Why do classical guitars not have an arc to the fingerboard?!
Question: Is it just because that's the tradition? Would it be better if it did have an arc like most electric guitars?
Answers: Is it just because that's the tradition? Would it be better if it did have an arc like most electric guitars?
I understand what you are saying. It is traditional that the classical guitar has a flat fingerboard rather the the slightly convex shape of a steel string guitar or an electric guitar.
But some of the more expensive hand made classical guitars do actually have a slight curvature to the fingerboard now.
PS It is not hard to build a fingerboard with a convex shape. They have been doing it for violins and cellos for hundreds of years. It is nothing to do with technology or the lack of it. A violin fingerboard is a very complicated shape and they were all built using just the hand and the eye.
Do you mean a pickguard?
The plastic plate that's screwed onto the body on electric guitars (and steel-string acoustics have them too), just below the strings?
Well, the name has the clue - it's essentially to prevent the guitar's finish from being damaged by a guitar pick during downstrokes or vigorous strumming.
Classical guitars are generally played without a pick, so they don't need one. And the classical fingerstyle technique would in any case frown on a player who makes too much guitar surface contact, rather than accurately on the strings.
If you mean why there is no arch to the strings, it has to do with the way it's played.
IT is not exactly worse but if you think back to the time period these were mainly used in the technology was not that good. They do have a different sound it is really your opinion if you like them better. So it is basically a matter of being able to make an arc.