How long does it take a new guitar to "open up"?

[PAPADON]

There are no guarantees. 51 years and it still hasn't.

[zoopeda]

Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad

I'm sure that in two weeks the quality of the sound of my guitar has changed. I'm not sure if that's because after 2 weeks I'm starting to find a playing style that suits me best or because the almost continual playing has affected it.

Any thoughts?

Your strings break in over a few weeks. I do notice substantial change in the first 6 months. Even 12 months. I think there's a little more change after that, but after it's a few years old, I think you're jumping a decade to hear a change.

[Shadowfox]

My alpine top took about 6 months. It sounded good but one day when playing it went to wow

[JTFoote]

I've had guitars that I really liked at first, so much so that I considered selling others off. And sometimes that initial infatuation lasted a year or more. For example, I had a Larrivee all-mahogany guitar, and I throughly enjoyed learning about it, and playing towards its strengths. A fine guitar, and an educational experience. It had a big effect on the way I play today.

But - as has happened in the past, eventually, I would again find myself gravitating back to the single guitar I've had the longest, simply because it was capable of more of what I need as a player. It could rival the Larrivee, in the same way that that particular guitar excelled, but it was capable of much more.

So I caution you to reconsider selling off your other guitars until you've had the chance to discover if it really is enough, and is more than the rest that you've encountered. Or just a new, interesting, educational experience. IMHO, a few weeks is not long enough to make that kind of judgement call.

... JT

[Lakewood_Lad]

Originally Posted by JTFoote

....eventually, I would again find myself gravitating back to the single guitar I've had the longest, simply because it was capable of more of what I need as a player. It could rival the Larrivee, in the same way that that particular guitar excelled, but it was capable of much more.

So I caution you to reconsider selling off your other guitars until you've had the chance to discover if it really is enough, and is more than the rest that you've encountered. Or just a new, interesting, educational experience. IMHO, a few weeks is not long enough to make that kind of judgement call.

... JT

Funny you should post that. I've been playing my Lakewood again recently and it's blowing my socks off. I still love the Larrivee but thinking that I would sell off my other guitars was a bit foolish. I might sell the Martin dread but that would be so that I can replace it with something with wider string spacing, not for any other reason.

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

People who build guitars have commented that in the first few days after completion of a build there is a fairly noticeable improvement to how the guitar sounds. After that first big change, which most owners would never hear, it takes years for a guitar to change, if it changes at all.

My own experience is that it takes 7-10 years for much to change, if it's going to. My Martin D-35 built in 1967 has tended to emphasize the treble a little more and lose bass. Because of that, something I would not have wished for, actually, I use John Pearse PB strings to minimize the treble so that the bass shows up more. A similar thing happened on my Martin 000-28VS, built in 2006. It had a little too much bass so getting more treble and losing a little bass after 14 years has been a good thing. Now I really like the balance of this guitar. So the changes are not always positive, but they can be.

- Glenn

I'll endorse the first paragraph. As far as the second and my own experience, let's just say if I ever experienced this kind of opening up that I hear so much talk about, I haven't been able to tell. First, after a few days/weeks go by, I no longer have perfect audial memory. Secondly when I change strings, the sound changes for the better and that screws up what is left of my so-called perfect audial memory.

That said, I know I no longer have the kind of piano-like bass on my full-size jumbo that I did when it arrived. It shook me when i first played it. Was this a change in strings... or something else? Maybe the mids and trebles increased and the bass stayed the same? All I really know is what is sounds like when I pick it up after not playing it for a while and think, a bit surprised each time, "Wow, this is a really good guitar". But I do that on some of the others as well.

I'd love to see a controlled experiment on this subject, but fear there are too many variables to make it work. What I visualize would be recordings and literally mechanical playing on new strings at predetermined intervals with exactly the same amount of playing done in-between. On a variety of guitars, different sizes, different woods, different makers. Lots of them. Which will never happen. Then, I'd know if it is me or others. Which will never happen.

[Rosewood99]

All these time estimates on how long it takes for the guitar to open up are meaningless unless you state how many hours of playing you do. It might take longer or less depending on that fact. Type of wood has to be considered as well.

[handers]

Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad

I'm sure that in two weeks the quality of the sound of my guitar has changed. I'm not sure if that's because after 2 weeks I'm starting to find a playing style that suits me best or because the almost continual playing has affected it.

Any thoughts?

Guitars open up for years but they do alot in the first few hours, then the first few days, after months and then in 20 years. All of this depends on beaucoup variables and each guitar is different. String types and gauges make a big difference to tone. I have heard learned people say though that if a guitar is significantly lacking in some tonal quality, that it is unlikely to find that quality in the opening up period.

IMHO

UMMV

Hans

[BrunoBlack]

I’ll just throw out another range of experiences. I’ve had several guitars that came “opened up” straight from the builder. A Froggy Bottom H12, SCGC OMG and Goodall GC are perfect examples. They were beautifully soft, round & open from day 1. However, a Froggy Bottom K, SCGC OM, and Goodall T000 arrived tight and constricted. They started to open (a little) during the first weeks. The Froggy K and SCGC OM matured into spectacular instruments long after a year of active playing and they are still opening years later. The Goodall 000 is only 6 months old, but is dramatically different and improved from day 1. The Goodall 000 was the first commissioned guitar I’ve ever purchased that had me very concerned because it was so tight. I received it immediately after completion and it took at least a month of hard playing before I could see it had great promise. Now I’m both happy and optimistic for a future with this guitar. Other guitars have yielded different experiences, but I thought it was worth discussing these 6 guitars because I had completely different experiences with guitars made by the very same builders.

[Pura Vida]

Every guitar is different. I've had some open up more than others, and it's happened over different time periods. My most extreme is with a 2017 Rosewood/Adi 000 that played really tight and with a somewhat brooding voice for most of its first two years. But I could hear it changing, ever so slightly, so I held onto it, and now it's opened up quite nicely. If you heard that guitar then vs. now, you would never realize they're the same guitar.

Most of the others have been a slow, gradual change over time.

Also, I do subscribe to the three separate processes of breaking in / opening up: (1.) the initial break in phase on a brand new guitar, (2.) the more gradual settling in that happens over the next several months up to a year or more (sometimes several years; see above), and (3.) the continued evolution / opening up that happens as a guitar ages over its lifetime.

[flaggerphil]

Five years, seven months, 2.5 weeks, and three days.

Give or take...