Those who had brand new Adirondack top Guitars before, is it tight?

[amyFB]

My Breedlove has adirondack top - and over the first six months of playtime there was a noticeable change in the tone. It went from wonderful to amazing.
If it goes unplayed for more than 3 months, then it does start to change sound and 'tight' is as good a description as I've heard. It lives in my office and gets a little play time but nothing regular anymore.

It's almost as if the sound is struggling to travel the grain.

My main go-to-gal is the Huss & Dalton: it has an Engleman top and it's been pretty much the same sound from day one til now. It rarely goes a week without playtime.

My Albert & Mueller has some european spruce top - it was used when I bought it and its sound has also been pretty consistent regardless of playtime. It doesn't' get much. sad but true.

All that said, the topic in general seems hard to quantify - maybe there are tools that measure the openness of wood grain, but i don't know what they are.

In the end, it only matters that I like the sound of the guitar. I would not buy a guitar that 'required' some months of playtime to 'become' the star it wants to be. It needs to satisfy me right out of the box, and then it should age gracefully.

[silverspear]

Originally Posted by JTFoote

My current guitar with a red spruce top sounds better now than when it was new. It's had a little over a year of play; tri-weekly sessions. It had some odd discordant overtones when new, and the mid-range was somewhat shallow/scooped, with a loud bass and lots of treble cut. The balance is now better; the mid-range is more pronounced, the bass less prominent because of this, and the trebles sweeter. The projection of this guitar is not quite as focused as with the first guitar previously mentioned, and it is not as loud, nevertheless, you'd really have to push it to reach a point where the sound might break up.
... JT

I am experiencing the exact same thing that you described. I realised that there is a slight discordant overtone, not sure if that's the best description, but when I play 2 notes concurrently sometimes on different strings, there will be an odd oscillating sound, even though the notes are perfectly in tune.

there is a bass scoop on the new adi top I tried rite now too.. projection is not good either.

[Silly Moustache]

Interesting read !
So what have we learned?

Red spruce almost commercially extinct?
Large amounts of purportedly Adirondack widely available in Far Eastern made products.

Largely good reports of Adi from owners of one man/small factory makers but less so from the high volume makers - Far-eastern, and Martin etc.

The maker and his intention and combination of bracing and thicknessing is a VERY important aspect of tone, resonance etc.

With notable exceptions Adi tends to fell (I say feel rather than sound) ...tight.
Most spruces do. I "believe" that adi takes longer to settle -in (nice term) than, e.g. sitka.

There is also the human/psychological aspect. Tightness/openness cannot be scientifically measured.

I believe that the impression of tightness is far more apparent to the player than the listener.

Could it be that it takes time for our ears and mindset to become accustomed to a new guitar?

[Gibson4NJ]

I would wager more of the "top breaking in" is people's ears and perceptions breaking in. Note that nobody ever says, "I loved my guitar's tone when I first got it, but now that it broke-in it has less balance and too much woof."

Trying to predict or even bank on how the instrument will change based on wood species may not be wise.

[kiva238]

This is why I really love finding a good old(2006 or 2007) 000-18GE. After having nearly a decade of honest play on the guitar, it's easy to hear if it sings!
They are just so comfy and broken in at that point. I can live with a few dings and scratches in exchange for the warmth, sustain and snap the Adirondack gives me.
It's a shortcut to some great tone IMHO.

[000JB]

I have a CEO-7, I think it definitely sounds better know than when I got it about 9 months ago. So yes!

[sjino]

This thread is a great opportunity for me to ask something I've been wondering about.

When someone speaks about a guitar (adi topped or otherwise) being "tight," exactly what does that mean?

I understand subjective terms like warm, bright, etc., but what does a "tight" guitar sound like, and what does it sound like when the tightness goes away?

Does it have to do with volume, sustain or both?

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by sjino

This thread is a great opportunity for me to ask something I've been wondering about.

When someone speaks about a guitar (adi topped or otherwise) being "tight," exactly what does that mean?

I understand subjective terms like warm, bright, etc., but what does a "tight" guitar sound like, and what does it sound like when the tightness goes away?

Does it have to do with volume, sustain or both?

To me "tightness" relates to note bloom and harmonic overlay. A "tight" guitar would be one where the fundamental note has a rapid crescendo and diminuendo and has less harmonic overtones. An "open" guitar, on the other hand would have a more spacious note bloom and an increased richness of harmonic overlay following the fundamental. Neither is, IMO, bad. Just different and this difference can be used accordingly. Example: I am working on an original instrumental piece and am going back and forth between my Sitka/EIRW OM which is extremely rich and "open" and my Adi/Mahogany OM which is more tight and focused. I can't decide which I prefer for this piece? Now, others will most likely define the terms differently. These kind of term are SO subjective....

[Howard Klepper]

I regularly find, to my dismay, that there are people using a term such as "tight" or "warm" or "bright' in a very different way from me. Sometimes it is almost exactly opposite.

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by sjino

This thread is a great opportunity for me to ask something I've been wondering about.

When someone speaks about a guitar (adi topped or otherwise) being "tight," exactly what does that mean?

I understand subjective terms like warm, bright, etc., but what does a "tight" guitar sound like, and what does it sound like when the tightness goes away?

Does it have to do with volume, sustain or both?

My 2 cents-- to me tight means the top doesn't resonate as freely as it might over time as it gets played.

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

I regularly find, to my dismay, that there are people using a term such as "tight" or "warm" or "bright' in a very different way from me. Sometimes it is almost exactly opposite.

I very much agree Howard. Out of curiosity, how would your definition jive with the one I gave?

[merlin666]

I got a new jumbo with Adi top in February and there is nothing tight about it. In fact it is super responsive to a light touch and vibrates considerably at fortissimo efforts. It sounds perfect as is and if it gets even better with time I'd be fine with that.

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

I regularly find, to my dismay, that there are people using a term such as "tight" or "warm" or "bright" in a very different way from me. Sometimes it is almost exactly opposite.

Which reminds me of a great quote from Bruce Sexauer.

I stopped having a lot of faith in tone describers when I discovered that Eric Schoenberg uses "bright" to describe what I call "Warm". I surely did not expect anyone to think of the quality I refer to as bright when I use the word warm. If my best customer and I, both of us lifelong dedicated to describing tone, cannot agree on such descriptors, what chance do I have of communication with you folks?

[silverspear]

Hi guys! OP here. Guess what? I got sick and tired of the stiff Adi top of my guitar, and I decided in a whim to buy a tonerite.
Depending on which camp you belong to, you might either respond positively, or react in disgust.. haha. But seriously the stiff top is an issue for me.

But nevertheless, I will post my results of the tonerite treatment here in a week's time.

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by silverspear

Hi guys! OP here. Guess what? I got sick and tired of the stiff Adi top of my guitar, and I decided in a whim to buy a tonerite.
Depending on which camp you belong to, you might either respond positively, or react in disgust.. haha. But seriously the stiff top is an issue for me.

But nevertheless, I will post my results of the tonerite treatment here in a week's time.

UH-OH, TONERITE.....a Whole New Can of Worms......LOL!