Help me understand my guitar

[SRL]

In general terms, a "responsive" guitar responds to your picking dynamics with different timbre, yes. A lot of players use this to their advantage, coaxing a wider variety of sounds from the instrument.

A non-responsive guitar sounds more or less the same no matter what you do. A non-responsive guitar will still get louder the harder you play it, just like anything else, the more force you apply to a mass, the more acceleration you get. A lot of cheap guitars are like this: they sound like a boxy, cheap guitar no matter what you do.


Regarding overbuilding it, maybe that's the case. The less mass in the guitar top, the less force you need to apply to make it move. If your bracing is heavy and your top thick, you've got a guitar that will sound great with hard strumming and quiet with soft touch. If your bracing is light and your top thin, you've got a guitar that will sound great played with soft fingerstyle and distorted/muddy when hit hard with a pick. This is why Martin builds a straight-braced D-35 and a scalloped HD-35, for example. Different strokes (strums?) for different folks.

[Misifus]

I have a custom built luthier made guitar on the J-185 body (Kinscherff High Noon) built with red spruce top and brazilian b/s and very similar other specs to yours. Mine behaves much like yours. I would think, in part, that this is a characteristic of that body and the red spruce top. The other part would be that you have built it well. Congratulations.

[koolimy]

In general terms, a "responsive" guitar responds to your picking dynamics with different timbre, yes. A lot of players use this to their advantage, coaxing a wider variety of sounds from the instrument.

A non-responsive guitar sounds more or less the same no matter what you do. A non-responsive guitar will still get louder the harder you play it, just like anything else, the more force you apply to a mass, the more acceleration you get. A lot of cheap guitars are like this: they sound like a boxy, cheap guitar no matter what you do.


Regarding overbuilding it, maybe that's the case. The less mass in the guitar top, the less force you need to apply to make it move. If your bracing is heavy and your top thick, you've got a guitar that will sound great with hard strumming and quiet with soft touch. If your bracing is light and your top thin, you've got a guitar that will sound great played with soft fingerstyle and distorted/muddy when hit hard with a pick. This is why Martin builds a straight-braced D-35 and a scalloped HD-35, for example. Different strokes (strums?) for different folks.

Thanks for the easy to understand explanation of responsiveness. So I guess a guitar can be both responsive and slightly overbuilt? I am glad if it is slightly overbuilt, as I was worried more about the guitar imploding on itself or the bridge ripping off. I scalloped the braces and thinned the top along the border of the lower bout without really following any plan or giving much thought. I just looked at some pictures of bracing online and tried to do something similar to the pictures.

I have a custom built luthier made guitar on the J-185 body (Kinscherff High Noon) built with red spruce top and brazilian b/s and very similar other specs to yours. Mine behaves much like yours. I would think, in part, that this is a characteristic of that body and the red spruce top. The other part would be that you have built it well. Congratulations.

Thanks for this reply! It is comforting to know that it is a characteristic of this body type and red spruce top. It is interesting to see how the body type and tonewoods provide different tones and characteristics. As a primarily electric player, I understood the need and desire for multiple electric guitars, as they all have different pickups and give different colors for different songs. I always thought that an acoustic guitar is just an acoustic guitar, and a person only needs one. This experience is showing me that acoustic guitars also have their own personality and sound, and one may prefer different guitars for different songs!

I visited the Kinscherff guitars website and the guitars seem quite gorgeous! I am sure you are enjoying your Kinscherff High Noon.

[erhino41]

Play the guitar a lot. You will subconsciously adapt to the touch needed over time and will learn to feel the instrument more than simply trying to play it.

You may want to try growing out your nails. I played with flesh only for many years. I've played with nails for a handful of years now and enjoy it immensely.