From: rseymour@reed.edu (Robert Seymour)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Arch tops vs Flat tops
Keywords: acoustic, arch-top, flat-top, jazz
Date: 11 Nov 92 04:22:47 GMT
Reply-To: rseymour@reed.edu
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

In article <1992Nov11.001612.7657@mdd.comm.mot.com> knapik@mdd.comm.mot.com  
(Jim Knapik) writes:
> 
> Never having had the opportunity to play an early model arch top acoustic,
> I was wondering what their strong points were relative to flat top
> acoustics in the same class or by the same manufacture.
> 
> I am interested in trying one out, say the L-5 or New Yorker, but with them
> being a little bit hard to find, I was wondering if I should spend the time
> to find one, or just  settle for another flat top.
> 
> I'm mainly interested in them for acoustic jazz stuff.
> 
> Any advice ?
>  
> Jim Knapik
> Motorola - Mobile Data Division
> knapik@mdd.comm.mot.com

	Arch-top and flat-top guitars have completely different sounds. An  
arch-top tends to have little sustain, give a warm and mellow sound, and is  
usually used for jazz music. Flat-tops come in many varieties (i.e. steel  
string, classical, dreadnought, folk, etc.), but are almost always much  
brighter, with a more robust sound tending to have lots of overtones (the  
guitar manufucturers continue to try to kill these off, though I think they  
lend a special character to each guitar).
	These reason arch-tops (also known as carved top guitars) sound so  
different is that the top plate is carved from a relatively thick piece of  
wood. The arch in the wood tends to give a large amount of structural stability  
to the face sheet, so the sound dies out much more quickly (i.e. it takes a  
much larger amount of energy to vibrate the face sheet, so the energy of the  
string is dissapated faster). Also, instead of having a central, circular sound  
hole, an arch-top guitar most often has a pair of f-holes, as found in violins  
and other string instruments.
 	However, on a flat-top, the face sheet is usually a book matched (i.e.  
the sheet is made by splitting a thing plate of wood and opening the ends like  
a book. the sheet is then sanded and finished) and made of light resilient wood  
(most often spruce, but also rosewood and other woods). Since the wood is  
light, thin, and flat, it vibrates readily (look at a holographic imaging of a  
vibrating guitar and you'll see what I mean [you can find this in a book on the  
physics of musical string instruments]). Thus, the energy of the vibrating  
string is dissapated more slowly, so the sustain is much longer.
	If your interest is acoustic jazz, definitely try a carved top guitar  
out. They have a very unique sound, which I find very interesting for jazz work  
(I like a much more mellow sound when doing jazz (as opposed to classical, folk  
or progressive), so I'm palm muting a lot on my steel string [gives a better  
sound, but still sounds dead compared to a good carved-top, such as an L-5]).  
	However, it is much less versatile than a flat-top steel string, so  
spend some time considering alternatives. For instance, I can play folk, rock,  
classical, or a little jazz on my steel string, while fingerpicking on an  
archtop would be difficult. A Gibson L-5 is a very nice guitar, but limited in  
what applications it can be used for (which is not necessarily bad, if you know  
this [jazz, or the arch-top sound] is what you want to do).
	Other than the sound difference, and applications that each may be used  
for, the difference is subjective. As with all guitars, find the one that you  
fall in love with and buy it (It took me around half a year to find the guitar  
I wanted, but I play it every day and I haven't seen anything with a sound  
quite like it). This is more important than any advice I or anyone else can  
give you, don't forget that your the one who is going to play this instrument  
(possibly for the rest of your life).
	I hope this helps, if you have specific questions, feel free to email  
me.
--
Robert Seymour				rseymour@reed.edu
Departments of Physics and Philosophy
Artificial Life Project			Reed College
Reed Solar Energy Project (SolTrain)	Portland, OR
Newsgroups: alt.guitar