To truly understand the flattop
and its sonic place in the
extended guitar family—a
lineage that stretches back to
the lute and even the oud—it’s
important to listen to pioneering
classical guitarists. If
you’re new to the nylon-string
and its repertoire, a superb
introduction is the Art of Segovia,
a two-disc set comprising
41 pieces Andrés Segovia
recorded from 1951–1969. |
During the last several
months, we’ve been
exploring the origins of the
steel-string guitar and comparing
it to its predecessor—the
Spanish or nylon-string classical
guitar. If you’ve missed either
of these previous installments,
you’ll find them at
premierguitar.com (Acoustic Soundboard,
February 2011 and May 2011).
This month, we’ll wrap up
our three-part series by addressing
two questions: What is a
“good sound” for a steel-string
guitar, and how is it different
from a “good sound” for the
nylon-string guitar?
One of the most important
things you should look
for in any guitar is a balanced
response—the bass, middle,
and treble tones should match
each other in volume and
presence on all parts of the
fretboard. However, steel-string
and nylon-string guitars have
distinct and differently balanced
“target” sounds.
As I mentioned in my August
2010 column—“What Makes
an Acoustic Tick?”—steel-string
guitars are meant to produce a
bright sound. This is a natural
function of their basic construction
and stringing. On the other
hand, the default voice of the
fan-fretted classical guitar is the
opposite, with the bass normally
stronger than the treble.
This too is a function of the
basic design, construction, and
stringing. The woods could all
be the same, but the stringing,
structure, and mechanical tensions
the steel-string and nylon-string
guitars operate under
are very different. The luthier’s
main challenge is crafting a
sound box that is sonically balanced,
full, and complete. And
this is no easy task.
Well-constructed nylon-string
guitars produce treble
notes that sound brilliant. They
stand up to the bass notes, but
also have their own very clear
identity—that’s the standard by
which these guitars are judged.
When an experienced classical
guitarist first picks up a new
guitar, his fretting hand will
immediately go to the 12th
position to assess the high
notes. It’s the standard acid test
for a nylon-string guitar—similar
to stepping into a new racing
car and immediately revving
the engine to get a sense of its
power. In contrast, most steel-string
guitarists will strum a
chord in the 1st position when
picking up a new guitar for the
first time.
For an excellent example of
tonal brilliance in the classical
guitar, just listen to some of
Segovia’s early recordings, in
which he plays slowly, expressively,
and romantically. He
places great emphasis on some
of the high notes in a manner
that their smoothly accented
ping becomes part of the song’s
romantic sensibility. The notes
simply sparkle.
When discussing the desirable
tonal characteristics of
a steel-string guitar, the best
instruments are those possessing
a full, solid, vigorous, punchy,
and open low-end response. A
well-constructed steel-string will
sound like heavy honey—while
poorly constructed instruments
tend to have a tinny sound and
shallow bass end. Historically,
the quest for a strong bass
response has been the main factor
behind the creation of the
larger steel-string guitar bodies,
such as the dreadnought and
jumbo. Of course, smaller sound
boxes are better for producing
midrange and treble frequencies.
The classical guitar is typically
associated with culture,
refinement, disciplined tastefulness,
and concert halls. So what
social niche does the humble
steel-string guitar occupy?
The flattop steel-string guitar
is relatively light years younger
than the Spanish guitar Andrés
Segovia dedicated his life to
making respectable, but it certainly
has its own genealogy
that’s just as interesting. The flattop
first gained great popularity
during the 1930s with the rise
of the singing cowboy movies.
These were the Great Depression
years and people needed entertainment
that could help them
feel happy and forget their troubles,
even for a little while. The
singing cowboy heroes provided
this escape—they wore white
hats, loved their horses, and sang
and played guitars around the
campfire after defeating the bad
guys. The flattop steel-string
quickly became associated with
the life of the hard-working
man bucking great odds, one
who eventually triumphed
through honesty and fair dealing
before riding into the sunset.
Hollywood made a lot of money
following this formula.
This portrayal firmly established
the flattop steel-string as
the good guy’s instrument and,
musically speaking, made it as
iconic as the American eagle.
Try to think of a movie, TV
show, book, radio show, comic
book, stage play, magazine
article, indie film—anything
you’ve ever seen or heard or
read—where the “bad guy”
plays the guitar. Bad guys only
play the piano or the organ—or
the electric guitar, which is the
“bad boy” of the guitar family.
The archtop guitar isn’t in the
discussion here, since it originally
emerged as the working
jazzman’s tool, and since has
been taken over by well-dressed
wine drinkers with upscale
tastes. But in popular American
culture, the flattop steel-string
remains a symbol of the workingman
and social heroes. How
can something merely upscale
compete with that?
Ervin Somogyi
A professional luthier
since the early 1970s,
Ervin Somogyi is one
of the world’s most
respected acoustic-guitar
builders and
rosette designers. To learn more about
Somogyi, his instruments, or his rosette
and inlay artwork, visit
esomogyi.com.