Carved archtops - Is the feedback worth it?

[Cunamara]

The feedback issue with carved archtops in general is overstated in my opinion. Unless you're playing extremely loud and have the amp very close by, it shouldn't be an issue, even with a lively carved top guitar.

A simple trick to reduce the propensity for feedback is to roll the bass off the amp - this eliminates a lot of the 'mud' that often detracts from the tone of the guitar and causes those woof tones that can result in feedback.

Not overstated in my experience. My archtop will feedback at living room conversational levels. And rolling off all the bass often results in a crappy, thin tone- the bass is where most of the heft and fatness are. If you have to do that, you've just got the wrong setup.

But taking your point, this discussion has mostly focused on half the feedback equation: the guitar. The amp is also a factor- closed vs. open back vs. ported, Fender vs. Baxandall tone stack, speaker size, etc. With my Pro Reverb (2x12), lots of feedback even with the bass rolled all the way off. With my tweed Deluxe 91x12 open back), feeds back quite easily. With my old Polytone Mini Brute (1x12 closed back, long gone) much less feedback. Ditto my Roland Cube 60 (1x12 closed back). With my TOOB Metro BG+ (6.5", ported), even less feedback. These are all at subjectively similar volume. Any discussion about feedback should be taking the amp into account.

[floatingpickup]

Not overstated in my experience. My archtop will feedback at living room conversational levels. And rolling off all the bass often results in a crappy, thin tone- the bass is where most of the heft and fatness are. If you have to do that, you've just got the wrong setup.

But taking your point, this discussion has mostly focused on half the feedback equation: the guitar. The amp is also a factor- closed vs. open back vs. ported, Fender vs. Baxandall tone stack, speaker size, etc. With my Pro Reverb (2x12), lots of feedback even with the bass rolled all the way off. With my tweed Deluxe 91x12 open back), feeds back quite easily. With my old Polytone Mini Brute (1x12 closed back, long gone) much less feedback. Ditto my Roland Cube 60 (1x12 closed back). With my TOOB Metro BG+ (6.5", ported), even less feedback. These are all at subjectively similar volume. Any discussion about feedback should be taking the amp into account.

In an earlier post, I also spoke about the amp being a significant factor. I grew up with Fender amps. I often had trouble controlling feedback in those days. I the early 1990’s, I bought a Polytone and like magic, the feedback was gone (and my tone improved greatly). I sold my vintage Fender amps and bought a couple more Polytones of different sizes for different needs. When the Acoustic Image heads became popular, I bought a Clarus and a Raezer’s Edge Stealth cabinet. No feedback with that setup either. My experience has been that the open back and general tone of Fender amps makes them very feedback-prone with archtops. Closed backs with a more flat response amp, greatly reduce feedback.
Keith

[Sigmund451]

A great deal depends on the space. I found open backs more friendly but I wanted it closed back so I wouldnt have to drag my amp out to the middle of the room. I had less feedback with an open back. Since I built my cabinet I made it where it could be both open and closed. Of course where you sit makes a big difference too.

My carved archtop would feedback at low levels until I treated my room acoustically. I did some basic treatment with a mixture of foam acoustic pannels and a couple of rockwool bass traps. Otherwise it would feeback like crazy with a closed back cabinet. Some pretty minor treatments took care of it and reduced the uneven sounds throught the scale. Its not perfect but its pretty good now. If you cant treat your room you might have issues. My room with block and plaster hard surfaces really required help to get a nice even tone. A laminted guitar was more acoustically friendly with an unfriendly space.