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A friend who is a quite good singer songwriter was over today to play some of my guitars and liked what they sounded and looked like. We got into a discussion of stage guitars and feedback as he plays is a folk blues type of trio with guitar standup base and drums. He plays a D41 Martin with the martin fishman pickup and aura preamp and is plagued with feedback even with a sound hole plug. His idea is he would like a thin body acoustic electric that would have a better feedback resistance but built with solid good tonewood so that even though the body is thin he will get a good acoustic sound through an amp and still be able to enjoy the acoustic sound when playing unplugged through a mike or at home.

Is he asking more than what any one guitar can do or would something like this be possible? I think he realizes that the unplugged volume and maybe tone will be affected somewhat but is more interested in the stage sound in the high volume atmosphere he needs to perform at.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I built a thin line acoustic for a performer and while acoustically it is lacking, electrically however it shines on stage with nearly zero feedback at extremely loud volume.

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"Try to be the person your dog thinks you are."

http://sites.google.com/site/bertsguitarshop/

Go for it, I love thin bodies. I have a Cordoba flamenco with depth 2.5" to 2.75" that quite clearly demonstrates Ervin Somogyi's "yappy dog principle" Not much bass, but I love the tone, and it can be quite loud if you want it to. Great for a factory instrument. I'll probably do a shallow steel string for myself sometime. A jumbo, perhaps Or OM. And maybe a nylon as well, and see if I can beat the Cordoba.

No personal experience to back this up, but I would guess you'd want to go on the side of thick top and light bracing for a stage guitar. A super light top might be more prone to feedback than his Martin even with the smaller cavity. And like Foster's little beauty, maple would be a good back/side choice.