Elderly Yairi sounds dull

[Dragontooth]

I have a 30 year old Yairi CY 118 that has apparently never been played, stored in a closet for decades. I installed a set of D’Addario EJ 45 NT strings and the guitar sounds a little weak. The most perplexing issue is the low E string which isn’t as loud as the A string. I’ve never experienced something like this previously. So the question is, will this guitar “open up” with time or has it reached it’s high point sound wise? I thought instruments improved with age but maybe that’s not the case if they aren’t played. Any input is appreciated, thanks to all.

[Bax Burgess]

For optimal sound, ensure that the saddle is flat, not just near flat, on the bottom and that the lower edges are rounded. Next, that the floor of the bridge slot is flat, which can be achieved by super gluing sandpaper to the botton of a spare saddle for use as a bridge slot file, or buy the specialty Stewmac file.

[rlb9682]

My question is what is the humidity like where the guitar is kept? The only time I've had one that sounded flat and dull was when the humidity was 55% indoors.

I'd take a look at that first-check the humidity in the house it's kept in and also in the case (if that is where it is stored).

Edit: by no means am I any kind of expert; just offering my personal observations and thoughts.

[Carey]

Originally Posted by Dragontooth

I have a 30 year old Yairi CY 118 that has apparently never been played, stored in a closet for decades. I installed a set of D’Addario EJ 45 NT strings and the guitar sounds a little weak. The most perplexing issue is the low E string which isn’t as loud as the A string. I’ve never experienced something like this previously. So the question is, will this guitar “open up” with time or has it reached it’s high point sound wise? I thought instruments improved with age but maybe that’s not the case if they aren’t played. Any input is appreciated, thanks to all.

It's common for the A string to sound stronger than the low E, partly because
the air cavity can't really support the fundamental of the low E, and also
the pitch of the main air resonance is probably not far from the pitch of the
open A string, so it gets accentuated. I like and use the EJ45 set, but there
are more resonant low E strings you can try; I'd check out Savarez Cantiga
or Corum, available singly, for starters. There are also the Pyramid and Knobloch
double silver (?) I've heard good things about, but I haven't tried them.


More playing will help, for sure.

[MoePorter]

or has it reached it’s high point sound wise

For what it's worth I've 3 K. Yairis, 2 S. Yairis, 2 Yamaha's & 2 Takamines all from the 60's to the mid 80's & they all have real life left in them. It's subjective but they are very good sounding instruments, all different & they teach me different things. I can't say what they sounded like new but in all cases I've improved their sound, often dramatically - usually just with a through set up - fret leveling & nut & saddle adjustment (usually replacement) and intonation adjustment. I do my own work on them to suit my style of playing. I guess my point is these guitars aren't worn out in any fundamental way but they all needed attention - even a couple that appeared untouched from the factory 40 years ago... Another point is the majority have been worked on badly at some point which leads me to think good set up techs/artists are really hard to find...

As to your specific initial impression of the guitar - Bax Burgess suggestion is as good a place as any to start problem solving... off the top of my head I can think of 10 other things to check...

Good luck with a special guitar....Moe