With solid wood acoustic guitars it’s often spoken about their tones opening up or breaking in as they get played. I’ve often wondered, does this happen as a result of playing or conditions? Because we try to keep them at particular temperatures and humidity, so if a new acoustic is kept in a case will that prevent or slow down this change in tone, or it happens regardless because the wood is getting older?
in other words, will acoustic guitars age differently tonally if kept in a case vs being out in the open, if they’re kept in similar temp/humidity ranges?
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and even if two completely identical guitars were stored in different environments & ended up with measurably different tone, you’ve still got the problem of having human ears.
see also: https://www.science.org/content/article/million-dollar-strads-fall-modern-violins-blind-sound-check
Being in a closed case with a pad against the strings will slow the process as much as possible. Leaving it out on a stand or a hanger and playing it a lot will speed it up.
No two wooden guitars are ever completely identical, so that adds another variable.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Just like new speakers: change from burn-in is far more likely to be your senses getting used to the sound.
sure, leaving your guitar out in the open for 20 years will mean the wood warps/shrinks in a different way than if it lived in the case. Would it sound different? Who knows. The only truth is that if you hear a difference based on your memory of how your guitar used to sound, your brain is playing tricks on you.
Record your guitar now & repeat again in 20 years with the same equipment. If nothing significant changes on the guitar, neither will the sound.
Or you could strip the lacquer to let the wood breathe. That’s when the real tone escapes.
As to what causes the changes, I don't think we really know. There are certainly chemical changes to timber over time - they happen regardless of whether we are talking about a guitar or a fencepost. But the supposition is that actually playing a guitar makes the sound change. (Or using one of those electronic gadgets as a substitute.)
On the whole, it's probably better to keep a guitar in its case. It will change more slowly (less fluctuation in temperature and humidity, no exposure to UV light) but that is no bad thing if we suppose (as seems reasonable) that on balance the changes to it from simply sitting around in a room somewhere are as or more likely to be destructive rather than beneficial. (Leave it sitting in a room for long enough - say a few centuries - and it will eventually be nothing more than expensive firewood.)
As for playing it - well, that's what they are for! If playing improves it (which it may well do) great! And if it doesn't, play it anyway! In the end a guitar is just a tool to make noises with. Use it to make noises!
(Despite my "keep it in the case" advice above, I leave mine out on stands. They are easier to get at and get played more often that way, and I like to see them. Every now and then my eye catches on one or another of the magnificent timbers they are made from and that is a joy in itself. Will that reduce their longevity? Sure it will, a bit, but I'll be pushing up the daisies long, long before that becomes a serious issue, so I don't much care.)
edit. If there is any ageing thing to this postulate then leaving the guitar out will do that because it will resonate to the sounds around it. I have to remove any acoustic guitars in the room when I play anything on my hifi because it annoys me that they insist on singing along to whatever I'm listening to and I can hear them superimposed on everything.
Ian
Lowering my expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
As wood ages the natural oils in it eventually crystallise and harden. People refer to different types of wood commonly used for guitar soundboards as being "fast" or "slow", in other words how immediately they react to the vibrations from the plucked string through the bridge. I can understand that aged wood might become "faster" because it's "drier" and more responsive. Clearly that's what guitar makers like Yamaha have been experimenting with for a number of years now in their A.R.E. line of acoustics (Acoustic Resonance Enhancement).
I can also understand that a thin wooden soundboard that has been vibrated regularly and a lot over a long period of time will probably be more flexible than one that hasn't. Mix the two together and you have a drier but more flexible soundboard than when the wood was new and unvibrated.
Guitars do change with age, but you knew that.
Some say it's the formulation of crystals in the sugars/oils/sap in the woods: a physical change in the woods' molecular structures.
Some say it's the loosening of the wood due to the accumulated effect of hundreds or thousands of hours of vibrating as a result of playing.
Some think that torrefaction, or whatever proprietary equivalent noun you prefer to use, accelerates this process.
Some say it's because by the time you've spent a decade with a guitar your ears have changed significantly and have a subjectively different appreciation of the guitar's sonic profile.
The truth is probably a combination of all the above, and some other factors I haven't mentioned.
A tone rite will do it in a day or two, I have done this many times, it's very noticeable
And given that I'm undoubtedly going to go there one day, why not just short-cut history and order one today?
(It is logic like this that drives sensible people like my accountant, my bank manager, and most of all Mrs Tannin completely nuts.)
It's probably rubbish but at a tenth the price of a ToneRite may be worth a punt?
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