Learning to Evaluate Acoustic Guitar Tone

Some thoughts and tips on learning to evaluate acoustic guitar tone.

[@stevecarver4906]

Thanks best guitar tone videos I've seen true and honest I've built about sixty guitars and achieved great tone twice on number fifty eight and sixty it's true until you have built at least fifty guitars you are just gluing boards together.

[@NateBreidenbaugh-gg7fs]

This is so true. I work in a repair shop and I’ve had a chance to play a fair few high dollar production instruments. None of the instruments from the “Big Two” that have come through have fallen into the category you mentioned, where you strum a couple of chords and fall in love. There’s always been something about them that has bugged me. If I was to pay a few thousand dollars for a new guitar I would expect to get a few thousand worth of tone and playability, right?

[@dogwoodguitars4098]

Most players focus almost exclusively on back and side wood species which in reality play a minimal role in tone. Material properties of the top, body size, and scale length are much more important. Thanks for your comments.

[@MultiCrikey]

Great tips and ideas! It would be even better if you could show specific examples of clarity, balanced tone, wolf notes, etc. so that we could hear what you hear. The guitar at the beginning sounds wonderful, by the way! (I was searching for videos on acoustic guitar tone and found this video, but had never heard of your guitars.) Kudos!

[@dogwoodguitars4098]

Thanks for your comments! Maybe sometime I will do another video comparing different guitars that demonstrate some of the characteristics discussed here. Not easy to do on video though. The intro song was recorded using one of my Dogwood Kingston jumbos; glad you like it!

[@kilgoretrout321]

He'd have to collect "bad guitars" and have them on hand to compare with the good ones

[@fequalsma8428]

Another valuable and informative video! Nice work! I have a question about your shop unrelated to this video.. What kind of fretboard conditioning oil do you use? What has been your experience with lemon oil, linseed oil, Music Nomad F-1 Oil, etc? Thanks and please keep these amazing videos coming!

[@dogwoodguitars4098]

I like lemon oil. I get it from Stew Mac. I've also used lemon oil from Lizard Spit. The key is to use very little, don't overdo it.

[@fequalsma8428]

Does a little lemon oil on the fretboard change the tone?

[@dogwoodguitars4098]

No. The tone of a guitar is altered if and when we change the way it vibrates. A bit of oil on the FB has no impact on the vibrational modes of the instrument. Another common question is, do different bridge pin materials affect tone? The answer is yes, but only because different materials have different mass. Heavier pins add mass and will affect the way the top vibrates. There is no magic material that imparts great tone of its own accord. So back to the lemon oil... as long as the amount of oil is light and doesn't seep under the fret wire, there is no tonal impact. Of course if we slather the oil on and negatively affect the coupling of the frets to the wood, then there are consequences.

[@akfisher7138]

what is the difference between a wolf note and dead spots. I understand the need to avoid have a resonant top resonating at a frequency other than scale notes. But what do you mean by dead spots? How can you avoid that?

[@dogwoodguitars4098]

The term "wolf note" was originally used to describe the howling sound made by a cello when a specific note was bowed, causing the box to resonate. Same principle as the sound you get by blowing across the top of a soda bottle. Wolf notes and dead spots are used to describe guitar notes that aren't the same as surrounding notes. They can be louder or more often are muffled or muddy. Avoiding placing the fundamentals on scale notes helps to prevent these.