Does the arm rest affect the sound of the guitar?
It opens up the sound of the guitar because of the forearm being “off” the soundboard. You could compare it to the effect a hand has on a tuning fork. When a tuning fork is struck, the fork vibrates for quite a while. If you were touch a tuning fork immediately after striking it you would decrease the vibration substantially. One’s forearm essentially does the same> thing to the soundboard of the guitar. The guitar is muted and sustain is decreased when touching the soundboard. I always tell people…a trumpet uses a mute but doesn’t play with one all the time…a piano has a mute pedal but pianists don’t use it all the time….why would you always play the guitar with a mute (forearm)? You would play the guitar that way because before the arm rest was invented that was the only way to play the guitar. The arm rest increases the clarity, sustain and tone of any guitar.
