Square vs Round

[Joe E]

Other than the obvious difference in the neck, is there any difference in the guitar? Difference in styles? Waiting for a round neck to come in and thought I would ask. My original thought was for bottle neck slide, but after buying a PSG I may try a bar and more traditional approach to dobro music.

Joe

[Pete Grant]

A square neck, because of its mass, will usually give you more sustain.

[Dave Boothroyd]

Standard guitarists can't play them, so fewer people want them, so they are cheaper (or should be!)

[Andy Volk]

My two pennies ... As Pete says, in general a square neck will add sustain but several other factors also fit into the equation such as body depth, type & thickness of wood. With acoustic Hawaiian guitars, Weissenborn style instruments have a square hollow neck which tends to skew towards a more cello-like sound with the high end kind of floating on top. The solid neck Kona design tends to emphasize the upper mids and highs. Square neck resophonics have a much broader tonal response across all frequences and long sustain, IMHO as opposed to the twangier
round necks. Notes die faster on a round neck but may have a more immediate spike.
Neither is better or worse - it all depends on the type of tone you prefer and what music you want to play.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 01 March 2000 at 05:48 AM.]</p></FONT>

[Eric Stumpf]

Scale length has to be factored into the tone equation as well. Many of the round neck resonator guitars have a 26" scale; square neck guitars are generally shorter scale (24.5" on average). Longer scale often provides a better tone but at the cost of reducing ease of bar slant execution.

[Mike D]

As to the long scale roundneck. I've seen this mentioned a few times but I've yet to actually SEE a longer scale on a round neck. Squarenecks are usually 12 fret guitars and the new crop of roundnecks tend to be 14s so this may be creating a false impression of a longer scale but they are the same scale length. Most in the 24 1/2-25" length. I've got '33 wood body National with a 25 3/4" scale and I've yet to see any other resonator with a scale longer than it.

[mikey]

I have to admit, I am so used to playing a 12 fret guitar, that a 14 drives me nuts...for that reason alone I avoid 14 fret guitars even for spanish play, (except electric)...when my hand hits the body, I know I'm at 12
Aloha,
Mike

[Mike D]

Ditto Mikey. I play slide on 12 fret resonators and I'm now making a 12 fret 000 for standard playing. I need all the help I can get and having everything in the same spot really does help.

[Andy Alford]

The Great Oswald who brought the Hawaiian Guitar to the Opry played a prewar Regal- Dobro Dobro with a round neck.These are still the most sought after wood Dobro's ever made.He used a nut to raise the strings.