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What's the purpose in putting sound posts in hollowbody guitars?
Does it reduce feedback? Improve tone? Eliminate wolf tones? Increase sustain by acting somewhat like a centre block?
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08-01-2021 12:00 PM
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I think for the most part they are to reduce feedback and keep the top from sinking. As far as I know all the Peerless hollowbodies have sound posts. I imagine that other guitars like the current iterations of D'Angelicos do as well but I am not sure of that.
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Is it just a less costly process than installing bracing and all the other suggested reasons are a smoke screen?
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For my 1961 ES-175D it was a "temporary" solution to a sinking top. Funnily enough I have the impression that I have more mids and bass when playing acoustically, so I'm staying with the soundpost rather than pay for the bracing to be replaced.
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My Lyle is a Japanese-made semi-copy of an L5. It has the identical body shape and depth, but with a laminated construction not carved. And a 24.75" neck.
Without bracing, they used a small thin block about 1/4" thick and 2" wide under the bridge. Which is something used actually in a fair number of guitars. I'm sure it was easier than making braces.
A couple luthiers have posted comments here or been quoted as to why one would use a sound block. You could search this forum's boards probably.
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
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I have a similar experience as Ray175: my ES-125 came to me without tonebars (completely missed that during the purchase, boy did I feel like a rookie), so rather than doing expensive surgery (remove the back and install new tone bars), I opted for installing a sound post to prevent the top from sinking. Works well, guitar has been stable since (5 or 6 years I think?).
I only noticed a slight reduction in acoustic volume, no deterioration of the tone. I think the tone even got better: more woody, more mids. I did not notice more sustain. The sound post did significantly improve resistance to feedback and I can surprise many a fellow ES-125 owner by playing mine on loud stages and even let it wail with overdrive
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Originally Posted by rNeil
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I’ve seen at least one Gibson laminate from 1946, an ES-300 with absolutely no bracing of any kind and a perfectly arched top.
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Originally Posted by deacon Mark
If soundposts were so deadly for the archtop sound, why would Gretsch insist on them so much? Trestle bracing, ML bracing, soundposts, you name it - Gretsch has it. And it works.
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Originally Posted by Rocket Roll
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My Japanese Condor ES-175 has no bracing and a sound post as well. I put a Golden Age humbucker in it a long time ago. I A/B-ed that guitar extensively with a friends ‘68 single pickup ES-175 and they sounded quite similar electrically but acoustically the Gibson sounded quite a bit darker and woodier. I don’t remember much difference in acoustic volume though. I must admit the Gibson had the edge over the Condor, but I don’t think the sound post made that difference.
My ES-330 copy has a similar construction: no bracing with a floating block under the bridge that connects to the back thru a smaller post.
I did glue rudimentary braces from neck to bridge into the Condor once, as an experiment (notched, so they would follow the arch when clamped). That did not improve the sound: it got very brittle. (I used water dissolvable glue so I could remove them again
Based on that experiment I cautiously conclude that just placing a sound post in a guitar with bracings might not always yield good results, and a guitar with no bracing and a sound post can sound good. Based on my ES-125 and my ES-330 copy I think prefer that over a guitar with conventional bracing.
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Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
You think that ES-300 had no bracing from factory?
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Originally Posted by Little Jay
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Originally Posted by Rocket Roll
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Originally Posted by Little Jay
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I put a sound post in a 1972ish Epiphone Howard Roberts. I don't remember the year exactly. But it was Kalamazoo built and had a carved spruce top. The feedback was difficult to deal with, but I was playing rock (only could afford one guitar then).
This older jazz player took a dowel he cut at the right length, reached in the sound hole, and locked the dowel in between the top and back- no glue. That might have helped a little.
Gretsches are electric guitars. The trestle bracing may have made the sound brighter. My Country Gentleman had feedback that was about as bad as the Howard Roberts, as I recall. Maybe less. It still took a lot of effort to control feedback.
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Back when I was playing Borys guitars Roger offered a sound-post option in a B120. AFAIR it had standard B120 construction. I didn't opt for that in mine.
Danny W.
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Originally Posted by deacon Mark
Originally Posted by deacon Mark
Archtop without mids is closer in sound to a flattop, then to a solid body guitar. "Acoustics" are very present in every good Gretsch I've played so far.
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Originally Posted by Rocket Roll
Dark and woody:
Jazzy:
Bright and funky:
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Great sound and playing! I especially loved the Hard Rock Cafe tone.
Originally Posted by Little Jay
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Originally Posted by Rocket Roll
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