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Amit Newton
Last week, we took a look at a few models of Western guitars. Here are the others.
The Grand Concert ('00')
The Grand Concert, also called '00', or 'Double-Oh' body type is the major body style most directly derived from the classical guitar. These guitars are commonly called 'parlour steels'. They have the thinnest soundbox and the smallest overall size of the major styles, making them very comfortable to play but also one of the quietest, best suited to younger or smaller-framed players.
The Grand Auditorium ('000')
A 'Grand Auditorium' guitar, sometimes called a '000' or 'Triple-Oh', is very similar in design to the Grand Concert, but slightly wider and deeper. Many 000-style guitars also have a convex back panel to increase the volume of space in the soundbox. The result is a very balanced tone, comparable to the 00 but with greater volume and dynamic range and slightly more low-end response, without sacrificing the ergonomics of the classical style, making these body styles very popular. Eric Clapton's signature Martin guitar, for example, is of this style.
If you prefer the projection close to a Dreadnought but want less bass dominance, if you like to write, record or perform and want quality and balance, if you prefer more bell tone qualities and more clarity for finger-picking style, or you prefer an"easier to hold" acoustic with a smaller waist, the Grand Auditorium is your instrument.
The Bowlback
The 1960s saw a revolution of sorts in the guitar manufacture industry, when rugged fibreglass plastics were used for the back and sides of the instrument. The idea was to exploit the different reflective properties inherent in a bowlback shape. The market leader and chief innovator was, and still is, the Ovation company founded by Bill Kaman. The first Bowlback that Ovation came out with was the Balladeer in 1969.
With tops of conventional spruce wood and sometimes of graphite, these guitars feel smaller due to their less bulky and less angular shape. The sound hole is conventional on most models though the Adamas range is famous for intricate, multiple-array holes instead of a single one.
The 12-String
This can be any of the above guitars but instead of just 6 steel strings, it sports 12 strings, or, more correctly, '6 sets' of strings. Except for the two (sets of) unwound strings, the other (sets of) strings are tuned an octave apart. Thus, when you play individual strings, though they will sound the same note, but one will have a higher pitch and the other, a lower pitch. That sound when you play a set of strings, is this guitar's USP and was the instrument of choice of country legends, The Everly Brothers and later, Simon and Grafunkle.
With its 12 strings, there is double the sound, as also double the tension. While a regular set of steel strings puts a tension equivalent to 82 kg, one can imagine what the tension would be like on the neck, top and bridge of a 12-string! Thus, it is a general practice to tune the guitar lower than the standard tuning.
The Gypsy Jazz (The Selmer)
In 1932, Selmer, a French company specialising in making saxophones, partnered the Italian guitarist and luthier Mario Maccaferri to produce a line of acoustic guitars based on Maccaferri's unorthodox design. The guitar was closely associated with famed jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
The Selmer is quite an unusual-looking instrument, distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish bouts, and either a 'D'-shaped or longitudinal oval sound hole. The strings pass over a moveable bridge and are gathered at the tail, as on a mandolin. The top of the guitar is gently arched or domed ” a feature achieved by bending a flat piece of wood rather than by the violin-style carving used in archtop guitars. The guitar has a comparatively wide fretboard (about 47 mm or 1.85 inches at the nut) and a snake-shaped, slotted headstock.
A major point to note while choosing a guitar is the size of the body in comparison to your own. If you are big and tall, a small-body guitar sitting hidden in your lap would not look good. Likewise, a petite woman trying to reach over a Dreadnought does not make for a very pretty picture.
So, now the question is which one do you prefer?
NEXT TIME: Visiting the shop
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