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For a minute I thought this was gonna tie in with the exotic wood toneknobs...
I'm not a acoustic player but the description actually makes some sense to me.
Quote:
The top is the main sounding board of your instrument. When you lay your arm on it, there is a dampening or muting effect. Violin, Mandolin, and Banjo players have been using arm rests for many years for these same reasons.
Whatever it is aiming at. It looks nicely made and relatively cheap.
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Cheers, Rich
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I'd like to see a Violinist who rest her/his arms!
I have seen them sitting, resting their a@@es, maybe the chairs boost the tone and volume too, neutralizing gluteal region muscles and rectum's vibrations, which could seriously affect the violin's lower tonal spectrum
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Manual gearbox, 3 x Double Espresso
The idea being that you're no longer resting your acoustic dampening human arm against the top of the guitar, thus allowing the top to vibrate more freely. Instead, you're putting on a minimal and less dampening material.
In actual practice, it's for people who don't want smudges since if it actually made a difference, I think it would be more popular.
Arm rests are actually designed to keep the arm off of the top in order to allow it to vibrate properly-- which DOES provide better tone and volume in an acoustic guitar. The way it works is that the weight load of the arm is all placed on the braced corner edge where the top meets the body side bracing/purfling. If you look closely at this photo you will see that the most of the entire armrest does not touch the guitar top at all, but instead only the rear edge, which rests on top the body edge. The reference to violinists actually refers to the design and function principle of the chin rest on a violin, which is designed similarly and functions in the same manner-- keeping the chin from damping the violin top so that it can vibrate freely.
You can laugh all you like but the difference in tone is clearly audible if you A/B guitars with/without armrests. An added benefit is that it provides additional support for the forearm, which positions your hand better for fingerpicking. Saving the guitar's finish from perspiration wear is only a side-benefit, and NOT the primary function of an armrest.
Armrests have been used on banjos for years for the same reason, to keep the forearm off of the banjo head. And they make a huge difference in tone on mandolins. I don't normally use one on my acoustic guitars, primarily because I gig with them plugged in, and I've learned to keep my arm off the top over the years-- mainly because I DO use them on all of my banjos and mandolins.
Now then, a fancy gold armrest on a White Penguin is almost purely cosmetic, since Penguins aren't normally pursued for their acoustic tone.
Someone asked if they work then why are they not more popular? You could ask the very same question about Bar Bridges like Compton and Tru-Arc. They work and they work well, but outside of a few Gretsch enthusiasts, most guitar players don't even know they exist.
All I'm saying is don't knock them until you've tried one. You may have to eat your words if you do.
I did try this armrest. I was going out on a radio station tour with a singer/guitarist who played a very loud J-200 and he played it with a very heavy hand (he really bashed that thing). I was playing a re-issue Southerner Jumbo, that was warmer and quieter.
The arm rest did work a little, but not enough to overcome my issue of playing with a guitar half again as loud. The guitar was slightly louder, sustained slightly more and and might have been a tad brighter.
Being a Merle Travis/Paul Bigsby fan, I like the idea of the armrest visually. However, at the time it only came in a matte black finish. It didn't look bad, but it didn't quite match the tortoise pickguard, so I later pulled it off. I didn't do all that great of job taking it off, either, some of the lacquer came with it.
Now, when the guitar is examined up close, there are a couple of spots when the armrest was that has white spots on the binding showing how the finish has yellow to a nice ivory color over the years.
I wouldn't do it again. I'd get an old Stromberg and plaster him against the wall.
Hey, I'm not easy to convince in anything.
I had to google the best acoustic guitar players, a 100 names popped up, some familiar, but many of those guys, I have never heard of:
1. Michael Hedges
2. Leo Kottke
3. Chet Atkins
4. Phil Keaggy
5. John Fahey
6. Adrian Legg
7. Merle Travis
8. John Renbourn
9. Bert Jansch
10. Tommy Emmanuel
11. Norman Blake
12. Doc Watson
13. Preston Reed
14. Laurence Juber
15. Martin Simpson
16. Don Ross
17. Nick Webb
18. Pierre Bensusan
19. Jorma Kaukonen
20. Sandy Bull
21. John Martyn
22. William Ackerman
23. Billy McLaughlin
24. Doyle Dykes
25. Steve Tibbetts
26. David Bromberg
27. Peter Lang
28. Kelly Joe Phelps
29. Tony Rice
30. Davy Graham
31. Alex deGrassi
32. Monte Montgomery
33. Richard Leo Johnson
34. Gayla Drake Paul
35. Edward Gerhard
36. Bill Mize
37. Al Petteway
38. Peter Finger
39. Robbie Basho
40. El McMeen
41. Greg Carmichael
42. Pat Kirtley
43. Peter Huttlinger
44. Benjamin Woolman
45. Stephen Bennett
46. Richard Smith
47. Kaki King
48. Martin Carthy
49. Peter Rowan
50. Sam Pacetti
51. Buster B. Jones
52. Stefan Grossman
53. Tim Reynolds
54. Miles Gilderdale
55. Richard Gilewitz
56. Brooks Williams
57. Doug Smith
58. Peter Ostroushko
59. Andy McKee
60. D.R. Auten
61. Dirk Freymuth
62. Eric Tingstad
63. Peter Roller
64. Paul Geremia
65. Craig Chaquico
66. William Coulter
67. Tim Farrell
68. Arlen Roth
69. Dan Schwartz
70. Douglas Niedt
71. Andrew York
72. Roy Harper
73. Muriel Anderson
74. Artie Traum
75. Robin Bullock
76. Thom Bresch
77. David Wilcox
78. Tracy Moore
79. Steve Baughman
80. Tommy Jones
81. Joni Mitchell
82. Peppino D'Agostino
83. Pat Donohue
84. Mike Dowling
85. Tony McManus
86. Dave Mallany
87. Tim Sparks
88. David Grier
89. Orville Johnson
90. Sean Harkness
91. George Villiers
92. Rick Ruskin
93. Greg Neaga
94. Dorian Michael
95. Charles David Alexander
96. Tom Long
97. Jerry Reed
98. Jim Earp
99. Kenny Sultan
100. Michael Dunn
Soooo, I googled more for the pictures of the 20 from the top and guess what, there's no photo of those guys playing with the armrest!
But, what opened my eyes, was the fact that most of them played sitting in THE CHAIR !!!
Man, I was righgt!!!
I'm filing a Patent right now:
THE 6STINGS TONE & VOLUME BOOSTER CHAIR!
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Manual gearbox, 3 x Double Espresso
I had to google the best acoustic guitar players, a 100 names popped up,
PAH!! That list is bogus man, I'm not on it anywhere.
Very cool to see Joni Mitchell is though. With or without arm rest. For which the science does add up, not sure to a whole heap of difference in many cases though.
Hey 6, I'll take two of your chairs! Can I stack them to improve tone?
How do different materials affect tone? Do you have sound clips? Do they come with tone chambers? What effect does the metal of the screws have on tone?
Man! I'm so excited. I think you're on to something there! This'll save me years of practice and make me an instant (jazz) rock star!
Hey 6, I'll take two of your chairs!...Man! I'm so excited. I think you're on to something there! This'll save me years of practice and make me an instant (jazz) rock star!
Hey M, 2 chairs will put you instantly on the top 100 list, check:
58. Peter Ostroushko replaced by Michiel!
Are you sure you don't want 2 more?
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Manual gearbox, 3 x Double Espresso
The Armrest does what???
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