The experience of sound, consonance and acoustics is a subjective characteristic of the individual. Beauty is not a measurable quality although the sound of an instrument (guitar) physically exists and its physical properties can be measured. Response, amplitude, harmonic components that add "colour", distinctness or separation between tones, duration of tones, etc. and more. There are instruments and measurement methods for all of these, except for what affects our hearing individually. Music is an art so instruments are best judged subjectively. As a tool for artistic expression.

The guitar, like any other acoustic instrument, is a compromise(!) of physically contradictory properties. It can be loud but lacking in tone colour and whatnot. It can be quieter but it can also be balanced and have a clear separation of tones... On one occasion, the Zagreb master Alojzije Seder gave the most beautiful explanation of the compromise of two different instruments during a test to the guitarist master Petrinjak: "If you sing too loud, you cannot sing beautifully".

Each maker decides what to emphasise on the instrument during the guitar making process. Does he want a loud instrument, or a balanced instrument, or a quieter and "colourful" distinctive tone of the wood...? Or something in between...

Guitar designs and constructions are progressing and evolving. In addition to the classic builds that originated with Torres, we have two new directions, the "double top" or sandwich system from Dammann (and Wagner) and "lattice bracing" from Smallman. As there is a lot of information about all this on the Internet, let me briefly describe what it is all about. Since the sound board is essential to the sound of the guitar, one of the questions is whether it is possible to make it lighter and therefore more responsive and louder? The answer has been found by the two manufacturers-innovators mentioned above, each in their own way. The first took a lot of material out of the soundboard and replaced it with a mesh of nomex or (more recently) balsa. This significantly reduces the weight of the soundboard and preserves its structural originality. The soundboard achieves higher amplitudes, higher volume but loses tone colour. With less mass, harmonics also disappear. Smallman has made the soundboard much thinner (almost to the size of a sheet of paper) but has had to reinforce the structure underneath. A relatively dense 'mesh' of thin wooden struts, reinforced with carbon, provided a sufficiently solid structure. Here, too, the harmonics are beginning to disappear. But both have reached a surprising volume. Since the guitar is a rather quiet instrument compared to string instruments, the 'loudness' feature has become an increasingly desirable element among guitarists. As a result, the demand for these instruments is rising and prices are skyrocketing.

But interestingly, for studio recordings, these same guitarists are looking for classic guitar models, because of the nicer tone colour on the recording. As the master J. Romanillos often said, the guitar loses tone colour with too thin a soundboard. Think about it.

There is no end to compromise. :-)

And here we come back to our "ear". What do we like? There are many options, and money is at stake. Many guitars can make a shocking first impression with volume, response and more. First impressions are good to oversleep and go for what we like. And that's what a good guitar should be. The best for us, not for others.

Nothing else.