Do guitars go to sleep when not played for long periods?

[RRuskin]

In my experience, yes. Others will undoubtedly say otherwise. Big freaking deal!

[mmasters]

Yes but in my experience playing some open chords aggressively for about 10-15 minutes will mostly reawaken them.

[Cool555]

Originally Posted by mmasters

Yes but in my experience playing some open chords aggressively for about 10-15 minutes will mostly reawaken them.

Yes, that’s my experience too! Sometimes putting a new set of strings help too.

[EZYPIKINS]

Is it the guitar that needs to be awakened? Or is it the player.

[FingahPickah]

I am a bit of a Felix Unger about keeping all of instruments sufficiently humidified (45-50%).

I have noticed that if a particular guitar or mandolin has been cased and un-played for several weeks, months (varies) - the strings can sometimes lose life / crispness (even after very little use) and may need to be changed to "wake up" the instrument. 80/20s more so than PB.

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.

[Ds114]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

Is it the guitar that needs to be awakened? Or is it the player.

Can one of the ~40 "yes" votes offer an idea of the mechanism as to how this phenomenon occurs? Does it also happen to speakers, drums and pianos?

I voted "No" as I believe that *if* a guitar sounds less open after some down time, it is due to corroded strings or perhaps a change in moisture content due to humidity changes. But those are environmental changes not the guitar hibernating. It could also be the player was leaning an arm or sleeve on the top !?

[RalphH]

I can only assume that if it does happen, the glue re-stiffens over time once it's not being regularly vibrated. Or perhaps something cellular in the wood, like a short version of a guitar opening up over the first month.

Tonerite say that the great effects reverse themselves if you don't keep using it, but the cynic in me (if it can be made to believe it works in the first place) thinks they don't want people selling them on eBay after a single "treatment" and undercutting their sales of new ones.

[Cool555]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

Is it the guitar that needs to be awakened? Or is it the player.

I think it's both, at least in my experience. The tone and loudness of the guitar seems to go down about 20-30%. After about 20 minutes of playing, the tone and loudness seems to be back to what I remembered it to be. Most likely it's my playing and hearing that was sleeping....and after about 20 minutes of playing, I remembered, probably unconsciously how to play that guitar to bring back the tone that I last remembered. All very subjective. So I voted "No".