Why do guitars sound better with age ??

[slarrivee]

 

Just some reading materials. Has anyone else read this article on the Acoustic Guitar site...Nice little article that explains the wood aging and opening up of guitars...Informative if you want to have a better understanding of the why's and how's.

http://www.acousticguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=24089

[ducktrapper]

Funny. The older I get the less I can  hear.     

[slarrivee]

Great comment, maybe we should suggest the author look into doing another article about how aging ears make guitars sound better ...

[ducktrapper]

Great comment, maybe we should suggest the author look into doing another article about how aging ears make guitars sound better ...

Diminishing returns and augmented prices! 

[247hoopsfan]

Interesting article.  Seems to prove that what we hear is really in our heads.  Those who knew they were playing a vintage pre-war guitar consistently rated it better than those who didn't know, because they were inclined to believe that is must sound better.  The last comment is what I have always thought- buy your guitar based on how it sounds now.  If you like it now, it will always sound good.  There is no guarantee it will sound "better" in 10 or 20 years.

[Chasjax]

Bob Taylor made some interesting comments regarding this subject in the Taylor Wood and Strings periodical (either the current edition or the previous one).

[bbb]

Hi folks, just a provocation: Would a contraption with a mechanic arm and pick at its end, plucking endlessly on your beauty ever improve the sound of it in the long run? Regardless of it not being musically oriented at all? Would it ever help to open up (break in) the guitar sound? At least while we sleep and have meals? Just a thought... Bruno 

[cke]

Godin insists guitars mature IF they are played, and need to be played in all keys in order to be even. The AG article seems to theorize the opposite. I think all my new guitars are sounding better a few years later and well played, but my old guitars don't strike me as changed according to my memory from decades ago. 

James Taylor flatly stated that guitars wear out (as did my tech/luthier). Where that leaves the old Golden Age Martin's Gibson's etc? Hmmm... depends. I think I recall JCL mentioning a target of 100-150 years.

[Sherm]

Hi folks, just a provocation: Would a contraption with a mechanic arm and pick at its end, plucking endlessly on your beauty ever improve the sound of it in the long run? Regardless of it not being musically oriented at all? Would it ever help to open up (break in) the guitar sound? At least while we sleep and have meals? Just a thought... Bruno 

My guitar tech, Larry Cragg, does this thing where he vibrates the top of a guitar to "wake it up":

http://www.tonequest.com/pdf_pubs/samples/TQRSep06_Proof.pdf

My OM-10 is with him right now for a setup, but I declined when he offered to vibrate the top for me. I told him I play every day and didn't feel like it needed to be woken up.

Sherm

[ducktrapper]

When I first got it, for a couple weeks, I strapped my OOO-50 to a PA speaker and played Come Together on repeat all day when I was at work. Did it make any difference? It sounds great. The problem is, how would you really know? 

[hadden]

My guitars require daily warm up. Half and hour or so.  If I play past the two hour mark they hit another gear as well. So there`s short term benefits from playing I`ve found. If I don`t play for a couple weeks the sound gets boxy and constricted.

My 8 year Lv-03r is a more relaxed sounding rosewood than the newish D-03r I had for a short time.

[Legolas]

My D-03r doesn't like to be "woken" before noon.........

[Michael T]

Godin insists guitars mature IF they are played, and need to be played in all keys in order to be even. The AG article seems to theorize the opposite. I think all my new guitars are sounding better a few years later and well played, but my old guitars don't strike me as changed according to my memory from decades ago. 

James Taylor flatly stated that guitars wear out (as did my tech/luthier). Where that leaves the old Golden Age Martin's Gibson's etc? Hmmm... depends. I think I recall JCL mentioning a target of 100-150 years.

150 years is good enough for me and several generations to follow, I don't think I'll wear many out at my age and in my health restrictions. 

[rockstar_not]

When I first got it, for a couple weeks, I strapped my OOO-50 to a PA speaker and played Come Together on repeat all day when I was at work. Did it make any difference? It sounds great. The problem is, how would you really know? 

The truth is that I have yet to see any scientifically designed experiment that sets out to prove or disprove this idea of 'opening up'.  You wouldn't 'really know'.

it's the same thing with any device, string, pick, etc. that makes a claim of improving the sound.  In the end, nearly everyone is making comparisons based on their acoustic memory; which is terribly short for making the precise claims that are made.  There's an entire field of science that deals with human reaction to sound called psycho-acoustics and acoustic memory is one of the items studied.

I honestly can't claim that my 10+ year old L-03 sounds better now than it did when I first bought it.  In fact, I would state the opposite.  My falling in love period with the guitar was right when I bought it and moved up from an Applause.  I play it better now, but my human reaction to the guitar was that time of infatuation way back when.

[ducktrapper]

The truth is that I have yet to see any scientifically designed experiment that sets out to prove or disprove this idea of 'opening up'.  You wouldn't 'really know'.

it's the same thing with any device, string, pick, etc. that makes a claim of improving the sound.  In the end, nearly everyone is making comparisons based on their acoustic memory; which is terribly short for making the precise claims that are made.  There's an entire field of science that deals with human reaction to sound called psycho-acoustics and acoustic memory is one of the items studied.

I honestly can't claim that my 10+ year old L-03 sounds better now than it did when I first bought it.  In fact, I would state the opposite.  My falling in love period with the guitar was right when I bought it and moved up from an Applause.  I play it better now, but my human reaction to the guitar was that time of infatuation way back when.

There you go. My feelings and experience exactly. I've read that the human memory for smells is exceptional but not so much with sounds. The other thing is when you've surrounded yourself with high quality instruments, you're less likely to be blown away by another one.   

[Legolas]

There you go. My feelings and experience exactly. I've read that the human memory for smells is exceptional but not so much with sounds. The other thing is when you've surrounded yourself with high quality instruments, you're less likely to be blown away by another one.   

Totally right....I had a Yamaha FG-365s for awhile before picking up my treasured D-03r
and my ears actually had me convinced that the Yamaha sounded good. In retrospect
I see that my ears were "justifying" the sound of the Yamaha. The D-03r totally changed
my aural perception. Had I been just getting another fine Larrivee instrument my ears wouldn't have been so "blown away."

[Danny]

   I was playing several guitars of mine with two friends at my house a few weeks ago. One over 70, the new F-IV etc. We were having a ggod time and then I said , Heh, let me show you this other guitar. So I set a archtop Martin Case on the table and pulled out what looked like a 1904 000 Martin. I played a little fingerstyle on it and then handed it to my friend. He said "wow that sounds really nice."
   It's a new Recording King laminate back and sides Martin Copy. I paid about 275 for it. The same thing happened to me when I bought it. I had just played a really nice (expensive too) Martin. Then I saw this new one and played it. I was amazed at the sound. Not as full and rich as those costing 10 to 20 X's more. But surprisingly nice. It drew the attention of other folks in the store as I was making the transaction.

   I guess it is our ears more than the wooden boxes with strings.

[ducktrapper]

A few years back, I was sitting around a campfire, down at the beach, playing my 1970 Yamaha FG180 when an old man up on the deck sent his grandson down to ask about my D-18, how old it was and to tell me how great it sounded. There's more to all this than meets the eye.  

[quadropuss]

Hi folks, just a provocation: Would a contraption with a mechanic arm and pick at its end, plucking endlessly on your beauty ever improve the sound of it in the long run? Regardless of it not being musically oriented at all? Would it ever help to open up (break in) the guitar sound? At least while we sleep and have meals? Just a thought... Bruno 

This can be accomplished by attaching fishing line to the blade(s) of a small fan and running it such that the end of the line(s) whacks the guitar strings as it spins.

I have also had good results by placing the acoustic guitar in front of my 76 Vibrolux and banging out big dissonant chords on my jazzmaster for an hour here and there...

[Danny]

This can be accomplished by attaching fishing line to the blade(s) of a small fan and running it such that the end of the line(s) whacks the guitar strings as it spins.

I have also had good results by placing the acoustic guitar in front of my 76 Vibrolux and banging out big dissonant chords on my jazzmaster for an hour here and there...

I ain't "WACKING" any of my good gits with some contraption that might blaze a hole in the top, ifin it gets moved just a little.