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Cutaway
Terms
Q Can you explain the
origins of the terms Venetian cutaway and Florentine cutaway?
Robert Manzoni
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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A
Venetian
and Florentine refer to the actual shape of the
cutaway: Venetian describes the rounded cutaway and Florentine the
sharp, pointed form. The original use of these terms can be traced to
early Gibson nomenclature in advertising material and catalogs. Orville
Gibson's early instruments show a very strong stylistic influence
derived from 19th-century Italian guitar and mandolin makers,
particularly from the work of makers such as Calace, Guadagnini, and
Vinaccia. Gibson likely chose these terms to reflect the Italian
influence and lend some old-world credibility to his new instruments;
there isn't any evidence that these cutaway styles actually came from
Venice or Florence.
Gibson
first used Venetian cutaway in reference to the
Super 400P, an acoustic archtop introduced in 1939, and Florentine
cutaway first described Gibson's O style guitars in 1902 and
a series of mandolins appearing at the same time. However, the
historical origin of the pointed cutaway can be traced back as far as
19th-century French maker Georges Warnecke. One of his instruments can
be seen in The Steve Howe Guitar Collection
(Backbeat Books).
—Ian Watchorn
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Florentine
cutaway.
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Venetian cutaway.
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Bass-Strum Attack
Q I am having
problems equalizing the volume between my bass notes and my downstroke
strums when playing alternating-bass rhythms. My bass notes seem to be
too quiet compared to my loud, twangy strums. Switching to heavier
picks helped somewhat. Can you offer any other advice?
Marlo Phillips
Santa
Monica, California
A Are you playing the
bass strings with downstrokes? That's the key to getting a nice, crisp
attack on alternating bass-strum patterns. This means that your rhythm
playing will consist of mostly downstrokes, with an occasional upstroke
when you do a double brush on the treble strings. This can be a little
disconcerting at first, especially if you have been trained to strictly
alternate upstrokes and downstrokes, but it will lead to a much
punchier, consistent sound.
The
basic rule is to play a downstroke on the downbeat. If I play boom-chuck
boom-chuck, it's all downstrokes. If I play boom-chuck-a
boom-chuck-a, that a is a little
upstroke. Every once in a while I play boom-a-chuck-a boom-a
chuck-a, and all of those a's are
upstrokes. Otherwise it's downstroke city.
—Paul Kotapish
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Loosening
the Strings
Q I have a
guitar that I don't play for weeks or sometimes months at a time. Is it
better to keep it fully tuned or to tune it down so there's no tension
on the neck?
David Peterson
Rocklin, California
A If you're really not
going to play the guitar for long periods of time, I'd loosen the
strings so that they're not up to pitch but still have some tension.
It's important to store the guitar in an atmosphere that you yourself
would be comfortable in, say between 55 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit with
35–65 percent humidity. This will put the guitar into a kind of
suspended animation—not quite dead, but certainly not in a playable
state. When you do want to tune it back up, expect to get the neck
adjusted as the guitar gets used to more than 250 pounds of tension on
its top and neck. But why do all this to a guitar that wants to be
played all the time?
—Rick Turner
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Mandolin
Resources
Q I have been
playing guitar for more than 30 years and recently bought a mandolin.
Do you know of any magazines or online publications for the mandolin?
Robert Morgan
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
A There are a number of
online resources and publications devoted to our eight-stringed friend.
Start with the Mandolin Cafe (www.mandolincafe.com). You'll find
links to most of the other mandolin-related sites there. Co-Mando (www.co-mando.com)
is a good email discussion group. They have a Web page with info,
links, and digests of previous posts. The two major mandolin print
magazines also have websites: Mandolin Magazine (www.mandolinmagazine.com)
and Mandolin Quarterly (www.mandolincafe.com/strings/mq.html).
Have fun!
—Paul Kotapish
 Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, October 2002, No. 118.
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