Why are mahogany topped guitars referred to as "blues boxes" when....

[zombywoof]

With the folk music revival of the late-1950s and 1960s Harmonys and Kays were common among the blues players. While they all seemed to shift quite a bit between instruments, Scrapper Blackwell recorded his live LP with a Kay Solo Special. Elmore James and Lightnin' Hopkins also also played Kay dreads. Blind Willie McTell played a figure 8 body Harmony H922 12 string while I think it was Mississippi Fred McDowell who owned a Harmony Cremona archtop. And Harmony Sovereigns were all over the place. But Gibsons and Martins were also not uncommon. Hard to think of Big Bill Broonzy without a Martin 000-28. The interesting thing is even when playing Harmonys and Kays though they were not playing the cheap offerings of those companies but what were the top of their line instruments.

But while companies such as Martin, May Bell, and Stromberg's Kay Kraft line among others were offering all-mahogany guitars well before WWII, I have seen nothing to indicate blues players had an affinity for them. So whomever made that claim seems to have known as little about the players and their instruments as an above posters does about the Gibson LG-0.

[pegleghowell]

There are s many different approaches to blues as there are players.Are we really hearing a true representation of a players sound when we listen to those scratchy,mid-heavy 78`s?.Blues box...just another label innit.

[gfirob]

It is an odd misplacement of guitar brands to assume that blues players favored one kind of guitar or other. Players who were not rediscovered and re-recorded (as John Hurt was in the'60's) are only known by recordings on 78's, a very poor representation of audio nuance, let alone guitar brands or tops. John Hurt played a Guild for the most part in the 60's. Bukka White played a National. If a player was poor, he played a cheap guitar. If they could afford it, they got a better guitar as soon as they could. The nature of the sound comes from the style of playing.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by zombywoof

So whomever made that claim seems to have known as little about the players and their instruments as an above posters does about the Gibson LG-0.

As the OP that is kind of what I thought as well. However, I've seen many posts on this forum and others that extol the virtues of all mahogany guitars for blues.

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

Almost all the Harmony, Kay and Silvertone guitars are either spruce or birch topped? Aren't those more for blues?

Who makes birch-topped guitars nowadays? If they are particularly good for blues you'd think there would be quite a lot of them being made.

[zombywoof]

Originally Posted by guitar george

Who makes birch-topped guitars nowadays? If they are particularly good for blues you'd think there would be quite a lot of them being made.

You are missing the point. It had nothing to do with them being particularly good for the blues. It had everything to do with them being cheap and easy to get. Any mail order catalog carried them. In fact prior to 1939 Sears owned Harmony. And while Oscar Schmidt did not supply mail order houses his sales staff were all over the place so you could buy his instruments not only at music shops but pretty much anywhere including gas stations. Today birch top guitars, which are as about as colorless sounding as it gets, just do not appeal to modern ears. Not being well heeled is no problem as we are living in a golden age when it comes to budget guitars. And if you have a hankering for an old birch top guitar there are plenty out there to be had.

[TJE]

Originally Posted by baw3

I never really associated any style of music with a certain acoustic guitar. I play what ever I feel like playing with the guitar thats in my lap.

How dare you! I didn’t know till I became a forum user that my guitar was for blues!🤣

[Bluesra]

Reading some of these posts it seems like everyone is missing the point, regardless of what the old time blues players used, all mahogany guitars produce a sound that works well for blues.

[BluesBelly]

Originally Posted by Bluesra

Reading some of these posts it seems like everyone is missing the point, all mahogany guitars produce a sound that works well for blues.

I would tend to agree that a mahogany body with spruce top is a preferable blues combination because of the dry crisp bark and lack of bright shimmering overtones found in rosewood or even maple and walnut to a degree.

NOW, an ALL mahogany guitar (top, back, sides, neck) has the same mahogany dry crispy bark BUT sustains much less making an ideal fingerstyle blues box.
That same guitar in an 00 or OM body size or similar makes a wonderful blues box, not only for fingerstyle but slide as well.

That’s my take.

Blues

[Kyle215]

Originally Posted by BluesBelly

I would tend to agree that a mahogany body with spruce top is a preferable blues combination because of the dry crisp bark and lack of bright shimmering overtones found in rosewood or even maple and walnut to a degree.

NOW, an ALL mahogany guitar (top, back, sides, neck) has the same mahogany dry crispy bark BUT sustains much less making an ideal fingerstyle blues box.
That same guitar in an 00 or OM body size or similar makes a wonderful blues box, not only for fingerstyle but slide as well.

That’s my take.

Blues

My take as well. FWIW, I sometimes get the impression that people use the word blues box to suggest a “lesser guitar”. I guess in the sense that they tend to be less expensive than a guitar with a “prettier” voice, but I guess that’s kind of the point, is that one often doesn’t to play the blues “pretty”.

Just my musings on that.