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  #1  
Old 01-24-2020, 03:00 PM
gfa gfa is offline
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Default How to dampen volume?

I'm enjoying my new-to-me archtop, but it's LOUD. Too loud, sometimes. How can I dampen the volume?
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  #2  
Old 01-24-2020, 04:08 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Adjust your right-hand technique and/or use a thinner/softer pick - try a Dunlop Nylon .60 to start and work up/down from there...
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Old 01-24-2020, 05:05 PM
gfa gfa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post
Adjust your right-hand technique and/or use a thinner/softer pick - try a Dunlop Nylon .60 to start and work up/down from there...
Thanks, I'm asking whether there's something I can do to the guitar.
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Old 01-24-2020, 05:51 PM
Mandobart Mandobart is offline
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Originally Posted by gfa View Post
Thanks, I'm asking whether there's something I can do to the guitar.
IMO you're asking the wrong question. This is what learning technique and dynamics is all about.

If you insist its the guitar's fault its too loud and not your own, then I also suggest a thin wimpy pick, lighter gage strings, set the action as low as possible, use a mute (clip clothespins on the bridge between strings), a cloth stuffed under the strings just behind the bridge, shoot expanding foam into the body (please don't really do this last one).
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Old 01-24-2020, 06:00 PM
gfa gfa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandobart View Post
IMO you're asking the wrong question. This is what learning technique and dynamics is all about.

If you insist its the guitar's fault its too loud and not your own, then I also suggest a thin wimpy pick, lighter gage strings, set the action as low as possible, use a mute (clip clothespins on the bridge between strings), a cloth stuffed under the strings just behind the bridge, shoot expanding foam into the body (please don't really do this last one).
I asked exactly the question I wanted answered. Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of a cloth behind the bridge, will definitely investigate that.
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  #6  
Old 01-25-2020, 11:58 AM
Dadzmad Dadzmad is offline
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Try this - put a small soft hair tie over the head stock and park it behind the nut. Pull it forward over the nut into 1st fret territory and the open or unfretted strings will be muted keeping the focus on the fretted notes - the overall volume of the guitar is reduced since the number of strings is cut back by muting of the hair tie.

folks who use this are not trying to reduce the volume but it has that effect especially on an unplugged or acoustic guitar
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Old 01-25-2020, 02:57 PM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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I favor the fill it up with spray foam idea. Also the don't play it so loud idea. Seriously. If it's too loud, get a solid body electric. There's no way to make a guitar quieter without screwing up the tone, or hurting it, except how you play it. Nice guitar, BTW. I really like the early Silvertones, I have one myself.

One idea that you could try that wouldn't hurt the guitar but would screw up the tone (reversibly) would be to put a piece of closed cell foam insulation under the bridge. Or maybe try filling it up with those foam packing peanuts so there is not much air inside, those you can always vacuum out.
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Old 01-26-2020, 12:30 PM
gfa gfa is offline
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The piece of cloth behind the bridge trick is good. Appreciable reduction of volume, no impact on tone that I can hear.
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  #9  
Old 01-27-2020, 06:45 AM
Ray175 Ray175 is offline
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Maybe also consider a bridge with 2 distinct feet (less surface area in contact with soundboard) as opposed to the continuous one you have?
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Old 01-28-2020, 12:14 PM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
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Lighter strings (or a different material, maybe flatwounds?), lower action are the physical things you can do to the guitar.

A thinner pick is the physical thing you can use to get less volume.

Adjusting your technique is the answer you don't want to hear, but it's the best answer.

rags behind bridges and hair scrunchies will tame harmonics and pinging from the strings behind the bridge, but they won't do much about volume.

If you really want to deaden the body, use upholstery packing. Pat Martino did this for years to reduce feedback on his archtop when plugged in. Stuffed like 10 lbs of it inside his Johnny Smith. It's really for taming feedback plugged in, but it'll make your guitar sound deader than a doornail.
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  #11  
Old 04-12-2020, 09:23 PM
Backcountry Backcountry is offline
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I tamed a wild 18" archtop by stringing it with Martin Retro Monels. The overall window shattering volume was noticeably tamed and those strings brought out the woody timbres.
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  #12  
Old 08-07-2020, 03:22 PM
gfa gfa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Backcountry View Post
I tamed a wild 18" archtop by stringing it with Martin Retro Monels. The overall window shattering volume was noticeably tamed and those strings brought out the woody timbres.
I recently put Monels on mine. I didn't notice a reduction in volume, but I like the way they sound on this guitar.
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  #13  
Old 08-12-2020, 06:30 PM
Aspiring Aspiring is online now
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I also find it pretty amazing how much archtops project.

I have a Collings i30 which is thin body and intended to be an electric. When I play it with headphones in the amp my kids complain it wakes them up when I'm playing in the morning. If I'm playing some of my flattop acoustics at what sounds like a louder volume to me compared to the archtop completely unplugged they don't wake up or complain.
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  #14  
Old 08-29-2020, 04:59 PM
ssynhorst ssynhorst is offline
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Archtops were designed to be loud enough to replace the piercing tone of banjos in dance bands. Then the got bigger and bigger and louder and louder to keep up with the big bands of the 1930s and 40s. So loudness is their nature. And then they amplified them.

But experimenting with strings is a simple first option. Go lighter in gauge and consider even silk wound steel strings.

Maybe the archtop concept is not for you and you would do better to switch to a flattop design.
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  #15  
Old 09-03-2020, 08:49 PM
fakedrummer fakedrummer is offline
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Try covering the F holes with pieces of plastic like a non stick pick guard. You can also cut foam pieces to fit in them to help lower the sound from the guitar.
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