GUITAR BODY SHAPE

Alvee, glad to see that I'm not the only one. About electric guitars, it is like "normal" the different shapes, sometimes really extreme, but we don't discuss about that. The question about the guitar shape of an acoustic, is quit interesting as is the "woman"shape too. I know that in the acoustic department of a guitar store, that I saw a YAMAHA, as ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC.
I'd love to know what is most important: an electro-acoustic, you can really use as an acoustic at home, without an amp. My Martin D-1 is el-ac and plays as loud as the others. Ovation: lf played without amp, very different.
My guess about the acoustic shape is physica, you can determine sound waves, a sound spectrum, and about a square box body, it is a lot easier to make I think. WHERE ARE THE SCIENTISTS HERE? It is so normal the actual shape and because of this there has to be a reason.

KEN, let's grab our stuff and we will live in a cave. I slept in a cave, I believe in 1974. They issued train tickets, priced $100, and you could go where ever you want, even to MOROCCO. There was a rule: 1 departure in ONE station, so going somewhere, returning to the train station in Brussels for some days, leaving again was not possible. I went with a friend to Greece, and Crete, (your on the road for at least 24-36 hours). In CRETE, in a place called MATALA .
During the 70's the caves were hosting an international hippie community. That was a cultural shock for the local community, which had met no tourists before the hippies arrived. Also
Great musicians like Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell have been here for some time composing beautiful songs about the beauty of the bay of Matala..  When I went there, the hippies started to move, and because of almost no tourists, that cave was great. 2 years later, they closed the the caves.
About cave men, a woman has a lot more difficulties to orientate than a man: CAUSED by a kind of compass in a men's head, because they left for hunting and it take weeks before they returned. A MAJORITY was playing guitar.

texan,
that was a superb link,
thanks for sharing it.
Very interesting parts in that.
I am now thinking apart from the scottish the egyptians are also fantastic inventors, so much came from there thousands of years ago and although changed through the years, they started a lot first.

cheers

ken

AMAZING!! THANKS FOR THE LINK.
I surf a lot, mainly on sites about guitars, or bands, but that one is unknown to me.
Concerning sound: I have a MARTIN Backpacker, the body has a triangular shape, difficult to play when you sit, and a thick guitar neck PRODUCING A FUNNY, SPECIAL SOUND.
Were/are there luthiers who made a square body?

Doc,
   Very interesting topic . May even be able to shed some light .
   The accoustic guitar is shaped the way it is to produce the tones that it does .
    The top bout produces the treble , hence refered to as the treble bout . Lower bout produces the bass , ie. bass bout . The waist produces midrange .
   That is why the dreadnoughts have a very strong mid , while jumbos have less mid and stronger treble and bass tones .
   Of coarse there are many other variables that come into play such as body depth,
and the tone woods that the instrument is made of whether it be maple back and sides , rosewood back and sides , or mahagony .
Tops or soundboards are usually tight grain spruce , but there are variations on this also .
Very interesting that you would think of a square or rectangle shape .......
I have heard a fiddle played that had a rectangular shaped body ( they called it a cigar box fiddle ) I thought it lacked tonal definition , as it would if the above is true .
hope this helps.........

I have a slim hollowbody 1960 Gibson ES330 that has enough sound to practice without an amp. The female shape is most comfortable when I have to play for a long while. It is my axe for life.
My mid-70's Yamaha dreadnought acoustic is comfortable to play while sitting. The big body rests comfortably on either knee.
I finally got used to holding my skinny Martin Backpacker down with my right wrist and forearm so it won't rotate on me. It has a full neck so I can play most anything I do on any guitar. It has good volume despite the odd uke sound and is easy to travel with.