Archtop feedback

[rocket]

Just wondering if there is anyone who has been able to strike a good compromise regarding the natural sweet tone of an acoustic arch top that has a suspended pickup mounted and the elimination or reduction of feedback when the instrument is played in a situation where the volume is needed to be up a bit due to a band situation where drums and double bass are in very close proximity , my first port of call would be to try different strings. Has anybody else come across this problem and been able to overcome it?
Cheers.

Rod.

[vandenboom]

Hi Rod, I hope this doesn't mean what I think it means i.e. that feedback was an issue on Thu night.
Two options that I am aware of:
Plug up the f-holes when playing in these situations. I have seen archtops made by Barry Kerr (Woodtone - long time builder) where he provides wood plugs that fit snugly into the f-holes with little dimples on them to hold them in place. (I think Joe Cozza has one of these)
When Hancock made my archie a few years back, I talked to them about this situation at design stage and they took it into account when carving the top, basically leaving it a bit thicker in places - don't know the details though. But whatever they did has been pretty effective for loud gigs, and the guitar still has good volume & tone when played without amplification.

Frank

[jeffhigh]

One other thing you can try is a parametic equalizer to notch out the troublesome frequencies.
I d remember having to stuff socks in my maton archie back in the early 70's

[Nick]

Jeff's Parametric EQ idea is a good one Rod and also the guy that endorses my guitars (Bob) has been in many different jazz type situations, small intimate settings to big band stage work & another solution he presented to me sometime ago when I asked the same question was as simple as where he stood on stage. Most guitarists stand infront of their amp in order to hear what they are playing which when you think about it, is not ideal for an archie, the back is a very active part of these guitars so that's pointing directly at the active part of an amplifier, namely the speaker! which is pumping air out at the same frequency as the guitar's back is trying to resonate. Bob always stands off to the side of his amp in order to reduce this type of feedback occuring, you will also notice that a few of the top jazz players angle their guitar away from them, this not only eliminates damping of the back against the players stomach but also sets the back in a different plane from that of the speaker which reduces feedback also.
Just something to try, it doesn't always work but an archie is a problematic beast in this regard anyway that there never is one cure for all!