheek, so don't get your strings too twisted up, but I must say I've never been a big fan of dreadnought guitars. And we're off...

Why would anyone want a dreadnought?

They're ergonomically a disaster, tonally skewed toward bass, and aesthetically lacking. Hard to mic, hard to transport, hard to love.

Who really wants to play something as nuanced as a cannon? Loud and bassy isn't my cup of tea.

The body shape is unbalanced and kind of an ugly duckling. It's all about the bass there too. The proportions are all wrong! So hard to play sitting down.

While you can get tones from a dreadnought you can't get in an OM, I can get tones from a chainsaw I can't get from an OM. And isn't the reverse also true, there are tones in a OM or parlour you can't get from a dreadnought.

Hard to store, hard to haul around because of the size. They remind me of people who drive a big suv or truck in the city. Lotta show, not so much go. Better steer around that pothole Mr. F150, on your way to check out the new Machismo model dread you'll fear scratching.

And when is volume so important, even though smaller guitars can be plenty loud? Have we all moved out of the parlour and grand auditorium and into stadium sized living rooms? How many spouses are like, "Yes dear, the sound just bombards you. Very impressive. I think I'll go read upstairs while you practice." At a gig you will probably need amplification anyway.

Ok, that's my rant, and I'm glad to get that off my chest. The real truth is I don't mind dreads, they're ok, but I wish they didn't dominate the stores as much as they do.

Sorry if I offended anyone, don't take me too seriously, I have a dreadnought sized heart and a ukulele sized sense of grace and restraint.

Mainly tongue-in-cheek replies:

Nuance:
If someone hasn't heard nuance from a dreadnought, they're not listening to the right dreadnoughts and/or playing the dreadnought right.

Shape:
Sometimes it's our own shape that is to blame, not the dreadnought's. I think we can chalk that up to user error as well.

Tone:
Can't get Strat, Tele, or Les Paul tones from a dreadnought either. Different horses for different courses, and the dreadnought handles most courses as good as or better than most acoustic guitars.

Storage:
Is a dreadnought case that much harder to carry or stow than an OM or 000? And let's be honest, any shape of guitar is certainly easier to carry around than a piano or a tuba.

Volume:
Some people like dreadnoughts because of the sheer volume. But others like the depth and range of tone — even at (shhhh...) low volumes.

Seriously though, it comes down to this:
The dreadnought is the cultural icon. The OM or 000 or auditorium shape might be the more objectively balanced guitar, and some might subjectively prefer other shapes and sounds, but like it or not, the dreadnought was largely the tool of choice for much of the acoustic music that inspired and continues to inspire a majority of folks who buy, make, and sell guitars, and it's a shape that continues to do just fine making music of all types today.

[RussL30]

Originally Posted by ataylor

Mainly tongue-in-cheek replies:

Snip....

Couldn’t have said any better than this. When someone says guitar, a dreadnought pops in my head. That is the shape. To me, a guitar is a dreadnought, the rest are just for some variety.

All of my dreadnoughts are very balanced and not boomy and can be dynamic. Ironically, none of mine are Martins, but even the mahogany Martins have a great balance to them.

I’m a big 270lb dude and find the shape the most comfortable. I even think dreads can be beautiful to look at.

Long live the dreadnought.

[Br1ck]

For four decades I did quite nicely without a dread. For twenty five of those, my acoustic was a Martin M 36. I moved from finger picking, to flatpicking, to hybrid picking. My M 36 had a ceiling which, more and more, I found myself hitting. I just wanted more volume. As I got faster and more precise, the wonderful blooming overtones of the M 36 just smeared the sound.

I finally invested a pile and got my Guild D 35 playable. The power and the clarity of mahogany back and sides was nice to have. A bonus of Guild dreads in general is a more balanced tone. Later I found my Texan, then my Martin D 35, unusual for its dryness and punch.

I kept my M 36 only because I had it for so long. I finally sold it to a friend who had wanted it for 25 years. He finger picks.

Modern dreads can be bassy. That is what a lot of people want. Go play a straight braced D 18 from the sixties. It is a different animal from today's highly regarded guitar. But there are styles that sound better to me on a dread. Watch Neil Young solo. And you can palm mute the bass strings and still get low end power. Think Johnny Cash. Drop the E to D on a dread and you get massive low end you can sing over as a solo performer. Jason Isbel does this a lot. Steven Stills is the master of huge guitar tone. Michael Hedges finger picked the daylights out of a dread.

Dreads cut a large swath from dry and punchy to overblown harmonics and should not be thought of as the same.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by ataylor

...
Seriously though, it comes down to this:
The dreadnought is the cultural icon. The OM or 000 or auditorium shape might be the more objectively balanced guitar, and some might subjectively prefer other shapes and sounds, but like it or not, the dreadnought was largely the tool of choice for much of the acoustic music that inspired and continues to inspire a majority of folks who buy, make, and sell guitars, and it's a shape that continues to do just fine making music of all types today.

Yes, I think this is a lot of it. Cultural and historic reasons. As a contrarian, that somewhat stokes my ire.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Dreads cut a large swath from dry and punchy to overblown harmonics and should not be thought of as the same.

That's a good point but partially conflicts with my narrative.

[ataylor]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

But there are styles that sound better to me on a dread. Watch Neil Young solo. And you can palm mute the bass strings and still get low end power. Think Johnny Cash. Drop the E to D on a dread and you get massive low end you can sing over as a solo performer. Jason Isbel does this a lot. Steven Stills is the master of huge guitar tone. Michael Hedges finger picked the daylights out of a dread.

The dreadnought players that came to my mind as bucking the cannon narrative were James Taylor (J-50 on most of the iconic stuff), Paul McCartney (Texan on Yesterday, D-28 on Blackbird, etc), and Nick Drake (most likely a Levin D-28 copy on most of his recordings).

When I play, I typically play without a pick and go between Travis-style finger picking and light to medium strumming with nails. No other guitar shape gets me the lows and mids I like when playing at lower volumes and lighter touches than a dreadnought.

That being said, I've covered enough dreadnought bases with what I play (all four of my guitars are some variant of dreadnought shape) that I'm primarily looking to explore smaller guitars with any future purchases... with the possible exception of a rosewood D-28 style guitar that I should probably own someday.

[Dru Edwards]

The tone of a Martin HD-35 gets me every time.

[Matt G]

I agree the shape is not so pretty - dreads do look a bit like a chunk of pulled taffy, but the tone is great. It's not louder, but it has a thickness that I don't hear in smaller guitars. I have an MJ with a tone that is similar to dreadnoughts, but in a prettier shape.

Maybe I like the bassy tone because I play a lot of bluegrass. But even fingerstyle, I think dreads sound great. Michael Hedges did a great job with a Martin D-28, for example.

[gretsch4me]

The attraction to dreadnaughts?? Hmmm. Wellllll, for starters if it's anything smaller than a dread, or 0000, I feel like Herman Munster playing a ukelele. Second, if it's anything smaller than a dread, or 0000, the sound reminds me of a ukelele strung with rubber bands being played heavy-handed by Herman Munster. Third, with the exception of Clapton's Unplugged 000-28 sound...which I'll never in a million years be able to relicate, ALL of the lush tones floating in my head are from artists playing dreads...Cash, CSN&Y, Lightfoot, Croce, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle and the late, great John Prine, plus many more. These are the sounds I strive to attain with my dreadnaughts.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, when I perform, singing and playing to an audience, I always play one of my three (12 fret) Collings dreadnoughts.

I always stand when I perfrorm, and my dreads are strung with mediums.

When I play at home I tend to play my (12 fret) 000 Collings,
At a little freindly jam of 5-6 I'm play my Waterloo, which is a kind of Gibsonesque 00.
When I am in my little office, it is a Martinesque 00.
My most recent purchase was an Eastman E20-P (effectively a size "O") intended for garden or late night noodling.

What this boils down to is the right tool for the job.

There were , practically, no Martin dreads prior to 1931 (yeah, I know about the Ditson 111) and there was no Gibson Jumbo prior to 1934.

Martin developed the sizes 2,1,0,00, and 000 for different audience/venue sizes, and primarily for fingerstyle players.

In 1929/30, the flat-top underwent a "change of use" and became a rhythm instrument to vcompete with the Gibson style archtop.

It didn't work, but it found a home with the burgeoning folk genres, made accesible due to radio and recording technology.

With the development of amplification, we have become obsessed with bass. Martin used to make guitars evenly balanced ... until the 14 fret dread.

I like my dreads, and I like balance.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

What's the nut width/string spacing on that? That's what's always held me up on 12fret dreads is the wider nut and wider string spacing that I don't like.

For me that is EXACTLY the point of 12 fret dreads, and 000, and ... etc.

It's all about our fingertips.