Help a guitar open up

[guitar george]

To help a guitar "open up" and to try to determine if a guitar is "opening up" you should:

1) Make sure the guitar is properly set up and tuned
2) Find the "best sounding" strings and use the same type of strings each time otherwise some of the "opening up" can be attributed to finding strings that sound better.
3) Make sure the guitar is properly humidified.
4) Play the guitar in the same place each time you check. A guitar will sound very different in different areas of a house or apartment. Mine sound best in the hallway or a bathroom where I never play the guitars.
5) Make sure you are in a guitar playing frame of mind. A guitar sounds better when it is well played and you are concentrating on the sound.

If you do all that from day one, then, you can try to determine whether the guitar sound is improving or "opening up" from that point on.

In other words, a large part of a guitar opening up has nothing to do with the construction of the guitar at all.

[woodbox]

Ohhhhkayyy, not fair.

Here I was expecting some newbie thread that morphed into a spirited discussion on whether "opening up" even exists.

Perhaps a thread the Mods were going to be monitoring and possibly editing carefully.

But no, what I got was a well written, well thought out dissertation, culminating in a laugh-right-out-loud punch!

Well played, g g, very well indeed.

[stringjunky]

Depends on how they are built. Mine was pretty strident and tight for quite a long time and has mellowed. "Opening up" is an unfortunate term but it has stuck.

[vindibona1]

If you've got about $100 or a friend who has one... Get hold of a Tonerite and let it do it's thing for about 200 hours. After that it is as open as it will be until the polymers in the wood have a chance to age (years or decades).

[Gjimmy]

I have been wondering about guitars “opening up” for a while.

Last year I bought a custom 000-18GE with adi top. It always sounded good, even from day one. But a couple weeks ago something just “happened” and it started sounding amazing. Louder, clearer, more sustain. Seems to really have a ‘vintage’ quality to it now. Humidity and strings haven’t been the difference. Whatever happened, I am glad that it did!

My 2017 HD-28 (pre-re-imagined) seems to have gone the other way. Maybe the 000 is sounding so good that it makes me dislike the HD-28, by I just haven’t been blown away by the sound of the HD lately.

[colins]

I'm seeing a "win win" here:

I agree with GG that there are many elements to the sound of a guitar. We should all be aware of these and use them to our advantage.

I also respect the opinions of the incredibly talented luthiers with decades of experience that tell me .....guitars open up.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by guitar george

To help a guitar "open up" and to try to determine if a guitar is "opening up" you should:

1) Make sure the guitar is properly set up and tuned
2) Find the "best sounding" strings and use the same type of strings each time otherwise some of the "opening up" can be attributed to finding strings that sound better.
3) Make sure the guitar is properly humidified.
4) Play the guitar in the same place each time you check. A guitar will sound very different in different areas of a house or apartment. Mine sound best in the hallway or a bathroom where I never play the guitars.
5) Make sure you are in a guitar playing frame of mind. A guitar sounds better when it is well played and you are concentrating on the sound.

If you do all that from day one, then, you can try to determine whether the guitar sound is improving or "opening up" from that point on.

In other words, a large part of a guitar opening up has nothing to do with the construction of the guitar at all.

Well, considering that 'opening up' usually involves a process which can extend into months or years, there's no way on earth that I could remember what the thing sounded like six months ago or longer in order to reach any meaningful conclusion.
Furthermore it isn't something I concern myself with; if I'm shopping for a new guitar and that guitar grabs me, it does so because I like the way it sounds. What it will sound like next year isn't something I care remotely about, nor is it something I can do anything about. Heck, I can't remember what my guitar sounded last Friday, leave alone the day I bought it!
Let a guitar do what a guitar does; if it sounds and plays good the future will take care of itself one way or another.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Well, considering that 'opening up' usually involves a process which can extend into months or years, there's no way on earth that I could remember what the thing sounded like six months ago or longer .....

Additionally, one of the biggest factors in how a guitar sound changes is the moisture level in the wood. I think the impression of opening up, over a too-short-period, is really the humidity/moisture effects.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by fazool

Additionally, one of the biggest factors in how a guitar sound changes is the moisture level in the wood. I think the impression of opening up, over a too-short-period, is really the humidity/moisture effects.

Yes, and the shift in environment from factory>store>your home must surely play a major role during the first few weeks as the guitar settles.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, I have a tonerite and I have used it on guitars when forst recieved if they feel "tight".

One recent exception : In November 2016 I bought a Waterloo WL-12.

Got it home ... didn't like it. Then the while Cancer business set in and the guitar failed to be a priority.
I hung it on the wall in my little office 9which always seems to have a very reasonable RH (between 40-50%).
In my office I listen to BBC Radio 4 or 4 extra (speech/talk radio) almost all the time coming out of an ancient but exceptional speakers.

The guitar got pretty much zero attention for , say 7-8 months. Then one day I took it down and "wow" it had opened up remarkably .. AND this is a sitka/maple guitar.

It replaced my 0028 that had been hanging there for ...years and is also a remarkably loud/full sounding guitar, possibly for the same reason.
tone rites do work, but there is nothing quite like ....time and playing. .

[Tony Burns]

You could go the tone rite thing ( i own one )
But in reality just play the Crumbs out of your guitar
its the same thing and is more fun .
Tone rites work ( IMO ) but mine sits in its box and i play the darn things .

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by woodbox

Ohhhhkayyy, not fair.

Here I was expecting some newbie thread that morphed into a spirited discussion on whether "opening up" even exists.

Perhaps a thread the Mods were going to be monitoring and possibly editing carefully.

But no, what I got was a well written, well thought out dissertation, culminating in a laugh-right-out-loud punch!

Well played, g g, very well indeed.

You just needed to give ti time, apparently.

Hmmm, popcorn for breakfast...

[Bob Womack]

Bob

[Silly Moustache]

So ..... patience , yes, keep it in the right environment, pay it as much as possible AND Tonerite, AND leave it in front of a radio, AND , did I say play it.

p.s. I don't use my tone rite much now but I do find it useful for rarely used guitars that "go to sleep". ... the do...really!

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by woodbox

Ohhhhkayyy, not fair.

Here I was expecting some newbie thread that morphed into a spirited discussion on whether "opening up" even exists.

No, it'll be an old-bie. There may be something to the wood drying further after you get it home. But good makers try not to let that happen because drying, in thin-planed boards anyway, is also shrinkage. Move a violin from, say, Florida to Las Vegas, and the back will shrink itself right off.

I think "opening up" is mainly your hands figuring out how to address the instrument.