Members musicdog400 Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Let's say you could have a guitar made for you, for live performance at jazz club volume. Would the somewhat better sound of hollowbody be worth the feedback problems ? I've only played hollow live once, at pretty low volume, and feedback was a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Partly depends on the top. A laminated top like a 330 or casino won't feed back as much as something with, say, a solid spruce top. Nugent gets away with some pretty loud stuff with a full hollow Byrdland. A semi is a little more forgiving. Playing at "jazz volumes," though, you should be able to get away with a full hollow pretty easily. Plus, there's The Sound of a full hollow. Tough to beat. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Many full hollows use floating pickups as well. That keeps them from vibrating with the top so much. It's a bit of a rock and a hard place. The vibrating top gives a lot of the sound character but also contributes to the feedback. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members musicdog400 Posted February 5, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Thanks. It would be a solid spruce top. Imagine if there were a bar that could be adjusted to press against the top and immobilize it when feedback was a problem. Maybe that would be the best of both worlds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members easilyspooked Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 could you use a well placed c-clamp or something like it to add pressure to the top? also, can this Different Woods thing be discussed a little further, just because i'm curious, why does a laminated top feedback less than a solid top? is it the extra weight or stiffness of the glue? not sure what my artcore ak85 full hollow has for a top, i'd have assumed laminated because of the price, but it does just fine at rock bar levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members musicdog400 Posted February 5, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 could you use a well placed c-clamp or something like it to add pressure to the top? Yes that is essentially what I was thinking. Or a bar connected to the back that could move forward and gently press the top. In my mind I can see this going wrong and detaching the top. why does a laminated top feedback less than a solid top I imagine that a top made of layers of wood and glue vibrates a little less than a solid carved top. Many players who could afford either one prefer the laminated top for live playing and less feedback. I think the best acoustic instrument does not make the best electric instrument. FWIW I spread out a bunch of wood glue (Tite Bond) on some foil and let it dry. It was not nearly as stiff as I would have expected. I saw a black stained Ibanez hollow this week at GC (I think it was Artcore). It was beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benricci Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Considering I've seen hundreds of live jazz guitarists play full hollow bodies, you may just want to play around with speaker placement and stage setup to avoid common feedback scenarios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 At jazz volumes it shouldn't be a problem. People have been playing solid top hollows that way for a long time. It pays to do a good sound check to find the spots where it happens and not. As for solid vs laminated: traditional archtops (acoustic) use solid tops like spruce so they vibrate. An acoustic archtop makes noise by vibrating that top. That's why they like the heavier strings...to put enough pressure on the top to get it moving nicely. With a pickup and the amplified volumes, the solid top is too sensitive and everything gets going together and it's too much. Feedback city. Laminated tops, especially maple, are much stiffer because they are generaaly glued together across the grain. This hurts acoustic sound unplugged but still imparts a lot of the hollow sound but cuts down on the vibrating top. A semi hollow takes it one step further by putting a center block under the bridge. This means the string tension is transferred to the block and the back/sides more than it is the top and cuts back on feedback even more. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 And regarding the clamp business, Gretsch has a design like that. It's on the Country Gentleman maybe. It's a bar that sticks up through the top of the guitar and has a damper on it. By engaging or disengaging it, you can control the amount of vibration in the top. I always thought it looked goofy, but, I guess it works. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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