Gibson L5 vs. L5CES

[Marty Grass]

It seems I'm capped at one pic. Hmmm.

[rpguitar]

If you want more boom, you need a bigger box.

Sounds like a Spinal Tap lyric. I think I saw a Super 400 in Nigel Tufnel's collection.

The 90/10 phenomenon is probably true. Although I think the percentages are perhaps a bit more even than that. Not so much the cutaway, but definitely the floating vs. mounted pickup is usually a really big difference, both for acoustic and electric sound.

I agree about strings and - picks, absolutely. Very very major difference in sound and feel with different picks. Part of my ritual for a new guitar is assessing how my usual strings and picks work on it, and tweaking accordingly.

[Patrick2]

I've always been able to appreciate tonal qualities of arch top guitars. But, true assessment of tone, while easy to accurately define as great, or terrible . . is more difficult to assess when it's somewhere in the middle. Way too subjective. I try to focus first and foremost on the music being created from a given guitar . . . than on a quest for finite tonal refinement. And, I do understand that to a certain extent, the tone might be considered part of the music being created. If I have an arch top and it's tone is being adversly affected by a poor set up or a structural defect, then I will correct that. Otherwise, I tend to just accept the tonal characteristics of that particular guitar as part of its uniqueness and personality.