The opening up phenomena is more like a religion than a science. If you believe, the sonic benefits that are experienced are proportionate to the strength of the belief.
My own doubts are not centered on whether or not it happens but on the ability to objectively recognize it. Guitar sound is a sensory memory that is very short lived and does not translate well into long term memory due to the way we are wired up.
The doubts are enhanced by the myriad of explanations of what actually happens on a physical level to cause the effect. Advocates of the open up process have dozens of contradictory explanations of its cause and generally concede to happens over different periods of time, with different effects, and may not happen on some guitars. They do agree it takes a significant period of time to occur but tend to dismiss the possibility that the player got better or more familiar with the instrument over that time period.
I put it at 50/50 in terms of happening and zero concern about it since it affects me in no way. I will play the same guitars, the same way, for the same period of time regardless.
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