Does body depth affect what the player hears?

[redir]

Comparing two different guitars is next to impossible, heck comparing identical guitars built from wood sawn off the same log is.

The loudest guitars I have ever made were small body guitars.

So I don't really know. BUt I think you just cannot make a general statement like that.

What you can get from that now though is now you know which guitar to use for what occasion

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by redir

Comparing two different guitars is next to impossible, heck comparing identical guitars built from wood sawn off the same log is.

The loudest guitars I have ever made were small body guitars.

So I don't really know. BUt I think you just cannot make a general statement like that.

What you can get from that now though is now you know which guitar to use for what occasion

...I don’t think you’re understanding the supposition...it’s not about the guitar being louder or quieter based on body depth....it’s about how well the person playing it can hear it....the guitar may be crazy loud to a listener in front of the instrument but not that loud to the player behind it...

[Alan Carruth]

redir:
You're right; it's actually easier to make a powerful small guitar than a powerful big one. The smaller one can be more lightly built and still retain sufficient stiffness, so the ratio of vibrating area to mass goes up, and that's what makes power.

'Loudness' and 'power' are not the same thing.

It's possible that deeper sides might vibrate more, and produce more sound that the player can hear. In this respect they'd be acting as 'monitors' in the same way that a side port does. Again, it would be a fair amount of work to demonstrate this. It's easy enough to make a guitar wit a port that opens and closes, and do 'blind' tests with the same guitar. You can't do that with side depth.

[Villamarzia]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Could it possibly be - 'the older the body, the less the player hears it'?

..or the older the player, the less guitar he hears..?

[redir]

Ah yes ok I see what you are saying. Alans idea is interesting, that the sides actually act like a soundboard, if you will.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by fitness1

I can tell you that depth past about 4 3/8 has sent a LOT of otherwise fine instruments down the road from my closet.

I hear a huge difference as the body gets deeper than that, and it's not pleasing to me.

The best way I can describe it is that the notes get "lost" in cavernous body.

I like a more immediate response.

I’m on the same page; depth of body is of critical importance for quick, immediate response; I don’t want to have to be chasing notes that seemingly disappeared into a cavernous body, waiting for them to return while at the same time going through a metamorphosis via blending with other reverberations in the sound box. 4 1/8” is just about perfect, and my big thumb can extract whatever bass is necessary while fingerpicking any non oversized guitar.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Realbluesman

Yeah begs the question: Guitar body depth or player body depth?

FWIW, I lost over 40lbs during and after my cancer treatment and have not put it back on, and my waistline is now 10" thinner, so, technically, my guitar is somewhat closer to me than it used to be.

[ManyMartinMan]

Since the question relies specifically on the sound hole being from a 1/4” to 3/4” farther away. Simply place your guitar farther from your body by 1/2” and see for yourself. It doesn’t change. Putting on a thick sweater rather than a thin t-shirt does the same thing.

Added: You’ll get more effect on what you ear by tilting the guitar up or down slightly than moving it away from your core by 1/2”

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Villamarzia

..or the older the player, the less guitar he hears..?

heheh ! Maybe, maybe!