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Interesting and a bit funny. Funny because the guy wants to proove that the material of the back and sides is not influencing the quality of the sound. But the fact that the guitar sounds good can also mean that cardboard just sounds good when used as back and sides.
Interesting and a bit funny. Funny because the guy wants to prove that the material of the back and sides is not influencing the quality of the sound. But the fact that the guitar sounds good can also mean that cardboard just sounds good when used as back and sides.
This guy is not proving anything that wasn't demonstrated by Antonio de Torres in 1862 when he built his famous guitar with papier mache' back and sides. Torres's guitar is displayed in the Museu de la Musica de Barcelona.
Bill
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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
This is something Don Antonio de Torres have proven a century ago already. Yes the soundboard is by far the most important part of the guitar. Nonethelsess the sides a back do also play a role and i believe to hear that in this recording. Something is not quite well. It has to do with the overtones.
Many sources suggest that back and sides have less influence than most of the people may think. In fact this suggests that is better to invest in excellent tops than to spend a fortune in exotic woods for back and sides... Given this, factors like mass and dampening of the wood are the major factors, whatever the species used. Paul Fisher worked quite a lot in comparing guitars made with alternative woods and recently the project Leonardo added even beef to the test.
Coming back to Torres, I met a luthier (Francesco de Gregorio) who basically is experienced in copies of the Torres papier maché guitar, which he replicates with different woods. He thinks some woods give better results than other. Again, just recently David La Plante put to sale his Torres cardboard guitar and shared his opinion about the cardboard: by his words it's easy quite to get that cardboard is not an ideal material (as obvious) both for workability and tone and Cypress would add a little more brilliance and depth to the note.
I think the the problem here is the poor quality of the recording, (the sound is captured just on air after the amplification) while the guitar herself should sound right. On the tube you can find better recordings of cardboard guitars (usually Torres style) and I doubt to be able to spot it in a blind test.