Thoughts on ToneRite?

[rgregg48]

Originally Posted by jdelin86

Only heard of this technology recently and was wondering if anyone here has experience with it and whether they recommend it / what it's best suited for?

JD

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If push comes to shove, you can hook it up to your car battery on a cold day, who knows, it might just start.,

Rick

[Long Jon]

Aahh... The custom shop eh ? Never been here before. This is a nice quiet corner of the AGF....

A fellow can ask an innocent ToneRite Q over here without immediately going down in a wall of (polite-ish) flames.


FWIW I have one, and am still trying to make my brand new, (all solid wood, with nitro finish), RK RNJ-25 sound like the Gibson "Nick Lucas" it tries to emulate.

I have let it run for several weeks now. I put the guitar in and out of different tunings from time to time during this process, including really slackening the strings right down, for maximum vibes. I also varied the speed of the ToneRite from time to time.

I think I have noticed an increase in volume and responsiveness, but, (after ToneRiting for a couple of weeks), I did change the stock lights for a set of mediums, so , , who knows?

I emailed Recording King and they recommended using light gauge (12-54) strings, they are also what the Gibbo ships with, so I'm going to try them.

The guitar is currently being expertly "luthed" by a great guy I know. He will set her up with some John Pearse pure nickel lights that I gave him.

Looking forward to re-auditioning her soon. (Of course, I won't ever know how it stacks up against the Gibson of that ilk, until I meet someone who's actually got one !)

[Haans]

Originally Posted by Larry Pattis

Thanks for sharing this info, Hans.

I had not considered this alternative to the ToneRite, but your use and recommendation has piqued my curiosity.

With 2 new guitars coming after the first of the year, I will indeed be using *something* beyond just actual playing time to get things going...

Originally Posted by ChuckS

Hans,
Won't playing classical music into your traditional instrument confuse it? Shouldn't it be something more like Big Bill Broonzy?

Larry, I like it because it actually plays music through the instrument. There are a couple of transducers that you can put anywhere (I usually set them next to the bridge), and you can turn it up quite loud. It really moves the top and the whole box. Kinda like setting your guitar in front of a big set of speakers and turning it up to 20! You can cover the soundhole too and it will cut the volume while keeping the vibrations. It basically turns your box into a speaker. I suppose you could actually do two guitars at once with it as there are two transducers...
Chuck, I like to play classical through them because it covers the broadest spectrum of tonal and loudness qualities of music. Big Bill probably would be pretty limiting spectrum wise, but it might be a fun experiment.

[Beau Hannam]

I mentioned to a customer that his instrument was being Tonerite'ed before I shipped it to him and he got a bit flustered: he asked me "oh, does it sound bad???".
It was only then I realised the mindset of some people about all this. I had to explain to him the details of the whys and hows a luthier uses a Tonerite (or a home made speaker box etc, both of which are used by the world's best classical instrument makers) but I think he came away thinking I had made a bad instrument and was trying to cover my tracks.

So i don't mention it these days cuz im sick of explaining the obvious to people.