Tone- rite? tone-wrong?

[headsup]

Not sure what the general consensus is out there about the Tone-rite thing.

I have one, and use it 24/7, maybe it's hocus pocus, dunno.

folks who own a few guitars, or even several, I feel, can probably benefit by rotating the Tone-rite through the stable, which is what i use it for.

Which really leads to the actual decadence of multiple guitar ownership and having to simulate them being played when using others, and certainly I don't care to keep guitars in their cases....

Any one else use these things to keep the boxes vibrating when not in active duty?

[B0WIE]

I use them on new instruments because I hate that "tight" feel a new guitar has where it feels like it's not vibrating as freely as an instrument that has settled in.
Tonerite helps some more than others but it does help. I've made sound clips and even my wife (who doesn't play) could hear a difference in the bass on one instrument.
I don't just run them all the time though as I didn't hear a benefit, and because that can also potentially ruin your saddle or even bridge plate, having non-stop vibration for months. Two to three weeks was the point of diminishing returns for me. And, that length is completely safe too.

[ducktrapper]

For the man who has everything maybe. Not for me. 

[247hoopsfan]

I have my 2 Larrivees and my Goodall out all the time and play all of them regularly.  My Yamaha LL500 stays in its case upstairs and I don't play it regularly mostly because it is 1 11/16 nut and most of the time I am playing finger style on my other 3 which all are 1 3/4".  On Saturday I pulled out the LL500 and the sound just amazed me.  It had probably been a couple months since I played it.  I know some people believe guitars go to sleep if not played, and need to wake up again.  I just don't believe it.  I really don't see the point in vibrating a guitar 24/7 with a Tone Rite, other than it may loosen the braces and bridge.  I also would never buy a guitar in the hopes that it will "open up."  All my guitars sounded great when I bought them and they still sound great.  Do they sound better than when new?  I really don't think so, and if they do it's probably in my head because how can we really remember what something sounded like years ago.

[ducktrapper]

When I got my OOO-50, I put it in a stand and bungeed the stand to a stereo speaker, put The Beatles Come Together on repeat, loud, and for two weeks left it every day for eight hours while I went to work. I have no idea if it did any good but it sounds great and cost nothing.  

[headsup]

indeed, I can't say weather putting the tone-rite on a guitar is or will make any difference. And I've heard that story about an unplayed guitar "going to sleep" or something.

Most folks will swear by the theory of a new guitar "opening up after a certain amount of time.
Builders are now hyping "torrified" tops, claiming by "baking the wood, they are doing the same thing as some-one playing a guitar for a few years.
Tone-rite people say the same things.

why, back in the day, before pre- faded jeans, we had to wash the dean things a hundred times and beat the crap out of them for a while before they looked and felt good.

Always loved the sound of naturally faded jeans.....

[headsup]

When I got my OOO-50, I put it in a stand and bungeed the stand to a stereo speaker, put The Beatles Come Together on repeat, loud, and for two weeks left it every day for eight hours while I went to work. I have no idea if it did any good but it sounds great and cost nothing.  

On the Larrivee website, one on the interviews with Jean talks about the crazy things they did with guitars back in Toronto, like blasting huge DB sound levels at them etc.
I'm sure the neighbours didn't care how the guitar sounded....

[ducktrapper]

On the Larrivee website, one on the interviews with Jean talks about the crazy things they did with guitars back in Toronto, like blasting huge DB sound levels at them etc.
I'm sure the neighbours didn't care how the guitar sounded....

I figured if McCartney's bass didn't do it, nothing would. Good thing I had a house to myself, eh?   

[B0WIE]

  Do they sound better than when new?  I really don't think so, and if they do it's probably in my head because how can we really remember what something sounded like years ago.

I'm surprised when I hear people say things like this. I guess it's because I've compared a lot of instruments that are 10+ years old with newer ones of the same model, same build, same woods, etc and there are always certain differences that stick out to me. Especially in the highs and lows. It's so noticeable to me that I avoid buying newer instruments unless it's one I just can't pass up.

As far as instruments sleeping and waking up, I've not closed my mind to the possibility but I think most of that has to do with people's ears adapting to something they haven't listened to in a while rather than the instrument itself actually "waking up" (which, on a scientific level, is supposedly the moisture molecules in the wood being excited and changing their distribution in the wood fibers).

[headsup]

always an interesting perspective.

Presently I own two L guitars. I had a third for a while.

Three identical guitars

a 77 L-09
an 80 L-10
and the other was a late seventies L-10

by comparison, when I took delivery of the late 70's one it had the least appealing sound when compared to the other two.
all three have EIR back & sides, and I believe Sitka tops (might be wrong-dunno)

regardless the 77 L is phenomenal guitar, best in the house I would say-against some nice brazillin and Koa I might add.

The 1980 L-10 is lovely, nowhere near the earlier version, might be because it has lived in it's case for 30 years before I got it.

again, dunno, who's to say> the other L-10 was well played guitar, but I let some-one else treasure it....

age? use? dunno.

[ducktrapper]

always an interesting perspective.

Presently I own two L guitars. I had a third for a while.

Three identical guitars

a 77 L-09
an 80 L-10
and the other was a late seventies L-10

by comparison, when I took delivery of the late 70's one it had the least appealing sound when compared to the other two.
all three have EIR back & sides, and I believe Sitka tops (might be wrong-dunno)

regardless the 77 L is phenomenal guitar, best in the house I would say-against some nice brazillin and Koa I might add.

The 1980 L-10 is lovely, nowhere near the earlier version, might be because it has lived in it's case for 30 years before I got it.

again, dunno, who's to say> the other L-10 was well played guitar, but I let some-one else treasure it....

age? use? dunno.

Similar but not identical. Like people, they're all different.

[247hoopsfan]

Hey Bowie, all I know for sure is that you and I are really lucky to both have our Brazilian Flying Eagles.  Like I said in my post above, I really can't tell that it has changed from new.  I loved the sound then and still love it now.  And the shimmery, glassy reverb tone has been consistent since the beginning.  Play on in good health!

[headsup]

Similar but not identical. Like people, they're all different.

OK, I'll bite, I was under the impression the L has been pretty consistent over the years, shape, bracing etc.
different "bling" yes, and I was under the impression, the "bling" guitars are picked as to their higher wood grade.
so, "identical" vs. "similar"

i might need some "splainin'

[ducktrapper]

OK, I'll bite, I was under the impression the L has been pretty consistent over the years, shape, bracing etc.
different "bling" yes, and I was under the impression, the "bling" guitars are picked as to their higher wood grade.
so, "identical" vs. "similar"

i might need some "splainin'

Even "identical" twins are different but I remember my first decent guitar was a Yamaha FG-180 that I bought circa 1971. A friend of mine bought an identical one. Lucky me, mine was terrific. His not so much. I just think every guitar is different. Some are better than others for reasons unknown.     

[unclrob]

OK please put any weapons away or at least give a running head start.No two guitars even made from the same piece's of the tree cut and sanded in even layers.As each cut in really from a different depth of the tree.I'm old school like duck we keep our guitars in front of speakers and I'm sure that any change we hear is false or true because we want it to be.Some guitars over time just sound better because we get use to the tone and some don't they just fall flat to our ears.



Running now.......

[headsup]

Hey Bowie, all I know for sure is that you and I are really lucky to both have our Brazilian Flying Eagles.  Like I said in my post above, I really can't tell that it has changed from new.  I loved the sound then and still love it now.  And the shimmery, glassy reverb tone has been consistent since the beginning.  Play on in good health!

OK, now we're back to good old fashioned personal perspective stuff.
MY personal perspective, for instance on BZ rosewood is not at all "Shimmery, glassy reverb tone"

Both my current BZ guitars (one is an older Larrivee C) I enjoy not for those tones ( I prefer the Koa for that) but the immediacy of the attack transience, the darker tone and certainly the natural projection is what draws me to BZ guitars, not to mention the string to string, note to note clarity. (but those traits, to me, are secondary to the first adjectives I used).

Mind you, that eagle D you have is stunning, and as lovers of our fine guitars, we're allowed to use any description we wish.

"reverb" is an interesting word for tone. As you say "play on in good health". INDEED!  

[headsup]

OK please put any weapons away or at least give a running head start.No two guitars even made from the same piece's of the tree cut and sanded in even layers.As each cut in really from a different depth of the tree.I'm old school like duck we keep our guitars in front of speakers and I'm sure that any change we hear is false or true because we want it to be.Some guitars over time just sound better because we get use to the tone and some don't they just fall flat to our ears.



Running now.......

HAH YES!!!! bravo! I can't keep my stereo on all the time, heck I'm just vibrating them on low a couple days at a time, so they don't feel rejected.
Besides, if vibrators are good for people, (ahem), certainly they're good for our guitars. ahem, many folks refer to their guitars from the - ahem- "feminine " perspective.


Running now     

[unclrob]

I should of noted that I did the speaker thing way back in the 70's stop doing it in 74 because I had to play gigs with them.I do wonder if I had put my tele in front of the speaker if it would more open????? 

[headsup]

I should of noted that I did the speaker thing way back in the 70's stop doing it in 74 because I had to play gigs with them.I do wonder if I had put my tele in front of the speaker if it would more open????? 

OK then, the "theory" of the tone-rite is the same then; people seem to believe in the speaker theory but think putting a tone-right on a guitar isn't such a good thing.....

[B0WIE]

Hey Bowie, all I know for sure is that you and I are really lucky to both have our Brazilian Flying Eagles.  Like I said in my post above, I really can't tell that it has changed from new.  I loved the sound then and still love it now.  And the shimmery, glassy reverb tone has been consistent since the beginning.  Play on in good health!

Every time I play that one I get shivers thinking that I almost sold it (because I originally bought it to flip). My wife must have heard me say it a hundred times because she's starting to reply, "I know honey, you told me that."
People talk about "natural reverb" in guitars and it's usually overstated but not here. A client of mine who has a Brazilian D28 was playing it the other day and he said, "It sounds a little like my Martin, but my Martin doesn't do this (plays de-tuned E string and the room fills with piano-like bass).