Your Favorite (Double top Vs. Lattice braced)

[mrkpower]

Which is your favorite and why?
How would you compare the Double top and Lattice braced in tonal quality and volume?

[Bax Burgess]

On one side of the question, lattice bracing, I'll ask,

Is lattice bracing's tone/volume so noticeably different from traditional fan and fan bracing variants? My Cordoba C12 lattice didn't stand obviously apart from my traditionally braced brands, and one or two others who have compared the C12 lattice to the fan braced C10 expressed no significant difference between those two guitars. So, if looking for a clear difference, might the question be modified to, Double Top or non-double top?

[Five Fourths]

Up front, I have neither type. My preferences have led me to my 3 guitars, which are Torres and Hauser variants, along with a Marin-Bouchet. I can make two observations, having listened to many, many YouTube clips of everyone under the sun:

1) I've never heard a double-top that "wowed" me, but I've only heard them recorded; and

2) Though Ana Vidovic is perhaps my favorite musician, it has occurred to me more than once that I am slightly underwhelmed by the sound of her Redgate lattice-braced guitars. If I recall, the term "harsh" has come to mind. Again, I have only heard her recorded.

My understanding on these designs is that they are engineered (to some extent) for volume, for which I have no need, and therefore, no appreciation. Having said that, I do appreciate the late-60's, early-70's Ramirez's out there, with their long scales and big sounds. But, I don't think that preference is about volume. It's about frequency response.

To each his/her own, of course, and I mean no disrespect to any luthiers or artists. I'm quite happy that we all like different stuff. I'm still mesmerized by Ana 99% of the time.

de gustibus non est disputandum

FF

[Bax Burgess]

I wonder if those who are drawn to the extra volume of double-tops are more inclined to be aggressive, as opposed to delicate, players - loud and proud. The single criticism that I've read of dbl-tops is that listener fatigue can/does set in. Anyone step forward or suggest a dbl-top player who plays reservedly, as their main style?

[Bax Burgess]

Found a video of reserved style - a comparison of a spruce top to a dbl-top cedar (do the topwoods really matter in this instance?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C6cNsBkxEI

For my benefit, and what you will not experience with the above video, I edited it into shorter clips to quicken the pace of the comparison. There was a difference, the dbl-top had a more pointed sound, the spruce coming across as gentler, but it wasn't a glaring difference. If the player dug in hard, I imagine the dbl-top could induce the ear fatigue that I have heard about, not experienced for myself.

[Five Fourths]

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

I wonder if those who are drawn to the extra volume of double-tops are more inclined to be aggressive, as opposed to delicate, players - loud and proud...

I don't know the answer to your question, but I have read--and it makes sense to me--that some players looking for more volume/projection want it so they don't have to work as hard to get the dynamics. They can be delicate, yet still be heard.

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

Found a video of reserved style - a comparison of a spruce top to a dbl-top cedar (do the topwoods really matter in this instance?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C6cNsBkxEI

For my benefit, and what you will not experience with the above video, I edited it into shorter clips to quicken the pace of the comparison. There was a difference, the dbl-top had a more pointed sound, the spruce coming across as gentler, but it wasn't a glaring difference. If the player dug in hard, I imagine the dbl-top could induce the ear fatigue that I have heard about, not experienced for myself.

My sense of the fan-braced, lattice-braced, double-top debate is that the lattice-braced guitars tend to offer the greatest potential volume benefit. The lattice bracing being the means for supporting a thinner top. The early lattice designs, beginning with Smallman, tended to emphasize volume and the fundamental at the expense of some overtones and roundness, leading to a piano-like sound. As the lattice designs have evolved, that stereotype has faded significantly.

It is not clear from my reading that added volume was a primary design criterion for the double top. Perhaps it was. People seem to think of the double tops that way, and perhaps they are louder on average, but several of the luthiers over on delcamp tend to describe the double top as simply different.

Many of the complaints about both of these designs have to do with the non-wood materials used in the bracing and between the tops. "Artificial sounding" is a term that has been used to describe them. Some say that lattice designs which use wood for bracing sound much more "traditional."

Others say an original Smallman they once heard was the best they had ever experienced.

It seems to me that it is somewhat risky to think of any given design as necessarily exhibiting some stereotypical traits. All of the designs are continually changing, and so much depends on the skills and goals of the builders and the materials used.

FF

[Bax Burgess]

FF, that's expanding my horizon. Glad to hear it.