How do dreadnaughts and jumbos differ?

[12FanMan]

Originally Posted by RussellHawaii

As I understand it, a jumbo will have a narrower waist, allowing it to sit more comfortably on your knee, and ergonomically a little easier to reach around and play. It will usually have a slightly wider lower bout, but not always. Dreads have a wider waist and will not vary from the classic shape.
Similar in overall interior volume, and acoustic volume, but to my ears a jumbo has a more versatile sound, a little less bass-heavy. A dread is very strong in the bass register, a jumbo a bit more balanced in that regard.
The big guitar you are picturing in a Mariachi band is probably an acoustic bass, much larger.
I’m happy to be corrected by those who know better.

------------------------------------------------------
Makes sense. After playing my naught last night, I started having pain in the ball joint of my right shoulder. I hope that's not a trend. Everything else hurts, why not add a shoulder to the list?

[12FanMan]

Originally Posted by Ralph124C41

I pretty much agree with you. I find a jumbo to have a more balanced sound with more of an emphasis on the mids ... but that could just be because the bass is softened a bit.

I also find the jumbo is easier to hold than a dreadnought. I think its size may alarm people but when they play it they may change their mind.

Btw, it's somewhat interesting to find out how and why the dreadnought was made and how it got its iconic name. My understanding is that Martin designers named it after the H.M.S. Dreadnought, which at the time was the largest battleship ever made. And so the new guitar was the biggest guitar ever made ... at that time ... so it was named the dreadnought.

---------------------------------------
I wonder if there is a jumbo version of the FG-820?

[12FanMan]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

It depends on who you ask. There's jumbos, and super jumbos and mini-jumbos, etc.

But, a lot of guitars that are frequently referred to as slope dreads are called Jumbos by Gibson... the J in J-45, AJ, SJ, etc all stand for jumbo.

In that case it's a bit more of a rounded off upper bout and bit wider lower bout, but they're pretty close in size.

The term is a bit of a moving target.

===================================
Moving target indeed. I've been trying to determine the difference by reading posts for a month, rather than hanging the question out on the forum. No avail. Descriptions within posts seem to vary.

Another term I keep seeing is "slope." What is that all about?

[12FanMan]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi 12FM
Probably the tonal balance of the Jumbo might be more even than the Dreadnought - a typical Dread (especially Rosewood/Spruce) would have stronger bass…not necessarily louder, just more prevalent in the sound.

The depth of the bodies are usually different, and upper bouts might be differently shaped. The Gibson J slope shoulder series look like a Dreadnought in the upper bout but are wider in the lower bout. Other Mini-Jumbo (small jumbo) have a smaller upper bout and a narrow waist. Also, some Jumbos have less variation between the depth of the body twixt tail and upper bout.

I love the look of an SJ (small jumbo) with it's upper bout being more OM sized/shaped…which creates a narrower waist.

And there are many variations of each produced by different companies and builders.

The bass instrument in Mariachi bands is a different family of stringed instruments separate from traditional acoustic guitars. Seems like a cousin to the orchestral string bass.

What does OM-sized mean?

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

What does OM-sized mean?

When Martin introduced a 14-fret guitar for the first time, it was a 14-fret version of their 000 guitar (the different sizes were discussed in that other thread). For a while, Martin used the term “Orchestra Model” to describe any guitar with a 14-fret neck, but the 14-fret 000 was called the OM (e.g., OM-18, OM-28, OM-45). In 1934, they stopped calling them OMs, and shortened the scale length from 25.4 (“standard”) to 24.5 (“short”). For many decades, Martin didn’t make OMs—000s with a standard-scale neck. Eric Schoenberg is credited with reviving the OM in the late ‘60s.

Today an OM is generally considered any guitar similar in shape to a Martin 000, with a standard-scale neck (Martin 000s have short-scale necks). Modern Martin OMs have 1/4” main braces, but my understanding is that the OMs from the early 1930s had 5/16” main braces.

Originally Posted by donlyn

How do dreadnaughts and jumbos differ?

Jumbo is spelled correctly.

Don
.

As Ralph124C41 pointed out, the name comes from the H.M.S. Dreadnought, which was the largest battleship of its time. As Silly Moustache noted, Martin made the first iteration in 1916 for Major Kealakai, and prominent Hawaiian guitarist and band leader at the time. Martin then made some for Ditson under Ditson’s name, and didn’t make them under their own name until Ditson went out of business. When Martin included them in their catalog, they spelled the name “Dreadnaught,” presumably a play on the name “Dreadnought” and Martin’s convention of using zeros (aughts) to denote their model sizes. Here’s the page from the 1935 catalog:



Martin continued to spell dreadnought with an “a” instead of an “o” for several decades. Catalogs from the late ‘60s still say “Dreadnaught,” but sometime in the ‘70s Martin relented and started spelling dreadnought with an “o.”

[Wellington]

I find Jumbo's very comfortable to play for some reason.

[jp2558]

I'll take my M-36 (and GPC-35E) over a dread every time.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Probably the tonal balance of the Jumbo might be more even than the Dreadnought....

Right -- I've always heard that, and that's my experience, too.

Originally Posted by ljguitar

I love the look of an SJ (small jumbo) with it's upper bout being more OM sized/shaped…which creates a narrower waist.

I always liked the look of Gibson's "compact jumbo" CJ-165 and finally picked one up some weeks ago....

[lowrider]

I was just out testing. To me, playing a Jumbo on my right leg seated, feels much bigger than a dread. Playing it on my left leg, it feels much more comfortable than a dread.

I've got Jumbo Fever, I've got to order mine right away!

[egordon99]

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

What does OM-sized mean?

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=365143

[Alan Carruth]

The original Dreadnaught was designed with a 12 fret neck, as was the original 000. When Martin converted them to 14 fret necks they pretty much just chopped off the upper bout straight across, so the shoulders are flat. Later designers came up with similar body shapes that were rounded off at the upper end, so 'slope shouldered' Dreads.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Alan Carruth

The original Dreadnaught was designed with a 12 fret neck, as was the original 000. When Martin converted them to 14 fret necks they pretty much just chopped off the upper bout straight across, so the shoulders are flat. Later designers came up with similar body shapes that were rounded off at the upper end, so 'slope shouldered' Dreads.

The irony is, the original dreadnought design was a slope-shoulder design. If that design had stuck, we would just refer to it as a dreadnought, and the 14-fret versions as “square-shoulder” dreadnoughts (some use that term anyway for clarity).

Gibson came out with its Jumbo at around the same time Martin went from 12 to 14 frets on its dreadnoughts. That guitar was roughly the same shape as Martin’s 12-fret dreadnought. The Super Jumbos were a size bigger, but when Gibson dropped “Super” from the name, that size became know as the jumbo, leaving Gibson’s original jumbo shape in linguistic limbo. Slope-shoulder dreadnought (or round-shoulder dreadnought, as Gibson sometimes calls it) just stuck. It didn’t really matter what came later once the 14-fret version became the de facto shape identified simply as a “dreadnought.”

[mcduffnw]

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

---------------------------------------
I wonder if there is a jumbo version of the FG-820?

Well, the FG-830, and the FG-730 before it, and the vintage FG-180 before that, are sort Yamaha's mash up/combo idea of the Dreadnaught and Jumbo body shape, not fully dread, not fully jumbo. In Yamaha's guitar line, to get the "traditional" jumbo body shape, like a Gibson SJ-200 or Guild F-50/50R, you have to go up to the LL series Yamaha's, and the "LJ" model designation, and the first series in that with Yamaha is the LJ-16, which are really wonderful guitars!!!...and for their price, especially used...an amazing value...what you pay for what you get. That is true of all the Yamaha LL series of guitars from the 6 series to the 56 series, but the 16 series in particular are just an incredible value all around.



duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[Birdbrain]

Drednaughts hang on a strap.
Jumbos sit in your lap.

[goufousdoufous]

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

What are the differences between a jumbo and a dreadnaught? My FG-820 is a dread. What would be different if it were a jumbo? In my newbie mind..a jumbo would be one of those massive guitars you see guys strolling around Mexican restaurants with.

Dreanaughts sound like you’re playing in a bathtub. Jumbos sound like you’re playing in a swimming pool!