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Old 02-09-2020, 03:32 PM
Lakewood_Lad Lakewood_Lad is offline
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Default How long does it take a new guitar to "open up"?

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?
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Old 02-09-2020, 03:36 PM
Rosewood99 Rosewood99 is offline
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I think it's more like months or years rather then weeks.
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Old 02-09-2020, 03:51 PM
mcduffnw mcduffnw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad View Post
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?

It is absolutely a combination of both your playing style and the guitar breaking in...but paulzoom is right, the opening up process can and truthfully will take years.

Just keep on keepin on!


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Old 02-09-2020, 03:53 PM
rokdog49 rokdog49 is offline
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My experience has been months.
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Old 02-09-2020, 04:05 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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My experience is that there is an initial perceived "opening up" of a new guitar in as little as one to three days. This may be due to the acclimatization of a new instrument to its new environment and to the player's feeling of the new guitar. After that, I can't say when another noticeable "opening up" may occur because it usually happens so gradually that I haven't noticed it.
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Old 02-09-2020, 04:14 PM
Lakewood_Lad Lakewood_Lad is offline
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Yeah. That makes sense to me. I liked it from the off but now I really like it. I'm much more used to it. I've played it enough that I'm automatically striking and plucking the strings in ways that will maximise the effects that I'm trying to achieve and get the sounds that I want.

That's probably as important as anything else.

My God I love this guitar though. I can hardly put it down.

Edit: I know this is verging on AGF heresy but I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever want to buy another guitar. I fricking love guitars and even though I've been enjoying this one a lot, I have been thinking of a couple of others that I'd like to try and maybe purchase. Until today. Today suddenly it seemed to click and I just love the sound and the feel of it. I still love my other guitars too but I just can't seen why I'd want another one. I may need to go see a doctor tomorrow.
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Last edited by Lakewood_Lad; 02-09-2020 at 04:22 PM. Reason: To add some heresy
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Old 02-09-2020, 04:57 PM
Pitar Pitar is offline
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I've never experienced it. What I have experienced are changes in relative humidity and temperature affecting tone but never would I attribute time as a function of change. And, quite honestly, I want to meet the person who will claim that his guitar sounds better 4 years in that when he bought it. I can't remember what a guitar sounded like when I bought it and I'm pretty sure any nuanced changes would be wholly undetectable a couple months, much less years down the road.
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Old 02-09-2020, 05:02 PM
Traikat Traikat is offline
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Lakewood, what did you buy?
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Old 02-09-2020, 05:10 PM
Lakewood_Lad Lakewood_Lad is offline
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Quote:
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Lakewood, what did you buy?
Larrivee OM-03 Silver Oak Special. It's the 50th anniversary edition so they gave it a spruce top similar to the ones they use for the 10s. I did a load of playing and practice last night and today it just sounds righteous.

I have a Martin D15M (all hog) and a Lakewood CPG 32 (cedar on rosewood) and I love them as well but this is the most comfortable fitting neck I've ever had and right now I can't put it down. At first I thought the lower strings were a bit lacking but as I've got more used to them I've learned to get what I want out of them. The tone is sublime. If I could I'd take it in the bath with me.
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Old 02-09-2020, 05:18 PM
Misifus Misifus is offline
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My experience has been that I could tell a difference after a year.
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Old 02-09-2020, 05:40 PM
bufflehead bufflehead is offline
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I experienced dramatic opening up of my Martin Custom D at six months. It's a lightly built guitar, all solid wood (sitka/mahogany), with a satin finish, and I'm guessing that was all part of it.

Other guitars, such as my Martin 000-15m have been much more gradual.
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Old 02-09-2020, 05:51 PM
fregly fregly is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad View Post
Larrivee OM-03 Silver Oak Special. It's the 50th anniversary edition so they gave it a spruce top similar to the ones they use for the 10s. I did a load of playing and practice last night and today it just sounds righteous.

I have a Martin D15M (all hog) and a Lakewood CPG 32 (cedar on rosewood) and I love them as well but this is the most comfortable fitting neck I've ever had and right now I can't put it down. At first I thought the lower strings were a bit lacking but as I've got more used to them I've learned to get what I want out of them. The tone is sublime. If I could I'd take it in the bath with me.
Silver Oak is a Killer tonewood. One I tried was like a super form of mahogany.
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Old 02-09-2020, 06:00 PM
Lakewood_Lad Lakewood_Lad is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fregly View Post
Silver Oak is a Killer tonewood. One I tried was like a super form of mahogany.
It's taken me this long to really "get it" but now that I do I'm in love with it. It's not that other guitars don't sound as good to me. Of course they do. But I could be satisfied with just this, never mind the other two that are also awesome in their own right. It's like finally I know what it means to say "I have enough".

I can stop trying to buy my way into being a better guitar player and just sit and play.
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Old 02-09-2020, 06:01 PM
Deliberate1 Deliberate1 is offline
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Congrats, Lakewood, on your new Larrivee. That is a very special model with a wood unique, so far as I know, to Jean's shop.
It is one year since I bought my first guitar - a Larrivee 000-40 RE custom. It has been the perfect first. Since followed by two other guitars. To paraphrase an old Lays potato chips ad, "bet you can't own just one.
It would be interesting to record your new guitar now, and listen to the recording at the same time every year to determine if you can distinguish any change in the tonality. Though, to be sure, the ears often tell us what we want, or do not want, to hear.
Enjoy.
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Old 02-09-2020, 06:02 PM
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warfrat73 warfrat73 is offline
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There are a number of threads on this if you want to do further research...

But I've found that there are two phenomena that are sometimes conflated.


There's a "breaking in" or "settling in" period in which a newly built guitar, or a guitar that has very very little playing time, will come together under tension and the tone will change pretty rapidly. One way I've heard this said is that initially, the wood needs a bit of time to realize that it's a guitar.

Then there "opening up" which is the perceived tendency of guitars to improve with age over a much longer period of time as the wood changes over many years.
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