"Dry" Tone

[jtacoustic]

"Dry" is often used to describe the tone of certain instruments. What does that mean to you? and... why might a dry tone be desirable?

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Lack of overtones

[jcpharm]

agree with Brooklyn Bob - or put positively, strong "fundamental" tone.

[bufflehead]

......................Dry <-----> Lush
Fundamental tones <-----> Overtones
.............Mahogany <-----> Rosewood
....................D-18 <-----> D-28

[jaymarsch]

Agree - no overtones and an emphasis on the fundamental. A dry tone to my ears is when you pluck a string and the note clearly sounds then dies quickly.
Best,
Jayne

[b1j]

I was noticing the other day, after putting on a new set of D’Addario P/Bs, that I heard a very strong B when I plucked the low E string by itself. Mahogany J-45. That surprised me. It didn’t happen as much with other strings or fretted notes. Maybe the body resonates at B?

[pagedr]

Yep, quick decay and lack of overtones. Any early 50s Gibson is what I immediately think of when someone says dry tone.

[mr. beaumont]

If you want to hear the ultimate extreme in dry, check out a "gypsy jazz" guitar.

And if you try playing that rhythm guitar style, you'll know right away why it can be desireable.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by bufflehead

......................Dry <-----> Lush
Fundamental tones <-----> Overtones
.............Mahogany <-----> Rosewood
....................D-18 <-----> D-28

I like this.

I find I like dry guitars when I do some flatpicking. My Lowden is lush but there's too much natural reverb when I play fast flatpicking so you don't get that note separation. Fantastic for fingerpicking though.

[waterlooz]

To me, a dry tone means the sound is arid, texture "y", offers sonic space between notes, with very little sustain.

The best example I can think of was a Waterloo 14L LTR I used to own. This guitar was amazing and dry just like I had hoped for. Watch a demo on Youtube. Of course, it's all subjective : )

[High_Colorado]

Quick decay, midrange emphasis, clear up and down the fretboard

[coder]

When it comes to sound engineering dry usually means "without reverb". vs. the term "wet" is also used in the sense "with reverb". In this context, it is a well-defined an commonly agreed upon term. I think that is where the term originally came from.

When applied to a guitar's sound, it is not quite as well defined, but means something similar: "not a lot of sustain", and/or "not a lot of echo-ey harmonics".

A dry sound may be better for fast paced music, where the notes and chords are rapidly following each other. In such such case, a lush sounding guitar with a lot of sustain may not work too well.

I am not sure if there is any more to it, there seem to be peronalized interpretations and embellishments.

[Russ C]

Always difficult to convey tone in words isn’t it.
Lack of overtones has been said a lot yet I need to hear some highs - “brittle” or “crisp” as in “dry as an old leaf” also means dry to me - like the tone I expect from an old guitar.
When it’s desirable to me is when I want to be heard among other noises.
On their own I prefer the tone of my sitka and rosewood Martin to my adi and mahogany Gibson which have very similar loudness but in front of a mic or among other instruments I’ll chose the “drier” J45.

[colins]

Originally Posted by jcpharm

agree with Brooklyn Bob - or put positively, strong "fundamental" tone.

Yep, I also equate "dry" with a lack of overtones. Useful when the guitar is in a busy mix, or accompanying some vocals. Lack of sustain (quick decay of note volume) can also be useful in these settings, again to avoid a cluttered sound.

[PineMarten]

I'm not sure I always hear it as a lack of overtones, so much as overtones that are distributed across a narrower frequency band, usually focused somewhere in the midrange rather than extending into sparkly highs. And quicker decay is a big part of it too.
I think of my Kalamazoo archtop as dry sounding - there are certain things it brings real character and attitude to, and other playing styles where it's a little like eating toast with no butter!