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Location: Portland, OR | So what is it that makes an older guitar sound better? Playing or just aging. I guess I haven't had enough to know and wonder if it's the aging of the wood or the use that contributes the most. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | I would say : Both !
Vic |
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Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I'm no expert, but I think it needs to be PLAYED!
We could go into the technicalities of whether the vibrations cause the molecules to line-up, or whatever...
But I do think that it is the Playing that makes the difference.
If it hasn't been Played, it's just Old.
(and if it gets too dry or wet, then it is just old junk)
"I wanna New Tour Bus fulla Old Guitars..." :cool: |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Playing it makes the greatest difference... it the guitar equivalent of breaking in a ball-glove... |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | yes |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Not sure if I read it here or elsewhere, and I'm certainly no engineer, but the best explanation for me went something like this. A guitar's tone is impacted by a combination of numerous features, and the top vibration is one of the most significant. Vibration is good. The more the guitar is played, the better the top vibrates. Jeff's ball glove theory is right on. Think of a new piece of cardboard. It is difficult to bend. However, bend it back and forth 100 times and it becomes a much easier exercise. To a certain degree, wood and carbon share this elasticity characteristic. I think this explains why Mark's original slothead No. 43 has such an incredible ring to it. |
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Location: NW Washington State | A nice used guitar is broken in.
Many OFC members are aged. |
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Posts: 158
Location: South Windsor Connecticut | The salesman whom I bought my first decent guitar from told me to sit a radio in front of the guitar and let it play everyday while I was at work. Fortunitly I don't really like to work so I just played the heck out of it. I sold it a few years ago, I am lucky that from time to time I still get to play it and it sounds great. So I say - play it a lot for a long time. |
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Posts: 153
Location: Huntington Beach, CA | I read a study where they took equivalent brand new Martin D-28's and one was played regularly, the other was secured to a large speaker and subjected to various frequencies for the same period of time. The artificially aged guitar sounded much better at the conclusion of the exercise and was likened to guitars 20 years older that had been played regularly. Martin participated in the evaluation.
I've also read that guitars that are kept unplayed in their cases to preserve their "mint condition" tend to sound like crap. They do, however, sound much better if you take them out of their cases and actually play them.
Personally, whether broken in or not, I don't much care for the sound of a ball glove. I DO like the sound of a bat though, especially a wood one.
Sorry, slow day at work.
-Eman. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I knew there was a reason to keep all the guitars hanging in soundproofed bandroom as I crank up 1000 watts of amperage. For SWMBO, that's my new story and I'm stickin' to it. That is, to the extent I can hear the question. |
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Posts: 4238
Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | So if you get a guitar that's been well-kept (unplayed), and you start to play it, will it open up? Seems like it should. Otherwise, what's the difference between making one out of wood from the 90's versus, say, sinker wood from the 19th century or salvaged wood from a century old building? |
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December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | I just received a very nice/clean 1112 CB and now can compare it against my two years younger 1612 stage veteran.
The ol' 1612 vet definitely has more 'open richness' vs. the older 1112.
BTW, I'm impressed with the weight difference. |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | You want the BallGlove stiff where it needs to be and flexible every where else... |
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August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Originally posted by ProfessorBB:
...as I crank up 1000 watts of amperage... Huh? |
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April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Originally posted by muzzlitebeer:
Originally posted by ProfessorBB:
...as I crank up 1000 watts of amperage... Huh?
ConeDrivers gobble -up tons of Ampères , and low voltage , say up to 10 - 15 volts..
Assuming a PA speaker gets fed 10 volts ( for sake of simplicity ) , then 1000 ampères divided by 10 volts would give One Hundred Ampère peak current , a Hefty Power Output , so , Proff.BB is not wrong , allthough I assume he meant WATTS , instead of Ampères..
Vic
..rather Elementary dear Muzzlite.. |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I think he was referring to pumping 1000 watts out of his amp, not watts out of amperes. |
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April 2007
Posts: 61
Location: Montréal, québec, Canada | Hi everybody, interresting. Boucher guitars offers aged vintage tops. The tops are exposed to music 24h a day for a long périod and they say it sounds better. Itried them and I agree. I read an article on an expérience on violin (top quality sound) yhat was stored in complete silence for a year and it sounded bad but after playing again return to itS quality..... so keep playing !!! I would ad that time helps to because my first guitar I got in 1972!!! for 55$ was played a lot and sounds better than a 300$ new one. SO.... |
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October 2002
Posts: 153
Location: Huntington Beach, CA | It is possible to awaken a dead soundboard/solid wood guitar body. It takes some time and patience. Much easier to run vibration through the instrument electronically from an outside source than to bring it to life by playing it. Wish I could remember the source document I read. It came from Rick Turner's "Renassaince Guitars" website a few years back. Don't recall if he wrote it or just participated in the experiment. Think it may have been called "Instant Vintage" or some such thing.
Yes, unplayed guitars that have not been broken in are tight or "asleep" and need to be loosened up. Something about the fiber/resin composition and settling. Aged wood (rosewood, other tonewoods) are stored in a specific manner that perserves the livliness. If not done right, it makes a nice fire but not much else.
Lycrochord doesn't "age" but carbon fiber might, due to the resin used. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | . . and there IS (albeit very thin) layer of wood running through the center . . . |
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broken in vs aged
