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Old 01-11-2020, 03:51 PM
Henning Henning is offline
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Default Acoustic guitar

Hello, to me an acoustic guitar is an instrument of guitar type (i.e it has got six strings) and the tone is produced in an acoustic way. An electric guitar could also be played in an acoustical way but generally it won´t sound as much then.
However, recently a friend of mine went to the music store to buy new strings to his acoustic guitar. When he got home he found out that the store had given him strings for a western guitar or a classic steel stringed guitar. Classic here is a word that could be used in the sense of general (only considering the previous sentence). He took the strings and went back to the store, they told him: "an acoustic guitar is a steel stringed guitar".
Which leaves the traditional Spanish guitar or the Classic guitar out of the field of acoustic guitars. Just exactly as in the states (USA and supposedly Canada, the UK, Australia too, yeah perhaps all over the English speaking countries).
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Old 01-11-2020, 04:04 PM
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I would say that a steel string guitar is a kind of acoustic guitar as is a nylon string classical guitar a kind of acoustic guitar. To me, what makes it acoustic is that it has a hollow sound box and a top that vibrates to produce sound without the need for electronic amplification. Obviously there are many acoustic guitars that have the capacity to be electrically amplified; but they should be able to produce sound that can be amplified acoustically. I've got to wonder if there isn't a language barrier that's to blame for the confusion....
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Old 01-11-2020, 04:16 PM
The Growler The Growler is offline
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Flat top, steel string guitars are often called western guitars in some places.
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Old 01-11-2020, 04:23 PM
rstaight rstaight is offline
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Classical guitars are acoustic guitars but typically have nylon strings.

Dreadnought style or "western" guitars typically have steel strings. Steel string guitars are by far the most popular.

If your instrument has nylon strings it should be stated that you want nylon. I think the confusion came from just saying acoustic strings is what was needed.
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Old 01-11-2020, 04:23 PM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Henning View Post
Hello, to me an acoustic guitar is an instrument of guitar type (i.e it has got six strings) and the tone is produced in an acoustic way. An electric guitar could also be played in an acoustical way but generally it won´t sound as much then.
However, recently a friend of mine went to the music store to buy new strings to his acoustic guitar. When he got home he found out that the store had given him strings for a western guitar or a classic steel stringed guitar. Classic here is a word that could be used in the sense of general (only considering the previous sentence). He took the strings and went back to the store, they told him: "an acoustic guitar is a steel stringed guitar".
Which leaves the traditional Spanish guitar or the Classic guitar out of the field of acoustic guitars. Just exactly as in the states (USA and supposedly Canada, the UK, Australia too, yeah perhaps all over the English speaking countries).
Hej Henning, I've seen something like this before - narrow specifications by ill-informed people.

Of course an "acoustic" guitar is any/every kind that isn't designed to be dependant on electro-magnetic components.

The misinformation given by the sales person is probably because he is an electric guitarist and doesn't know much about acoustics.

The term "western guitar" is not used in North America or the UK but I've seen it used in mainland Europe to mean a Gibson/Martin style flat top steel strung guitar.

"Classic" is how I would describe a gut/nylon or "Spanish" style guitar commonly used for "classical" style music.

So, yes, you are correct, and the sales person was ... "inadequately informed".
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Old 01-11-2020, 06:44 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Henning, your friend ran into an unhelpful music store employee or two, who failed to ask the simple question of exactly what kind of acoustic guitar was going to be restrung. But your friend should have known enough to make certain that he was getting the correct strings.

So while more of the blame can put on the music store employee, since those folks are supposed to be professionals, at least some of it has to be assigned to your friend for not being more specific about what strings were needed.

I have a suspicion that that won’t happen again!

Yes, that miscommunication was irksome and annoying for your friend, but there’s probably no chance that the lesson wasn’t learned.

Incidentally, we have some nitwits working in music stores in the United States, too - this problem isn’t limited to Umea, Sverige alone. What I’ve found is that in most cases it’s caused by inattention, not bone-deep stupidity. But the effect can be the same either way.

Anyway, I’m glad your friend got the matter sorted out, and the next time will know exactly what to ask for.


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Old 01-13-2020, 07:23 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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I 99.999% guarantee that if you walked into any USA Guitar Center and asked for 'acoustic guitar strings', the only questions would be gauge and make. If a person wants nylon guitar strings, they need to ask for 'nylon guitar strings'.
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Old 01-13-2020, 04:58 PM
whvick whvick is offline
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Although any hollow body guitar could be called “acoustic”, it seems to me that most people call nylon strings “classical” and steel strings “acoustic”.
Sense a lot of companies make versions of nylon strings that differ somewhat from the true Spanish classical, we should probably just designate as steel strings or nylon.
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acoustic, classic, guitar, noconfusion, spanish

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