What's your favorite body size, and why?

[eded]

Larrivee P/PV or O size. After owning and playing just about every shape and size, the P is my absolute favorite.  Great sound, great size, great scale length, intimate ergonomics. 

Ed

[BlueBowman]

Larrivee P/PV or O size. After owning and playing just about every shape and size, the P is my absolute favorite.  Great sound, great size, great scale length, intimate ergonomics. 

Ed

I've been going smaller over these last few years. I'm in the "middle" at the moment, owning mostly 00-12, 000-12, and OM guitars, but I could see myself eventually trying out more parlors. I have played 0-size guitars that I really liked, but they are harder to find.

I think there's something so cool about picking up a "middle"-sized guitar and being blown away by the response and sound. The fast response and immediacy under the fingers. I really dig that. Big guitars can sound big, of course, but they seem to lack something the smaller guys have. Difficult to describe.  I am a fingerpicker, so the response matters greatly to me.

From a building standpoint, I know smaller guitars can be made thinner in the soundboard and bracing, so that may hint at one of the reasons. I also think our ears can adapt to the size we play, and then when we go up a size, the guitars sound big, but it's as if they're missing something. Again, hard to explain, but that's been my experience.

[William2]

I've been going smaller over these last few years. I'm in the "middle" at the moment, owning mostly 00-12, 000-12, and OM guitars, but I could see myself eventually trying out more parlors. I have played 0-size guitars that I really liked, but they are harder to find.

I think there's something so cool about picking up a "middle"-sized guitar and being blown away by the response and sound. The fast response and immediacy under the fingers. I really dig that. Big guitars can sound big, of course, but they seem to lack something the smaller guys have. Difficult to describe.  I am a fingerpicker, so the response matters greatly to me.

From a building standpoint, I know smaller guitars can be made thinner in the soundboard and bracing, so that may hint at one of the reasons. I also think our ears can adapt to the size we play, and then when we go up a size, the guitars sound big, but it's as if they're missing something. Again, hard to explain, but that's been my experience.

I find the 12-fret guitars have a quicker response like my SD-40R. And my SD seems to require little effort to get the sound out. So, for me it isn't the size of the instrument. With my 14-fret dreadnought's, my D-40 with the mahogany body requires the least effort and seems tom have the quickest response. It is also a very light instrument compared with the rosewood body instrument. But I prefer the punch or attack of a note I can get with a 14-fret instrument. I might consider a 000 in the future with a mahogany body and a standard scale. Right now, I have been fixated with all mahogany instruments. I recently saw a comment that said mahogany topped instruments are best on smaller bodied instruments. I wasn't aware smaller instruments could have thinner tops and bracing. I do think light instruments have that quicker effortless response.

[BlueBowman]

I find the 12-fret guitars have a quicker response like my SD-40R. And my SD seems to require little effort to get the sound out. So, for me it isn't the size of the instrument.

Interesting. The SDs I owned were "slower and more piano-like" to my ears, which is a sound I really enjoy in a guitar. My smaller guitars have more immediacy (probably measured in milliseconds) under the fingers, and the sound is "right there". That's what I mean by "fast" response. I seem to find this quality in smaller guitars more so than bigger ones. I'm sure it also has to do with the way the guitars are built.

I might consider a 000 in the future with a mahogany body and a standard scale. Right now, I have been fixated with all mahogany instruments. I recently saw a comment that said mahogany topped instruments are best on smaller bodied instruments. I wasn't aware smaller instruments could have thinner tops and bracing. I do think light instruments have that quicker effortless response.

I think a 000, all-mahogany guitar is a great choice. Santa Cruz makes a pretty dang good one in their 1929 model.

[cc407]

I think it is almost a draw between 00and 000. I love dreads, but the 000gives me volume with more comfort.00 is more cozy

[nobodeuno]

That's a tuff one, I have a few sizes, but seem to play my dreads mostly...

[BlueBowman]

I have changed my answer since I first started this thread (though, to be fair to myself, I've been moving towards smaller guitars for a while now). I really think it might be 0-12s and 00-12s for me. 0-12s are harder to come by, even in well-stocked stores, but I've been jumping at the chance to play any that come across my path. I've done a lot of AB-ing with both size guitars (these are well-regarded brands and builders, not junk) against the bigger ones (000, OM, and up) of a similar make, and I hear so many more positives in the smaller guitars: louder, more immediacy in everything, more responsive, more "musical" up the fretboard. You don't get the same broad depth of sound that bigger guitars have, but in a good 0-12 or 00-12, I don't really miss it anyway. Too many other great things happening to miss it, IMO.

I do think it's all in what we listen for, though. I had an experience a couple months ago in Nashville that changed my mind on 0-size guitars. It was a late 1920s Martin 0-18 (12-fret) that I played before, and after, a 1940 D-28. The 0-18 had just about the exact same bass sound as the dread, incredibly enough, but it also had the mids and trebles to go with that bass, whereas the dread  - to my ear - did not (those tonal ranges kinda died out, relative to the 0-18, as I played up the fretboard, like they do with most 14-fret dreads). Mind blown! That little guitar taught me what to listen for in 0-size guitars. Seriously, I don't think I'll ever be the same!