"Scooped out mids"

[Proclaimer888]

Might someone articulate what it means; "scooped out mids"? I think of an hour glass shaped profile and as related to a guitars sound, the middle strings might be missing some punch?? Please enlighten me! Thanks!

[Brucebubs]

The best I can suggest is try playing a guitar with rosewood back and sides back-to-back with a guitar with mahogany back and sides.

It's quite a difference.

Then for good measure try a guitar with maple back and sides just to balance things up!
I don't totally agree with this chart but it does do a reasonable job at illustrating the differences.



p.s. they're all good!

[warfrat73]

It's like a smiley face on a graphic equalizer. The frequency response favors the bass and the trebles... this is typically considered the quintessential Martin tone.

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by Proclaimer888

Might someone articulate what it means; "scooped out mids"? I think of an hour glass shaped profile and as related to a guitars sound, the middle strings might be missing some punch?? Please enlighten me! Thanks!

...your analogy is spot on...sounds like you understand the phrase...the question then becomes what type of guitar produces a sound with scooped mids....I hear it in some Rosewood Dreadnoughts...not all....some...

[Robin, Wales]

Yep - the smiley e/q. It is quite common to roll off the mids when putting an acoustic guitar through a p/a to get it sounding more 'natural'.

In terms of the purely acoustic sound it is not just the woods that matter - different strings and different picks (or playing fingerstyle) can have an effect on the projection of the middle strings compared to the bass and top strings.

I aim for the scooped out mids sound on my dread so I prefer 80/20 strings and some picks such as those in casein. These choices are to give me a dominant 'boom' and a top end 'chick' with not much from the middle strings during a strum (but still plenty from single mote runs). If I use PB strings and a BC pick on that particular guitar I get a lump of messy sound off the middle strings when strumming.

This is why you'll hear players talking about 'scooped out mids' as a good thing for certain playing styles (but not all).

[MikeBmusic]

Not only for PA sound, but scooping out the mids also gives vocals a sonic space of their own. To my (old) ears, though, I like the fullness of the mids, specially from a dreadnaught.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

It's like a smiley face on a graphic equalizer. The frequency response favors the bass and the trebles... this is typically considered the quintessential Martin tone.

Now I know why I gravitate towards rosewood. That's how I would always set up my equalizer back in the day.

[VinceM]

When I think of scooped out mids I think more in terms of pickup equalization. Especially with magnetic pickups. They typically have an overabundance of midrange which is unnatural sounding for an acoustic guitar. So to get back the natural guitar sound you need to attenuate the midrange quite significantly.

I recently discovered a nice way to get the right kind of scooped midrange for my Dimarzio Black Angel pickup - a parameteric eq centered around 400 Hz, Q=0.5, and attenuation of 10 dB. Here's the result! I posted on this in the amplification forum but I think it's relevant here.

[handers]

Originally Posted by Proclaimer888

Might someone articulate what it means; "scooped out mids"? I think of an hour glass shaped profile and as related to a guitars sound, the middle strings might be missing some punch?? Please enlighten me! Thanks!

The defining characteristics of a dread?

Prominent trebles and bass with less-so mids.

hans

[VJP5]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Can someone explain what the broken lines mean for Koa and Walnut?

[BrunoBlack]

The dotted lines represent the expansion of the low end over time. The complete image looks like this.

[VJP5]

Originally Posted by Haasome

The dotted lines represent the expansion of the low end over time. The complete image looks like this.

Got it. Thanks!

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

The best I can suggest is try playing a guitar with rosewood back and sides back-to-back with a guitar with mahogany back and sides.

It's quite a difference.

Then for good measure try a guitar with maple back and sides just to balance things up!
I don't totally agree with this chart but it does do a reasonable job at illustrating the differences.



p.s. they're all good!

This post should put to rest all those posts that claim the back and sides have little or no effect on the sound.

Tony

[russchapman]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

This post should put to rest all those posts that claim the back and sides have little or no effect on the sound.

Tony

It's funny how you can really hear the tonal differences in some brands, and not so much in others. Martin OM-18 vs OM-28 is pretty clear.

I just had a chance to play the new Taylor American Dream series and the AD27 (Hog top - Sapele back and sides) didn't sound much different than the AD17 (Spruce-Ovangkal). These are guitars with different top woods. Crazy.

[Birdbrain]

Funny- my Mahogany guitar (SWS) is scooped, with a huge bass, and my Koa (Tacoma) is strongest in the midrange. Just the opposite of what the chart indicates. Maybe the tops make the difference. The Seagull is Spruce, and the Tacoma is Cedar.