All "this" and I still don't have the "answer"

[d03nut]

The other day I was helping out a friend buy an acoustic. So as I'm going 'bout my b-ness, he stops me and asks: "why do you keep doing that? It's irritating". Ok, he asks then he "offends".

 

Alas, apparently "unbenownst" to myself, as I was going "left-to-right" with each acoustic on the rack, I would first check the price, then tap it in the back and then move on to the next "booty". Come to think of it, I'd always done that with acoustics in the past.

 

This was my moment to show off a little. And so I decided to "tap" into my AG knowledge-base. As I opened the "gates", there was suddenly this on-slaught of topics, threads, and theory galore: luthiers tapping their tops, humidity issues, cross-dressing, sorry, bracing, John Mayor, what about John Mayor?, FK's string test, e-lix rule, on & on

[phil_harmonic]

It's like squeezing the fruit to see if it's ripe. No knows that the hell their feeling for but they do it anyway

[drnihili]

You're looking for resonance. Does the guitar sing when tapped? It's a reasonable thing to look for.

[guitarist21]

Well the answer is 42 so don't worry about that.

 

Maybe you're making sure its actually an acoustic? For instance, if you tap the back of one of those Variax doohickies, it isn't going to ring out like a normal guitar.

 

This all reminds me of a story about a ship who's engine failed. The ship

[Treborklow]

Yes it is like fruit squeezing. But smelling fruit is the better judge, and playing the guitar is the better judge as well. I've never tapped a top in my life. That would tell me nothing.

[dhoenisch]

I do that too, actually. It does kind of help tell the resonance of a guitar. It probably does annoy folks, but I don't care. If I'm going to look for an instrument, I'm going to do what I do before I spend any money on it.

Also, I know it's a different animal, but when setting up a banjo, when tightening the head, it helps to tap the head as you tighten it until you hit that sweet spot. I guess it's kind of the same thing. Keep tapping the guitars until you hit that sweet one.

Dan

[JasmineTea]

like going to a car dealer and kicking tires.

[Sikovit]

Wow. Ellen, that is perhaps one of the most interesting story and moral I've ever heard. I like that story alot. Thumbs up. "Fixing the engines..."

[guitarcapo]

I often just pluck the bass E string while the guitar is hanging on the wall. I've got it down to the point that the guitar doesn't move. My index finger goes on the side of the neck and my thumb plucks the string. If I like what I hear I might ask the owner to let me test drive it. Saves me a lot of trouble with the salespeople dealing with me on every guitar... and they never seem to mind.

[Cripes]

Well the answer is 42 so don't worry about that. Maybe you're making sure its actually an acoustic? For instance, if you tap the back of one of those Variax doohickies, it isn't going to ring out like a normal guitar. This all reminds me of a story about a ship who's engine failed. The ship

[Queequeg]

This all reminds me of a story about a ship who's engine failed.

[Tony Burns]

Thats one of the first things i do , i tap the front in 4 or 5 places , the back as well as the sides- If i hear any dull thuds ( i consider that bad )-I also check for straight tight grain as well seeing those perfect rays ( quarter sawn )as well as the grain matching in the center (and no run out ) as well as the quality of the wood on the guitar as a whole -I must like the guitar alot beside liking its tone before it joins my family !

Personnaly im old enough that I dont worry about what others think of me any more - i they dont like something thats their problem not mine -

[guitarist21]

Sounds like a Boston Harbor story, Ellen. You're getting your sea legs up there, I see. Great story. I'll have to remember that one. Ah, you'll be an 'old salt' before you know it, Lass! (that's meant a a compliment, lest there be any confusion)

Thanks! I forget where I heard it but saying I heard it while I was working on a loading dock in the Boston Harbor sounds good.

Ellen

[redhawks2]

I do that same thing, plunking the low E. I've gotten to the point where I can tell if the guitar is dead, the strings are dead or both. saves me time and also precludes me bonking the guitar into a music stand when I take it off the rack. You know you get the funniest looks when you do that.

[JasmineTea]

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