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Topic: Square Neck vs Hollow neck Acoustic |
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 20 Feb 2008 10:49 am |
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Weissenborne style guitars have terrific tone. But I find them to be very weak on volume. I have never played a Kona style (square neck) wooden guitar. So I can't talk from experience. But I have been told by several people that the Kona style neck gets superior volume. I hope we get some replies here from some people with direct experience in the subject.
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Feb 2008 11:13 am
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I find that weissenborns and converted flattops are pretty equal in volume, I certainly have no problem being heard in acoustic settings with my Lazy River weiss.
The real difference is in the tone,- a weiss is much more percussive because of the shallower body, while a flattop has a softer and warmer tone,- in my experience.. I'm really not sure how much the hollow neck affects the tone, one fine day with nothing else to do I'll stuff a towel inside mine and check how it sounds.... 
I would imagine a Kona will sound closer to a regular flattop because of its deeper body, but I've never played one so I can't say for sure. I attended a workshop with Bob Brozman a few years ago, and his 23" scale Bear Creek Kona sure sounded sweet (tuned to a high C; GCGCEG, low to high).
Steinar
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"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2008 4:36 am
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| Edward Meisse wrote: |
| Weissenborne style guitars have terrific tone. But I find them to be very weak on volume. I have never played a Kona style (square neck) wooden guitar. So I can't talk from experience. But I have been told by several people that the Kona style neck gets superior volume. I hope we get some replies here from some people with direct experience in the subject. |
The terrific tone part is enticing but weak on volume compared to a flat top? There's lots of different types of flat tops so I guess it could depend on which it's being compared to. I have two dreadnaughts, one for fretting and the other for lap style and they are both relatively loud. Looking at a Kona I would think it's in the ballpark of a dreadnaught volume wise... that's just a guess though.
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2008 5:04 am
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| Steinar Gregertsen wrote: |
I find that weissenborns and converted flattops are pretty equal in volume, I certainly have no problem being heard in acoustic settings with my Lazy River weiss.
The real difference is in the tone,- a weiss is much more percussive because of the shallower body, while a flattop has a softer and warmer tone,- in my experience.. I'm really not sure how much the hollow neck affects the tone, one fine day with nothing else to do I'll stuff a towel inside mine and check how it sounds....
Steinar |
Steinar, that's the first time I've heard someone describe weiss tone as percussive... can I assume that is a good thing? Sounds kinda like a comparison between a large and small sized round neck acoustic. One is better for fingerpick style and the other for strumming.
Does a hollow neck have more or less sustain?
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 21 Feb 2008 6:17 am
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| Mark Mansueto wrote: |
Steinar, that's the first time I've heard someone describe weiss tone as percussive... can I assume that is a good thing? |
Yes, at least to me, that's one of the things I love about the weiss tone and which separates it from a flattop played lap style. I'm no luthier or "acoustic scientist", but I suppose the 'percussiveness' is caused by the shallow body,- the vibrations from the strings hit the back of the guitar and is reflected back up faster than on a flattop guitar with deeper body. I'm sure some of the good builders on the forum can elaborate more on this..
Haven't really noticed any big difference one way or the other in regard to sustain..
Steinar
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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Vince Luke
From:
Iowa, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2008 10:40 am
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What I like about hollow-neck weissenborn-type instruments is that they have a more open, woody resonance to their sound. They also sustain great. Of course the usual variables apply--the player, the quality of the instrument, the woods used, etc., but that sound is the general appeal to me, at least.
To hear for yourself a player & teacher named Rob Anderlik (also a member of this forum) has an informative website regarding acoustic lap steel playing where he's posted sound clips of various instruments for comparison. http://robanderlik.com/guitar_comp.htm
There's also some good solo playing on both a regular guitar set up for lap playing and a weiss-type instrument at Pura Fe's website (click on the Videos from Rez Bluez TV): http://purafe.com/multimedia.html
Hope that helps,
Vince |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2008 12:05 pm
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[quote="Steinar GregertsenYes, at least to me, that's one of the things I love about the weiss tone and which separates it from a flattop played lap style. I'm no luthier or "acoustic scientist", but I suppose the 'percussiveness' is caused by the shallow body,- the vibrations from the strings hit the back of the guitar and is reflected back up faster than on a flattop guitar with deeper body. I'm sure some of the good builders on the forum can elaborate more on this..
Haven't really noticed any big difference one way or the other in regard to sustain..
Steinar[/quote]
Thanks Steinar, your explanation is helpful and makes sense. FYI, I really do like the tone of my converted flat top but I have a few issues with the guitar in general. For one since it's a roundneck (and not a beafy roundneck) I believe that causes it to feel spongy. I also don't tune it higher than D for that reason.
The second problem I have is that I'm more comfortable playing my electric which has a flat bottom. The acoustic flat top has a large offset between the back and the neck and I can never seem to find a good playing position. I'm used to being able to move the electric around on my lap to whatever position I want but with the FT I can't. It works OK if I sit with my left foot raised but many times I'm relaxing with feet up on the coffee table and there's just no good way. That said the hollow neck is an attractive feature.
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2008 12:20 pm
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| Vince Luke wrote: |
What I like about hollow-neck weissenborn-type instruments is that they have a more open, woody resonance to their sound. They also sustain great. Of course the usual variables apply--the player, the quality of the instrument, the woods used, etc., but that sound is the general appeal to me, at least.
To hear for yourself a player & teacher named Rob Anderlik (also a member of this forum) has an informative website regarding acoustic lap steel playing where he's posted sound clips of various instruments for comparison. http://robanderlik.com/guitar_comp.htm
There's also some good solo playing on both a regular guitar set up for lap playing and a weiss-type instrument at Pura Fe's website (click on the Videos from Rez Bluez TV): http://purafe.com/multimedia.html
Hope that helps,
Vince |
That definitely helps Vince, thanks.
The clips on Rob Anderlik's site are very cool. What I found interesting was the variation in tone between the guitars... I really thought the Weiss's would be more similar.
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