Do some guitars keep going to sleep

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Dr Tone Control

maybe overnight 2 or 3 times, and the odd hour or two

Hi, in my humble, that isn't nearly enough.

Frinstance, in 2012, I bought a used, but unused (if you see what I mean) Santa Cruz RS.

It was as "tight as a drum" although the point of such a guitar is a big, deep rumbling bass and middle.

I put it on my Tonerite for two weeks to start with. Maximum during the day , and minimum at night (so's not to wake the neighbours. That helped, but after a couple of months when a new set of strings was due, I kept the old ones on and gave it another week, same deal.

Then new strings and we were more or less there.

It is still improving, as it doesn't get played as much as my dreads.

In 2017 particularly, when I was very ill, my guitars really didn't get played much.

For most, a week on the tonerite helped, for some, no amount of tonerite helped, and are only just coming out of their funk.

[Dr Tone Control]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi, in my humble, that isn't nearly enough.

Frinstance, in 2012, I bought a used, but unused (if you see what I mean) Santa Cruz RS.

It was as "tight as a drum" although the point of such a guitar is a big, deep rumbling bass and middle.

I put it on my Tonerite for two weeks to start with. Maximum during the day , and minimum at night (so's not to wake the neighbours. That helped, but after a couple of months when a new set of strings was due, I kept the old ones on and gave it another week, same deal.

Then new strings and we were more or less there.

It is still improving, as it doesn't get played as much as my dreads.

In 2017 particularly, when I was very ill, my guitars really didn't get played much.

For most, a week on the tonerite helped, for some, no amount of tonerite helped, and are only just coming out of their funk.

that's encouraging, I've not needed to do days on any guitar before, I will put it on now before I sleep

[Hoyt]

Originally Posted by brandall10

Even my 30 year old SCGC OM w/ a German top is a fair bit louder/looser after whacking on it for a few minutes if I haven't played it for a couple days.

It's not 'me' loosening up, lol. I tend to rotate guitars when I play. It's quite obvious.

If you haven't played it in a few days, maybe your ear is just adjusting to playing it again. There is no question my guitar sounds better after playing it awhile, but I'm pretty sure it's more my adjusting to playing it than some realignment of wood cells, loosening up of glue, or something else.

But, just my opinion since I'd need grant money to study it vs. playing.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Dr Tone Control

Ironically my new redwood guitar is always fizzing and very reponsive, with no need for Tonerite, which is what set me off wondering what was happening with the Goodall TBRD, sometimes both were similar, sometimes vastly different in responsiveness

Funny how it works like that isn't it

It's almost like we are dealing with living beings with souls of their own.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by brandall10

I've found the best way to get a guitar to 'wake up' is to spend a few minutes hitting it with cowboy chords at full power.

Somehow I can't get the picture of Lash LaRue out of my mind when I read this.

Cowboy c(h)ords?

[jbeecham]

To wake my guitar up, I will play simple chords (G D A E) while strumming heavily at the 12th fret for a minute or two. That makes the whole guitar shake and vibrate and loosens the strings.

jerry

[lowrider]

Maybe this just isn't the guitar for you. It looks to me like this guitar would be a good blue grasser or for a heavy handed strummer.

Gentlle finger picking after you wake it up with a Tonerite, it just doesn't seem like the way to go.

[Dr Tone Control]

Originally Posted by lowrider

Maybe this just isn't the guitar for you. It looks to me like this guitar would be a good blue grasser or for a heavy handed strummer.

Gentlle finger picking after you wake it up with a Tonerite, it just doesn't seem like the way to go.

This may be true, although no one has ever accused me of gentle fingerpicking

[Dr Tone Control]

I'm now rediscovering my plectrums for acoustic, I'd forgotten how many songs sound better with a plectrum. I've never had as good a guitar for strumming previously

(Still mostly a fingerstyle guy though of course)

[phavriluk]

No one's mentioned whether the metal half of the noisemaking machine has a role in its 'going to sleep'. The strings. And how could we parse out the difference? Under discussion is whether there is the excitation of molecules.

[Dr Tone Control]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

No one's mentioned whether the metal half of the noisemaking machine has a role in its 'going to sleep'. The strings. And how could we parse out the difference? Under discussion is whether there is the excitation of molecules.

could compare with classical guitars? or flamencos? with gut strings

[Yrksman]

Waking up after being played for a while is certainly true of my Olson SJ. Anyone picking it up cold could rightly wonder what all the fuss is about. After an hour or so I’m late for everything as I can’t put the thing down!

[Jaden]

Guitars regularly going to sleep isn’t a good thing, keeping in mind the variable of responsiveness is a key indicator of performance quality of an instrument in keeping with its designed purpose, whether that be for light touch fingerstyle or flat picking. Hearing is subjective, touch on the strings of an instrument may have to be refreshed if it’s been stored for some time, and then there is the widely understood phenomenon of ‘playing in’ or warming up. Some guitars are jealous creatures, demanding to be regularly played and not friendly to neglect. It’s all part of ‘guitar maintenance’ in my view, to achieve the best results or potential of a guitar.

[Dr Tone Control]

I think another way to think about it is that, if not played frequently, the wood in the guitar can forget that it's now a guitar, and starts to think it's a piece of furniture

I assume this is why some shops have Tonerites that they circulate around their stock, to keep reminding the wood in the guitars to behave itself

[frankhond]

There is no way wood can forget anything since wood has no memory, unless you are one of those quantum universe consciousness believers.

I have used tonerite on two of my previously owned guitars. One was a very tight Larrivee. After 10 days of full time vibration, it did change tone to a mellower, more mature character, but it wasn’t any more responsive. Larrivee guitars are built relatively tight and nothing will change that unless you take it apart and change bracing.

The other guitar showed no effect at all.

The main effect of long time tone-riting was that the strings were completely dead. When vibrating the guitar before playing, you are just killing the strings faster.

I suspect that if you want a responsive finger style guitar, get one built for that purpose. It’s no fun finagling with gadgets instead of playing.