Do guitars "Fall Asleep" if not played for a while?

[wguitar]

Hi,

Do guitars "fall asleep" after not being played for a while ?

Thanks!

[mcduffnw]

Originally Posted by wguitar

Hi,

Do guitars "fall asleep" after not being played for a while ?

Thanks!

As with most things acoustic guitar...

Some guitars do fall asleep when not played for an exteneded period of time...to varying degrees...and some don't.

It just depends on the given guitar.

By the way wguitar...

You have kinda been all over the map in the last couple days with questions. Are you trying to find out something specific, and just kinda sneakin around the edges of it? Or just firing off questions for general knowledge and kicks and giggles?

If the latter...keep in mind too, that there is a VERY voluminous and searchable cache' of old AGF threads that you can look through that can also answer many many questions for you.

In the last year alone, there have been numbers of threads about Moonspruce, and Sleepy Guitar Syndrome and Best Guitar For Strumming and just about anything you could ever think of. Tons of great info there...quite an amazing resource that we have on this forum.


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[llew]

My luthier/tech says they do...

[bufflehead]

Mine do. When I was still teaching full time I would leave a guitar in my cabin for an entire quarter while I was away at the college. After twelve weeks of inactivity, it would take several hours of play time to reawaken the guitar.

[blindboyjimi]

I definitely believe in a guitar’s top “opening up” but once it has, I find absolutely no difference in tone if a guitar has not been played for years except for dead strings and what the brain remembers the tone to be. An 80 year old guitar sounds 80 years old even if it was under a bed for the last 30 years.

[davidd]

Some of the stuff we guitarists believe borders on the bizarre.

[DesertTwang]

No. That's really all there's to it, according to my experience, scientific training and overall understanding of how the world works. The only way they could "fall asleep" or "close up" involves superstition, which I happen to not subscribe to. I don't doubt that people may hear differences in sound, but using Occam's Razor, which generally is a very useful approach to understanding how the world works, I arrive at the conclusion that those differences have their origin in our perception, not the guitars.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by wguitar

Do guitars "fall asleep" ?

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Wait until it stops snoring and it's good to go.
4. Fingers fall asleep, not guitars.
5. Always Tonerite for 1 hour if the guitar has not been played for 2 days.

Probably many more responses to this question have been given over the years. You may as well add your opinion to the pile.

[merlin666]

I strongly believe so. Some of my guitars can sit in their cases for months unplayed, and when I take them out again they always seem to sound dull and flat. But after a while of vigorous playing they always seem to bloom again. And I don't think this is a warming up/temperature thing as the sound quality seems to persist from day to day, but goes away only after several months of inactivity.

[brianlcox]

Originally Posted by DesertTwang

No. That's really all there's to it, according to my experience, scientific training and overall understanding of how the world works. The only way they could "fall asleep" or "close up" involves superstition, which I happen to not subscribe to. I don't doubt that people may hear differences in sound, but using Occam's Razor, which generally is a very useful approach to understanding how the world works, I arrive at the conclusion that those differences have their origin in our perception, not the guitars.

I'm not totally sure about it being that simple. On a molecular level there could definitely be a little bit of re-bonding between fiber joints that had otherwise slightly loosened up with play. I'm not talking about loose braces, but rather the bonds between the fibers. If they could be slightly plastic, this would explain a marginal tightening up of the sound after a few weeks, than would then slowly loosen up play. With metal I don't think I would believe it, but with wood I wouldn't straight out reject the principle.

I know enough about science to know that I don't know nearly enough to say that something is impossible. I can say whether or not we have measured / can measure something though - and I don't know of anyone that has managed to prove that guitars go to sleep using measurements that stand up to the scientific method.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by DesertTwang

No. That's really all there's to it, according to my experience, scientific training and overall understanding of how the world works. The only way they could "fall asleep" or "close up" involves superstition, which I happen to not subscribe to. I don't doubt that people may hear differences in sound, but using Occam's Razor, which generally is a very useful approach to understanding how the world works, I arrive at the conclusion that those differences have their origin in our perception, not the guitars.

That's not true. Hide glue is relatively soft and can change over time. I've even heard of loose braces resticking themselves (lightly - not full self-repair!) if left for a while and go from buzzing to not buzzing. It's not unreasonable to say that the hide glue could loosen up with some playing (or even just from your body heat), making the guitar more lively, then reharden when left alone for a period of time. It's only heated up to about 60 degrees C to apply. Your body is most of the way there. You can't melt it with your body heat, but you mightly be able to soften it very very slightly.

I'm not saying that's what's happening, but there's plenty of nonsuperstitious theories we could come up with.

Funnily enough, my Taylor (modern glue) doesn't fall asleep and wake up, as where my Gibson (hide glue) does seem to.

[Liam77]

Do guitars "Fall Asleep" if not played for a while?

Guitars I dont know, but my fingers yes

[RRuskin]

I believe they do.

[Hoyt]

I'm sure guitars need to be loosened up a bit after sitting.

But for me, it seems that each of my instruments take a few minutes for my fingers and brain to adapt and remember how they sound/play best. Some guitars sound better picking near bridge, others further away. A pick that works best on one guitar, is not the best on another. Some you have to strike differently, perhaps harder or softer. If it has been awhile, I often have forgotten what works best on a particular guitar.

Point is, I think it's more the player warming up to the guitar and it's small nuances.

[Peepaw]

As long as they don't snore, they can take a nap if they want.