Damn, I can't seem to cruise by these threads without butting in..'specially when someone mentions "playing the sound back into a guitar". It's true folks, it ain't a myth! A "dead as a doornail" solid top guitar will regain volume, tone, and Presence (whatever that means) by picking the hell out of it for a couple of weeks. I don't know why. (perhaps a catter with a degree in acoustic response or something like that can give us an answer) Now, as to one of the better myths...maybe. I've placed a lot of instruments right next to a speaker, turned up the volume, and gone fishin' for a few hours...and... it seems to work. Guitar (or mandolin) seems to sound better. Doctor, is it all in my head? Tell me the truth, Jack Nicholson...I can handle the truth!

Wow, Jo 77, you mentioned Mossman. Oh boy, what a memory that brings back. The finest (and loudest) tone I ever got from a guitar was my Mossman. (Golden Era I think) It felt like the guitar had a built in amplifier. But oh, that neck! It twisted and bent, it warped this way and that way. I never knew from day to day whether the action would be high or low. I suffered with it for a year and then sold it to a guy who played "Honey", "Little Green Apples", "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" and "Lady in Red". I hated to do that to the finest sounding axe I'd ever heard, but at least his new owner wouldn't be messing with his neck rod every week.

P.S. In two amazing bits of mis-casting, the producers of the awful Woody Guthrie movie "Bound for Glory" had 6'3" Keith Carradine playing 5'6" Woody, and had him sitting on top of a boxcar ( circa 1939) playing his highly ornamented Mossman Golden Era. The only thing missing was a Mark Leaf fibreglass flight case at his feet.