How do you check the headroom of a guitar?

[JackC1]

I noticed that I can strum very hard on some of my guitars and not bottom out in the sound (by "bottom out" I don't mean fret buzz, I mean the sound just doesn't get louder but has some distortion). Is this because I'm running into the guitar's headroom limitation? (Just also what to know if I'm using the term "headroom" correctly.)

How should I check it?
Do you know of any videos that compares guitars' headrooms?
Thanks.

[Rosewood99]

Would you say is what I’ve always thought it was.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

I don't think you can measure it, but you're on the right track.

[musicman1951]

I play as loud as my loud playing. If it doesn't distort it has plenty of headroom for me. I personally don't keep increasing the volume to see what the actual headroom might be.

But I have a K&K in each guitar and have no interest in beating on them. Some people play a more physical style of music, and some even like a little distortion on the top.

[Mr. Jelly]

To me the headroom ceiling is when while under hard attack the notes start losing definition and the guitars seem to get quitter the harder you drive it or pick it. Guitars that have allot of head room just keep getting louder and better sounding. Don't equate it with better though. There are other aspects about guitars that make the +/- of head room a good thing or not.

[ewalling]

Daft remark deleted!

[davidd]

It's a guitar not a jack hammer. Treat it as an instrument.

[Andyrondack]

How to check headroom?
Just stand up and if the headstock hits the ceiling you haven"t got enough

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

How to check headroom?
Just stand up and if the headstock hits the ceiling you haven"t got enough

[ozzman]

pinball wizzard

[jaymarsch]

Headroom in guitar playing is like other things such as responsiveness or balance - your particular playing style affects it. The most useful way to compare headroom for you is to play a bunch of guitars and let your hands and ears tell you which ones have the headroom that you need.
I have not run across a video comparing guitars relative to things like headroom, projection or responsiveness. I’m mentioning responsiveness since I am the opposite of you and play with a lighter touch so need a guitar that has the tone and projection that best matches my playing. I just played a large sampling of guitars and didn’t find a fixed set of factors that made a guitar more responsive than another. I suspect the same may be true about headroom though I am happy to hear from any luthiers here who can impart their wisdom and experience on the matter.
Best,
Jayne

[doublescale1]

You're on the right path, hard or aggressive strumming will cause an acoustic to "distort". All the notes begin to squish together and the resulting sound is very mushy and unpleasant. I've also found that the top wood can contribute to the threshold at which the guitar will distort with hard strumming - In my experience the more traditional top woods, Spruce and Mahogany will better tolerate aggressive strumming. The one guitar I got with a Redwood top began distorting with strum efforts that were no where near my heaviest strumming with the Spruce/Mahogany guitars. While it was a nice looking guitar I sold it off as it was way more better suited to finger style playing than strumming.

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by doublescale1

You're on the right path, hard or aggressive strumming will cause an acoustic to "distort". All the notes begin to squish together and the resulting sound is very mushy and unpleasant. I've also found that the top wood can contribute to the threshold at which the guitar will distort with hard strumming - In my experience the more traditional top woods, Spruce and Mahogany will better tolerate aggressive strumming. The one guitar I got with a Redwood top began distorting with strum efforts that were no where near my heaviest strumming with the Spruce/Mahogany guitars. While it was a nice looking guitar I sold it off as it was way more better suited to finger style playing than strumming.

I believe this to be accurate.my cedar top distorts with heavy strumming but is really sweet finger picked while my Adirondack top can take a beating before the mush mentioned above. very different guitars.

[L20A]

I knew nothing about headroom when I purchased my Martin D-35 back in 1983. It was the best sounding guitar that I had ever heard or played.

Several years later, I took it to a Bluegrass Jam Session where there were at least 12 other instruments being played.

Something strange started to happen with my D-35. As the music got louder, I started to loose the ability to hear my guitar.
I strummed it harder and it sounded awful.
At the end of the Jam, I went home thinking that the strings were in need of changing.

A few months later, I was talking to a few friends that play guitar and they told me about headroom.
They also told me that if i wanted to keep up with a large Bluegrass Jam, I would need a Martin HD-28.

This got to me and I actually consigned my D-35 thinking that I needed an HD-28.
I played several HD-28 Martin guitars and never heard one that sounded as good as my D-35 did to me.
I retrieved the D-35 from consignment and never looked back.

I now know the limitations of the guitar and just stay within it's limits.

[Br1ck]

You need to play a lot of guitars. Some just need less force to reach a certain sound level, some have something left in the tank and can give you more volume before they top out. Only experience can teach you.

Don't confuse this with an ability to cut through a mix, and entirely different issue.