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The whole "roasted maple" thing that Gibson played with (and Suhr and others still do) is totally in that arena too, though that was just necks and fretboards.
When I bought my '63 Strat it was only 18 years old. It was better than new Strats at the time simply because Fender had changed the design, not because of degaussed magnets, crystallized wood sap or any other bollocks. It was the same age a '98 Strat is now.
Do NOT buy pickups off a maker who is either too ignorant, too dishonest or just too fucking thick to acknowledge this.
By virtue of the magnets losing strength over the years it is supposed to alter the sound.
so the difference that natural degaussing makes should tend towards the woodier tones of the old faithful Alnico II, I guess?
The magnet type makes a difference to how much it can be magnetised and so the field strength - a IV can be as 'weak' as a II, but a II can't match a gaussed up IV
It's not just the magnets degaussing either. I've read several reports of modern reproduction pickups being put in old guitars and still giving the sound of the old guitar.
Some of the early reissues and early Custom Shop stuff has 20 years of age on it now. I wonder if this is where all the hype about Cunetto era Fender CS comes from. Give the more recent stuff another 15 years and see.
Having said that it's also about the quality of the wood in the first place. The old growth woods available 50 years ago are often not available now.
You can buy a new one now which is as good as a 64 - for about 15 years you couldn't.
That is the origin of the "vintage" guitar market, not the aging process.
My '94 American Standard is now 20.
Guess what? It's just a Strat that's a few years old. It's certainly not 'special' in any way.
The drum maker DW made a series of wooden snares about 15 years ago. Made from the wood of a shipwreck, reclaimed from the deep.
It was said the pressure of the water had started to crystallise the sap. Which is a huge part of the aging process it's claimed.
Yamaha have a machine ( pressure chamber) which they use to age their Piano soundboards ( and some acoustics) I think this is the element of the aging process.
I personally think design and build are the main influences in how an instrument performs both playing wise and tone wise.
Don't forget most of the classic recording we all live were made on guitars less than 10 years old at the time. ( gross generalisation)
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"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein