Jeroen Hilhorst

Maker of very special classical concert guitars

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About the sound of my guitars

“My improvements of the sound of the guitar make it a more musical instrument”

My successful different approach.

Over the years I have developed and perfected a different approach to constructing guitars, which has proved very successful:

I minimize the vibrations in the back, sides and neck, and I use that energy to make the soundboard vibrate better and stronger.

The effects on the sound.

A soundboard that is vibrating stronger has the following effects on the sound:

- The sound is stronger and louder.

- The sound is more intense.

- The sustain is much longer.

- The dynamics are a lot better.

- The guitar reacts much faster to the player.

I think these improvements are very important. They make the guitar a more musical instrument, because they offer the player possibilities for creating more appealing interpretations. And they make the guitar an equal partner to other instruments in chamber music.

The sound for the audience.

For the audience the sound of my guitars is always much more present, much stronger. And it has better dynamics and more detail. Also the basses are full, while in traditional guitars the basses tend to be metallic for the audience.

In all the comparisons with traditionally constructed guitars, these differences are always very apparent.

These differences are caused by the fact that the soundboard is the only vibrating part in my guitars. It projects all the sound straight into the audience

The sound for the player.

For the player the full power of the sound is not immediately apparent. The player is sitting almost behind the soundboard, and the sound has to come a little bit backwards to reach the player. The player will miss the sound coming from the vibrating back and sides of the traditional guitar. But there is a much stronger sound coming from the soundboard, which will compensate for that.

Less difference in sound for the player and the audience.

In the traditional guitar the back vibrates, producing mostly basses. These basses are only heard by the player, who hears a full bass. Because they are produced at the backside of the guitar, the audience does not hear much of these basses, and is often left with a thin and metallic bass sound.

Because in my guitars the back is not producing basses, there is less difference between what the player hears and what the audience hears.

About beauty of sound.

The sound of my guitars is very beautiful, I think. And this beauty of sound, combined with the extra intensity and sustain, puts the sound of my guitars in a category above the traditional guitars, as all guitarists that play my guitars will confirm.

Admittedly, this is a matter of taste. But even if the sound is not completely to your taste, you might want to consider the important extra possibilities that my guitars offer you: more appealing interpretations and the possibility to be an equal partner in chamber music.

Guitarists that are used to the sound of traditionally constructed guitars sometimes need a little time to get used to the sound of my guitars. But I always see that the guitarists soon develop a more than average liking for my instruments.

Energy loss in the traditional guitar.

In the traditional way of constructing the guitar, the back, the sides, the construction of the body and often even the neck are relatively flexible. They bend a little with every vibration of the strings. This bending consumes energy, that is only for a part converted in sound: the vibrations of the back and sides. And even these vibrations of the back and sides are inefficient, for two reasons:

1. The back and sides are made of heavy types of wood, which take a lot of energy to vibrate. Soundboards of these types of wood would give very little sound.

2. The sound is not directed forwards, to the audience, but sideways and backwards, where there is only a very small audience: the player.

In my guitar making, I minimize all these inefficient vibrations in the back, sides and neck. And I use the energy for stronger vibrations in the soundboard, which then generates a stronger, more powerful sound. (And more so because I have also made the soundboard itself more efficient.)