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OK I’m biased, I’ll admit that upfront but Breedlove has knocked it out of the park with their latest release. This might be the most beautiful acoustic guitar that I’ve ever seen
The model is called the Myrzilian II – Brazilian rosewood back & sides with a Myrtlewood top, 3 pc neck made of East Indian Rosewood with an added stringer with Bloodwood and Myrtlewood
At $15k, it’s a bit rich for my bank account but its a work of art and great craftsmanship
A New Milestone in Acoustic Guitar History: The Story of the MYRZILIAN II
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There’s only so much that can be done to improve the sound of an acoustic guitar. After that, what’s left is to improve the visual features, and these dudes have definitely done that.
I suppose that would depend on what we look for in an acoustic, I don’t think that the builders would go to the extent that they do if there wasn’t a chance to improve the tone
If a person is just strumming as a rhythm instrument with occasional lead licks, most guitars with a solid top will perform well
If a person is playing very expressive fingerstyle, they look for a guitar that has overtones that just ring & ring and they want something that is very sensitive to pick attack -
I definitely agree with Keith!
After having spent hours discussing with a luthier about the specs of a custom build guitar, I have not the slightest doubt anymore about the possibility to endlessly shape the sound of an acoustic guitar.
I was allowed to test two very similar instruments made by that person with basically the same woods, and they sounded amazingly differently.Granted, those hand-made instruments are very expensive; people usually can’t and don’t want to spend so much money for a guitar and so mass-build guitars are built to be affordable, not to sound exceptionally good (except very high end guitars, of course).
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I can’t remember which builder that I was listening to but in a video, he was stating how he could tailor a guitar’s tone to customer’s specs with the way that he would shape the bracing, where he placed it on the top, and how he “tuned” the top of the guitar. I do remember that the depth of the tone of his guitars were noticeable even on a You Tube video
I’ve said this before but I’ve owned my Breedlove for about 6 years and it WOWs me every time that I pick it up. The depth of its tone and the overall balance of the sound – I’ve never owned a guitar like.
I would consider it to be a mid-level guitar and although it wasn’t cheap for my budget – it is a production guitar, not custom built to a player’s specs but they have some features that other companies may not have.
One thing is how they sand the tops so that the volume is equal across the strings – it almost reminds me of an electric guitar with a compressor on it that evens the volume of the strings.
They record the results of the tap tests and should my guitar ever be destroyed or stolen, I could send my serial number to Breedlove and they could build a guitar that sounded very close to itIf a company can do this for a production model guitar, imagine what a private builder with years of experience can do to accommodate a player.
And like Jean-Michel said, that all comes at a cost that many aren’t willing to pay or can’t afford.
Ask a Martin owner or the owner of a Taylor, Breedlove, Larivee,etc that has found “their guitar”, and they have their reasons why that is “their guitar”. Others may not understand what they are referring to but that’s OK.
It’s special to them -
And there is something that nobody ever talks about:
Starting at some point after middle age, we (especially men) start to lose our hearing in the higher frequencies. If you don’t believe it, just go online and do a free hearing test. The resulting graph will almost certainly show a loss of hearing in the higher frequencies, and probably even the middle frequencies. I am one of those who has suffered some hearing loss, and I just now got some OTC hearing aids to wear when I am with a group of people or in a restaurant (yes, they work well). My hearing in the bass range is perfectly normal, so I don’t need to wear them when listening to music or watching TV.
So how can I be a judge of acoustic guitar sound quality? In fact, how can anyone with even mild hearing loss be considered able to assess acoustic guitar sound quality?
As a matter of interest, my Apple Airpods Pro can conduct a hearing test through an app, then apply the correction to all the music I stream.
Sunjamr Steve
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That’s correct: hearing loss in the high frequencies affects everyone, although to a varying degree (when I was a kid, I was able to hear signals in the low ultrasound range, so today my ears are still well above average for my age class).
But you are still able to hear the difference between a guitar and a trumpet or a violin, right?
That’s what we are talking about. It’s not just the presence or absence of higher order overtones, but the ability to shape the sound in such a way as to inhibit or boost any overtones (to a degree, of course!). -
Before I bought my Breedlove, I stopped in Willcutt’s Guitar Shoppe in Lexington KY; small store compared to a Guitar Center but allegedly, Willcutt’s is largest dealer for PRS in the USA- so I was told.
They had several used guitars on display, some were Taylor’s – picked one up that was a 3xx series guitar. Nice looking guitar in really good condition and the price was reasonable
I hit 3-4 chords and quickly sat it back on the stand – it was so bass heavy that the tone was muddy. What a surprise for a guitar in that price range.
That experience stuck in my mind and as I would try guitars, I would listen closely to how the individual strings would ring out, evaluating each string at various places on the neck.
I would research the bracing systems of the various makers and took note of the tone of whether it was spruce, mahogany, maple etc and how the guitars would project their soundIt became painfully obvious that if you are really serious about acoustic guitar tone, one cannot buy without a try.
Electric guitars – you don’t like the tone, change the pickups and experiment with string brands. Acoustic guitars – you can have 2 guitars by the same maker of the same model with the same tone woods and there will be a massive difference in the sound – the volume, the overtones, the sustain.
Imperative to try before you buy and preferably on different occasions to make sure of what you are hearing.
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