first and very obvious is that the low volume islimiting the use of the guitar in chamber or orchestral music, which has causedsome kind of collective inferiority complex among guitarist, making many verysusceptible for any promise of redemption from this Achilles heel. The secondpoint, as strange as it my sound, is that a truly great guitar is a very rarething. I believe that even many professional players never came across one. Andif I had to choose between two guitars of average (high) quality, I would ofcourse take the louder one, too. Still another aspect is that many of theseguitars are bought, because a famous guitarist is playing one in concert,assuming the instrument was chosen for its sound properties. But a guitaristtouring the world and playing in front of large audiences often has quitedifferent priorities than the average player, such as reliability regardingdifferent 3 4 acoustical surroundings, extreme climatic conditions, orsensitivity to transportation in an aircraft. So far, I have spoken only aboutsound properties, but there are other aspects, too. The longevity of the modernconstructions is not known, and the prognosis is not good at all: it can beassumed that a double top or laminated soundboard will last only as long asthe glue, usually epoxy resin or polyurethan, which keeps it together. Far fromany scientific research, the deformation of my carbon fibre/epoxy windsurfingmast when left under tension tells me enough to stick with hide glue, which hasproofed its durability for centuries. What actually determines the life span ofguitar? The vast number of old violins shows that the aging process of the woodis not what is setting the limit. I believe that in addition to the physicalproperties of the specific piece of wood used and the construction andthickness of the soundboard3 there are two major sources of strain, causingmaterial fatigue which finally weakens the soundboard so much that the guitarcannot carry the strings any more. One is string tension and the vibrationswhen the guitar is played, the other is the tension build up with changes ofthe relative humidity of the air. In the double top or laminated soundboards,the wood cannot react to the tension build up by changes in the relativehumidity of the air by swelling or shrinking, so the full tension goes to thecell-structure of the wood. The sound quality decreases usually a long timebefore it becomes too weak to carry the strings. This process happens faster orslower, depending on many things, but cedar (thuja plicata), usually preferredby the makers of these guitars, is known to last not as long as spruce and fora tendency to show sudden acoustical death. It has to be noted, that cedarwas not used for guitar soundboard before 1964, so we still cannot say anythingabout how long a guitar with cedar soundboard could last, but unfortunatelyexample of decrepit cedar guitars are already abundant. The guitar isconsidered by some as a still young instrument, and certainly it is developingmuch more than the violin for example. Although I would not agree with thecommon opinion that there have been no new achievements since the early 20thcentury for the classical guitar, I