Entry · Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Plate CXVIII. An acoustic guitar, body and soundhole, in low light.
Photo by Vikas Raj Yadav on Unsplash
Acoustic Guitar
/uh-KOO-stik gih-TAR/ n.- 1. A hollow-bodied stringed instrument whose lower bout exhibits a pronounced outward swell, widening dramatically past the waist before resolving into a broad, rounded base; esp. one photographed body-forward in raking low light, where the curve of the lower bout reads less as lutherie and more as a geological event.
- 2. slang. Furniture that happens to make music. The neck is decorative. The body is the argument.
"The vintage Martin D-45 hanging in the shop window was so thiccc that three bluegrass guys just stood outside on the sidewalk in respectful silence. Nobody reached for a pick. You don't play something like that right away."
From Greek akoustikos ('of or for hearing,' from akouein, 'to hear') and Portuguese guitarra, itself from Arabic qitara, from Greek kithara, a lyre-type instrument that was, by all surviving depictions, considerably less bottom-heavy than what Luther eventually got up to.
Filed by
The lower bout widens past the waist like it made a decision and committed fully.
Ruling ADMITTED
The lower bout exhibits a documentable outward swell resolving into a broad rounded base. The geological event language stays. The pick does not.
In the margin
The waist is just there to make the lower bout look even more dramatic by comparison and honestly it is doing an incredible job at that one specific task!