Narrow waists on acoustic guitars

[Wayne27]

How does the size of the waist influence the sound of a acoustic guitar? Does a smaller waist make the guitar more balanced and volume lower?

 

[Mincer]

For me, it makes them more comfortable to play, so I am more likely to pick it up.

 

[Dudeman7]

Conventionally speaking, smaller bodied guitars with smaller waists and bouts will not be as loud acoustically as Dreadnought or Jumbo sizes.

They also typically won't have the booming bottom end of their larger counterparts. Concert and Orchestra sizes (there are many variations depending on manufacturer) excell at individual note clarity as opposed to full and rich sounding chords.

That makes smaller bodies sound more balanced for finger picking and softer, more delicate playing styles.

There are exceptions of course. Materials and bracing techniques can close the gap between body shapes to some degree.

 

[GuitarStv]

I find that a wider waist often makes a guitar sound a little more bassy, and a narrower waist a little brighter . . . but there are a lot of other things that impact the sound. The bracing can change the tone a surprising amount. Overall body size matters too - a narrower waisted Jumbo will usually sound bassier than a regular dreadnought. Volume can be a bit of a crapshoot. I've heard loud small guitars, but on average larger bodies tend to have more volume.

 

[ehdwuld]

I have a 000 Martin and a dreadnaught style Hummingbird
the Hummingbird is much louder and more low midrange than the Martin