American Vs European sound

BigPaulie · June 2022

What are the characteristics of the American acoustic guitar sound and that of European/Celtic/English (we'll call them "European" for simplicity) guitars?

I hear people talk about how Brook or Lowden guitars sound characteristically different from Gibsons or Martins. However, Martins sound different to Gibsons, and Lowdens sound different to Brooks. So what are the defining qualities that make a guitar sound American or European?

TheBigDipper · June 2022

Interesting question. The musical context, perhaps? You don't hear many country flatpickers using a Brook or a Lowden, I'd guess. Equally, few people seem to play jigs and reels on a Martin or Gibson. Maybe we just get used to a certain sound within certain genres.

ICBM · June 2022

The traditional American sound has a slight roughness to it - almost distortion if it was an electric guitar - which makes the sound thicker as well as midrangy, and suits strummed chords and flat-picked lead lines, ie what you find in American country, folk and blues styles.

The European sound is cleaner and slightly softer, looser at the bottom end and more scooped in the midrange, which suits fingerpicking and chord/arpeggio playing especially in open tunings better, ie what you find in celtic folk and related styles.

The two things are obviously self-reinforcing as TheBigDipper said. You probably wouldn’t choose a Lowden for bluegrass or a Gibson for Irish folk, and the manufacturers evolved their designs to suit what their customers wanted.

There’s also a ‘modern school’ which is less obviously tied to either of those styles - Taylor, Breedlove etc - these are generally brighter, cleaner and with better string separation than the ‘American’ style, and tighter and more even frequency response than the ‘European’ style.

That’s how I hear it, anyway.

danishbacon · June 2022

I don’t know enough about Brook but if they have the ‘traditional’ American build/bracing I wouldn’t lump them together with what comes out of Northern Ireland. Lowden and derivatives have a fundamentally different approach to acoustic construction, bracing and aesthetic design so I would look at them in isolation to Brook, Atkin etc.

ToneControl · June 2022

I think there's a wide range of different sounds available from the USA and again from UK & Ireland, so I don't think there is an "American" sound or a UK or European sound.

Although by American sound do you mean the old-school Gibson & Martin designs?
It's probably possible to group together the related Lowden / Avalon / McIlroy / etc as the Celtic sound

But then there's the more "boutique" i.e. small workshop brands like Santa Cruz, Goodall, Bourgeois - and I'm thinking of those when people say "American sound"

Usually people consider the bracing patterns to be the most important factor:
Acoustic Guitar Bracing - Know Different Patterns & Designs (themusicambition.com)

Soupman · June 2022

Furch are Czech but I've seen videos of Sefan Grossman playing blues on one. He probably has a few makes to choose from though...!

ToneControl · June 2022

danishbacon said:

I don’t know enough about Brook but if they have the ‘traditional’ American build/bracing I wouldn’t lump them together with what comes out of Northern Ireland. Lowden and derivatives have a fundamentally different approach to acoustic construction, bracing and aesthetic design so I would look at them in isolation to Brook, Atkin etc.

I tried a few Brook guitars, and they sounded nothing like Lowdens and Avalons to me

ToneControl · June 2022

Probably worth mentioning Avalon's "Americana" models, which are designed to be more similar to Gibson I think
They sound very different from the other Avalons

https://www.avalonguitars.com/americana/D300A

This model sounds a lot drier, with far fewer overtones than the main Avalon range
Compared with normal Avalons/Lowdens, I think it suits the kind of arrangements your'd play on a nylon classical guitar, i.e. ones with bass, harmonic content and a melody all going on at once, it sounds more focussed.

Then again, the most "dry" and clear sound I've heard was a Sobel guitar, made in England

earwighoney · June 2022

ICBM said:

The traditional American sound has a slight roughness to it - almost distortion if it was an electric guitar - which makes the sound thicker as well as midrangy, and suits strummed chords and flat-picked lead lines, ie what you find in American country, folk and blues styles.

The European sound is cleaner and slightly softer, looser at the bottom end and more scooped in the midrange, which suits fingerpicking and chord/arpeggio playing especially in open tunings better, ie what you find in celtic folk and related styles.

The two things are obviously self-reinforcing as TheBigDipper said. You probably wouldn’t choose a Lowden for bluegrass or a Gibson for Irish folk, and the manufacturers evolved their designs to suit what their customers wanted.

There’s also a ‘modern school’ which is less obviously tied to either of those styles - Taylor, Breedlove etc - these are generally brighter, cleaner and with better string separation than the ‘American’ style, and tighter and more even frequency response than the ‘European’ style.

That’s how I hear it, anyway.

I pretty much agree with this.

I'd see/hear it with on one side Martin to represent the traditional American sound and on the other Lowden the traditional UK sound, but with lots of points on the graph for signature sounds in between.

For my money I think Martin style braced instruments are generally the best all rounders for a number of different playing styles, they work for open tunings, fingerstyle, percussive, bluegrass, etc.

bertie · June 2022

ToneControl said:

danishbacon said:

I don’t know enough about Brook but if they have the ‘traditional’ American build/bracing I wouldn’t lump them together with what comes out of Northern Ireland. Lowden and derivatives have a fundamentally different approach to acoustic construction, bracing and aesthetic design so I would look at them in isolation to Brook, Atkin etc.

I tried a few Brook guitars, and they sounded nothing like Lowdens and Avalons to me

they're nothing like "Martins" either, closer to Lowden tho.

Taylors are nothing like Martins or Lowdens Id also put Atkin closer to the "Martin" - most of their models are along the traditional Martin "styling"

Furch/Stonebridge ? theyve models in both / neither The Vintage are very Martin

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American Vs European sound

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