Differences between a DV 72, DV 73 and DV 74

[davismanLV]

I didn`t know that inlay had a sound! You learn something new every day.

It doesn't. But every guitar built has an INDIVIDUAL sound and so.... apparently you have to play them all. I only have two Guilds and they're both dreads built in the same year, 1994. One is an archback maple and the other is a rosewood flatback. They're different. But I'd bet my 72 will sound a tad different from every other one.

Everyone wants to pigeonhole every guitar and sound. And that doesn't work. Just talk about specific guitars. That's all I'm sayin.....

Maybe David will chime in on differences in my guitars.... what you say, amigo??

 

[West R Lee]

It doesn't. But every guitar built has an INDIVIDUAL sound and so.... apparently you have to play them all. I only have two Guilds and they're both dreads built in the same year, 1994. One is an archback maple and the other is a rosewood flatback. They're different. But I'd bet my 72 will sound a tad different from every other one.

Everyone wants to pigeonhole every guitar and sound. And that doesn't work. Just talk about specific guitars. That's all I'm sayin.....

Maybe David will chime in on differences in my guitars.... what you say, amigo??

I would agree Tom.

West

 

[West R Lee]

I didn`t know that inlay had a sound! You learn something new every day.

The few people that I've known that have owned both, or any two of the high end DV's have always preferred the DV72. Now that's not something I can explain, but it's the way it's been from my experience. It surprises me that Dave's sketch does indeed show a slight structural difference, that being the DV72 having what I suppose you could call sound hole reinforcement, as my DV72 is lighter than my DV73. I'd think with the reinforcement, the DV72 would be slightly heavier, if there were any noticeable difference.

I'll check mine tomorrow Dave and let you know if my DV72 has that plate. And if the DV73 does not.

West

 

[Dadaist]

It doesn't. But every guitar built has an INDIVIDUAL sound and so.... apparently you have to play them all. I only have two Guilds and they're both dreads built in the same year, 1994. One is an archback maple and the other is a rosewood flatback. They're different. But I'd bet my 72 will sound a tad different from every other one.

Everyone wants to pigeonhole every guitar and sound. And that doesn't work. Just talk about specific guitars. That's all I'm sayin.....

Maybe David will chime in on differences in my guitars.... what you say, amigo??

Having played Tom's D-65 and DV-72 for an afternoon a few weeks back, I'll chime in about how they played and sounded.
As has been mentioned, you have to look at specific guitars. I would guess that if you compared the same model, made in the same week, separated by just a few serial numbers, depending on how well it was taken care
of in the ensuing 20 or so years, you'd have two guitars that may not be close in tone, or play ability. His D-65, is loud and pretty bright. Not as loud/bright as a JF-65 of the same vintage, but close. Probably one of the nicest
maple dreads you could ask for, and Tom is the original owner, so you could see it was well taken care of over the years.

My favorite though, was that DV-72. The last Guild dread I had was an '81 D-55 SB, a very nice guitar, but the DV-72 was bar none, the best Guild Dread I've played, period. Even, warm tone and I could fingerpick chords at the 10th fret without any hint of buzz. With the exception of a D-100 (haven't had the pleasure yet), probably about the nicest Guild Dread that they made. I have a next door neighbor who is the original owner of one of the few Martin D-45s made in 1970. I'd put Tom's guitar up next to it as a comp, it's that nice overall.

David

 

[Westerly Wood]

OK, I need to add the DV-72 to my bucket list

 

[GardMan]

Tell me Dave.......do you have a preference between the two? And if so, why? You've had them for a while now, maybe long enough to make an objective comparison?
West

My DV-72 is the simply the nicest sounding guitar I have ever played. Nine days out of ten, it's the first one I reach for every morning.

But there is a long back story... it’s been a long journey from my ’72 D-35 to the DV-72!

 

[Westerly Wood]

But there is a long back story... it’s been a long journey from my ’72 D-35 to the DV-72!

Would like to read this story, Dave.

 

[Dadaist]

OK, I need to add the DV-72 to my bucket list

Having reduced my guitar collection down to just a few instruments ("...Hello, My name is David, and I'm a recovering guitar collector....") it was a treat to play Tom's guitars.
If I needed to own a stand-out example of the best of what Westerly could produce, I'd jump at Tom's DV-72 if it came up for sale.

David

 

[davismanLV]

David, thanks for chiming in and and mostly thanks for coming by and playing these guitars. It's funny when you're always the player you kinda forget what they sound like to the rest of the world. It was great having a skilled guitarist at the helm and be able to listen to these instruments the way others hear them!! :encouragement:

 

[Rayk]

Skilled !? No audio ? Never happened !

 

[davismanLV]

I can confirm that my DV-72 from 1994 has the reinforcement plate that Dave (GuardMan) shows in the illustration he posted. I just shoved my hand in there to check.

 

[bluesypicky]

Yes. DV-72.

 

[adorshki]

Gardman should be our official bracing expert.
At least as far as I can remember he's shed more light on bracing than anybody else, even Hans.
(I'm waiting for lightning to strike me)
For creds, let me remind everyone Dave's also the guy who documented upper bout bracing changes in dreads from the early '80s.
Nothin' I like better than, "Here's my example. It is what it is"
A sincere thank you, sir.

 

[Aristera]

The edges on the internal plate of my DV-72 run parallel to the grain as opposed to the angled lines on the drawing.

 

[GardMan]

The edges on the internal plate of my DV-72 run parallel to the grain as opposed to the angled lines on the drawing.

Yep... checked again, and you are correct. The opposite sides of the plate are parallel. I have revised the drawing (also moving the little upper bout wing braces closer to where I think they are).

I will also add the disclaimer that the braces, bridge plate, etc might not be in exact positions, or the correct sizes. I just eyeballed them with an inspection mirror.

 

[Aristera]

I had to remove the strings to get a good pic. Then again who can complain about looking forward to new strings on a DV-72!

 

[West R Lee]

Alright Dave, now I am confused. Mine are the same. And by that I mean my DV72 has the plate and my DV73 does not. I'm trying to reconcile that in my head as it sort of goes against everything we've always been told about resonance......to me anyway. However slight the difference might be, you'd think that to NOT have that reinforcement plate would allow the top to resonate just a tad more........in my mind anyway. Obviously, it didn't hurt the DV72 sonically one bit.

It is also a very slight difference that I'd never heard of (other than from you here as I recall), but Hans did tell me that structurally, all high end DV's were identical. It's just another reason I look forward to Volume II one day and hope that Hans will go into detail on the entire DV line.

West

 

[GardMan]

...I'm trying to reconcile that in my head as it sort of goes against everything we've always been told about resonance......to me anyway. However slight the difference might be, you'd think that to NOT have that reinforcement plate would allow the top to resonate just a tad more...
West

Hey West,
Thanks for looking.

I am thinking the difference in bracing was is not model specific, but year specific. The earliest evidence of the sound hole reinforcement plate is a pic of a top removed from an '84 D-15... then we have my '92 D-55, Tom's D-65S, and all the DV-72s that have been checked, so far (all are from '93-'94). Then, our DV-73s which go 'back" to the older style bracing in '95. I'd really like to hear from some of the other DV owners (52s and 62s, which bracket the entire date range and more), and some of the early DV-73s (from 1994) (which brings up another question I have... how many of the DV-7X guitars are represented on LTG? I think somewhere between 3-6 of the 73s, and perhaps 10-12 of the 72s? I'm just curious...).

As for the effects on tone... it does seem sort of counterintuitive, doesn't it? I don't know if it's my individual guitars, or the models, but my 73 is noticeably "brighter" than my 72 (and my D-55). I would describe the 72 as "warmer and richer." To me (don't know about others opinions), "warmer and richer" means more overtones, particularly in the low frequencies; "brighter" means fewer over tones (more fundamentals), and more emphasis on mids/trebles. Adding mass to a vibrating plate should suppress high frequency vibrations more than low frequencies... so IF the sound hole area is a major source of high frequencies, perhaps the plate there would emphasize low frequency overtones at the expense of trebles? (I am a biologist, not an acoustic scientist, so I am really just guessing)...

Anyway... I am not too worried about it from the science and engineering standpoint, the end result (with the DV-72) was phenomenal. Just for the record, I don't analyze when I play... I just enjoy the music!

 

[West R Lee]

Hey West,
Thanks for looking.

I am thinking the difference in bracing was is not model specific, but year specific. The earliest evidence of the sound hole reinforcement plate is a pic of a top removed from an '84 D-15... then we have my '92 D-55, Tom's D-65S, and all the DV-72s that have been checked, so far (all are from '93-'94). Then, our DV-73s which go 'back" to the older style bracing in '95. I'd really like to hear from some of the other DV owners (52s and 62s, which bracket the entire date range and more), and some of the early DV-73s (from 1994) (which brings up another question I have... how many of the DV-7X guitars are represented on LTG? I think somewhere between 3-6 of the 73s, and perhaps 10-12 of the 72s? I'm just curious...).

As for the effects on tone... it does seem sort of counterintuitive, doesn't it? I don't know if it's my individual guitars, or the models, but my 73 is noticeably "brighter" than my 72 (and my D-55). I would describe the 72 as "warmer and richer." To me (don't know about others opinions), "warmer and richer" means more overtones, particularly in the low frequencies; "brighter" means fewer over tones (more fundamentals), and more emphasis on mids/trebles. Adding mass to a vibrating plate should suppress high frequency vibrations more than low frequencies... so IF the sound hole area is a major source of high frequencies, perhaps the plate there would emphasize low frequency overtones at the expense of trebles? (I am a biologist, not an acoustic scientist, so I am really just guessing)...

Anyway... I am not too worried about it from the science and engineering standpoint, the end result (with the DV-72) was phenomenal. Just for the record, I don't analyze when I play... I just enjoy the music!

You are much more articulate when it comes to defining tone Dave. And I would agree with your tone comparison of the DV72/DV73 that I own...........spot on. I could not have described it better myself.

And the plate issue is one that I'd love to get Hans to weigh in on.

West

 

[Aristera]

GardMan,

I also posted this on your other thread related to bracing. I checked my DV-62 and it has the same soundhole plate as my 1993 DV-72 (sn LK.....).

James