Back in the late 70's, when I started to learn how to play lead
bluegrass and fiddle tunes on an acoustic guitar, every bluegrass
player I knew would settle for nothing less than a Dreadnought. The
Dreadnought is a style of guitar created in 1916 in a collaboration
between the guitar manufacturer, the C.F. Martin Co. and the Oliver
Ditson Co., a retailer.
The body of the Dreadnought was larger and
deeper than most guitars. The name was coined from the huge British
battleship, "HMS Dreadnought." Dreadnoughts were known for their
bass response and projection. They produced greater volume than the
smaller guitars of the day and appealed to singers who wanted the
accompaniment of a guitar. Though poorly received at first, this
style of guitar became Martin's best seller in the 1930's. Of
course the rest of the industry followed, and today the Dreadnought
is one of the most popular styles of acoustic guitar on the market
and is produced by many manufacturers. So, as I was saying, among
the bluegrass guitar players (and the would-be bluegrass guitar
players) I knew, everybody had to have a Dreadnought. Or, if not a
Dreadnought, one of those big, gaudy Gibson J-220's that were just
too "cowboyish" for my taste (yes, I guess I care how a guitar
looks as well as how it sounds).
What I wound up playing was a 1955 Gibson J-45, Gibson's version of
the Dreadnought. I bought it in 1978. It was a wonderful
instrument, had a really sweet sound, excellent bass response--but
sometimes it seemed to me that some of the notes I picked kind of
got lost in the body of the guitar. If I wanted my notes to be
crisp and punchy, I would have to pick way too hard, and that was
just too much work for me. About 10 years ago I played some smaller
bodied guitars and was amazed at their projection and the clarity
of each individual note. I was also impressed by the perfect
balance between the high end notes and the bass notes. I decided to
take the plunge: I sold my J-45 and purchased a Gibson-made
depression era Kalamazoo KG-11 (much smaller than Dreadnought). I
had to have a lot of repair work done to make the guitar playable,
but still wound up with a lot of change left over from my J-45
sale. Eventually I sold the Kalamazoo (I got into buying and
selling on eBay), and bought a pristine Carson J. Robison (also by
Gibson--same era) which is identical to the Kalamazoo KG-11, the
only difference being the name on the headstock. I also bought a
Gibson LC "Century," a small-bodied (00 size) guitar that Gibson
designed for the 1933 Chicago exposition. This is my favorite
guitar. It has all the volume and punch I need--even with silk and
steel strings!
Today I don't own a guitar today larger than a 000 size. What I
have discovered is that there are ways to get volume and bass
response out of a small guitar, and small guitars have some
benefits that are quite appealing: specifically, they are easier to
handle than larger guitars, and you don't have to work so hard to
make them bark. Norman Blake, in an article on
http://www.acousticguitar.com, tells why he has changed from
Dreadnoughts to smaller guitars: "I'm not the world's largest
person in stature, and I sit down to play, so a dreadnought got to
seeming like overkill. Plus I got tired of the lack of snap. It's
kind of like stringing up the kitchen table and playing that. I got
tired of reaching a little further for everything--having to punch
it real hard to get anything out of it."
I have discovered that a smaller guitar is much more responsive and
sensitive to the flatpick than a Dreadnought is, so you can make
your licks ring out with a much wider range of dynamics. I also
prefer a shorter scale, specifically the Gibson 24.75" scale as
opposed to Martin's 25.25" scale. The shorter scale means a little
less distance from fret to fret, so the fingers don't have to reach
quite as far. It also allows the strings to be a tad more flexible,
inviting a greater dynamics. Another preference of mine is a guitar
that has 12 frets from the nut to the body instead of 14. This
means you don't have to reach as far, plus, it causes the bridge to
be a little further from the soundhole, down in the middle of the
widest area of the lower bout, so there is a bigger sound and more
bass. I also think that there is something about the body meeting
the neck at the 12th fret (the octave) that actually makes the
guitar sound better. I love something that is found on many of the
12-frets-to-the-body guitars: a slotted headstock. Guitars with
slotted headstocks stay in tune better, and I think the over all
sound is enhanced.
So, when it comes to acoustic guitars, is bigger better? I don't
think so, but that's just me. Go to your local guitar shop,
experiment with different sizes of guitars, and see what YOU think!
Copyright © 2007 Lee Griffith. All rights reserved.
