Brand new guitars and their breaking in/tone change

[Russ C]

I have described my perception of a brand new guitar as being like a teenage boy - the man is there but is not comfortable in his own frame yet.
With time notes seem to be easier, not as tight and with a bit more of the guitar's own personality.
Nice scientific explanation.

[silverspear]

Originally Posted by justonwo

Yes, I’ve owned a number of brand new luthier builds and have broken in a dozen or so for friends or luthiers at shows. They change dramatically in the first several hours of playing. I usually get good stability and great sound after about 20 or 30 hours of playing. New guitars usually feel stiff and a bit harsh for the first few hours.

Circa OM - This guitar started out fine but sounded stiff/brash. That went away after a few weeks of playing. It is now super sweet and not the slightest bit stiff.

Buendia Tree OM - Leo made this guitar a couple of years ago and I was the first to play it after stringing it up. We both sat there and listened as it completely changed character in 30 minutes. Everything about that guitar changed as we sat there. We were both unimpressed at first. At the end of that half hour, we were both gushing.

Baraniks of many shapes and sizes - I usually help Mike sell guitars at his west coast shows. Like any good luthier he builds them at the last minute and strings them up with hours to spare. I break them in. I’ve done a dozen guitars of his. They all change a lot. They go from stiff to complex, as per usual. Even an hour of playing makes a difference.

New Era Euphonon - A friend lent me his brand new Euphonon for a few weeks. Stiff at first. Amazing after 2 or 3 weeks of playing.

So yeah, playing in a new guitar is important. They can change a lot.

all I can say is, wow... thanks for sharing your experience!

[colins]

I found this big time last year when I received a custom build from Kathy Wingert. I was traveling on business and asked if I could pick it up when I passed through LA. Kathy did a stellar job to complete it in time for my visit, and it was first strung a couple of hours before I arrived to see her.

It sounded really great when I picked it up, but after a couple of weeks of playing – oh man! With playing it just bloomed. On other guitars I have noticed the longer term opening up (say over the first 18 months), but this is the first time I’ve had a guitar that was so “fresh”, and experiencing the change was really something.

Col

[Silly Moustache]

I used to be friends with a luthier who would call me up and give me his latest creation to 0play for 204 weeks before he told his client it was ready for collection.He said I was the best guitar breaker-in he knew.
Until now I used to think that was a compliment.
Thinking about it it might just be that I was unsubtle and heavy handed.

My last experience of this was my Waterloo, bought in November 2016 - first "new" guitar I've bought in decades. Frankly, once I'd got it home I didn't much like it. Took it to a new year's day party and a friend called it "crap".


In January they told me I had cancer and that kinda took over my world for 2017. The guitar hung in my little office and listened to speech radio.

After some time, I took it down and the difference was remarkable, and that was with very minimal playing.

[silverspear]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I used to be friends with a luthier who would call me up and give me his latest creation to 0play for 204 weeks before he told his client it was ready for collection.He said I was the best guitar breaker-in he knew.
Until now I used to think that was a compliment.
Thinking about it it might just be that I was unsubtle and heavy handed.

My last experience of this was my Waterloo, bought in November 2016 - first "new" guitar I've bought in decades. Frankly, once I'd got it home I didn't much like it. Took it to a new year's day party and a friend called it "crap".


In January they told me I had cancer and that kinda took over my world for 2017. The guitar hung in my little office and listened to speech radio.

After some time, I took it down and the difference was remarkable, and that was with very minimal playing.

I'm sorry to hear that much of last year was medically trying for you.. how are you doing healthwise now? I hope it's better..!

I agree that sometimes for some guitars, just leaving it around in the house is enough to mature it... maybe it's the daily noise it receives from it's surroundings..

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

In January they told me I had cancer and that kinda took over my world for 2017. The guitar hung in my little office and listened to speech radio.

Sorry to hear this.

I got my cancer news last June: an aggressive Stage 2 Prostate Cancer. I'm almost two months into hormone therapy at this point, and will start radiation treatments the first of October. My motto for now is that I can be cancer-free by Christmas.

Hang in there!

(apologies to the OP for the diversion from your topic.)

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

[size=2]
Some people theorize Cedar matures quicker than Spruce or Mahogany but that has not been my experience at all. While I agree that Quality Western Red Cedar initially sounds warmer than Spruce, two guitars I own with that top continued to age quite well past the decade mark.

I'm glad to hear this. I'm still in the first month owning my first cedar-top guitar, and it seems to be opening up differently than other guitars have in the past. After being played for a couple of weeks it started sounding harsh, especially in the trebles, so I took it in for a setup. (I usually wait six months before getting a setup, if possible, but my Breedlove seemed to need it now.) I pick it up tomorrow, so I'll be interested to see whether the setup helps deal with the harshness.

The most amazing transformation was my Martin dreadnaught. Slowly, it seemed to lose its ability to project over a six-month period, after which it opened up dramatically. There was a complete transformation over the course of a week in terms of both volume and sustain. I think the guitar waited until I got to the point where I was ready to sell it, and only then decided to show me its stuff.

I'm hoping the Breedlove plays this same trick.

[L20A]

When I got my first all solid wood guitar I didn't know about things like opening up. I bought my guitar because I loved how it sounded at the time. I was not aware that it might change over time.

I played that guitar around other guitars and I always felt good about the way mine sounded compared to the other guitars.

After owning it for several years, someone commented on how good it sounded and how well it had opened up.
I didn't even understand what he was saying at the time.

I don't know if or when my guitar opened up but it sounds as good or better today than it did when I bought it back in 1981.

I did notice that some string sets sound better than others do with it though.

So I'm not the best person to speak about a guitar opening up I guess.
However because my guitar sounds as good or better now, than it did new, I guess there is something to be said about a guitar opening up.
The guitar is a Martin D-35.

[Tony Burns]

Ive always felt it takes about a year to break in a guitar -
Ive gotten two guitars since 06 used that looked like they were never broken in
and the original owners were not patient enough to wait for them -
one year latter of playing them -both guitars bloomed !

[Br1ck]

I just built a mandolin. I wanted an F style but didn't want to spend five grand, so gave it a go with the best kit I could find. Since I had a mandolin that was warm, I wanted my build to be bright, so I was conservative with top wood removal and brace thinning.

When I strung it up it was loud as hell, but maybe too bright. The low two strings had no warmth. Now I did realize it met my goal of having a mandolin equaling a mandolin I could have bought for the $1200 I have invested. So I was pretty happy. After a couple days I was happier, the A string had tone, and the G was coming on strong. A friend that plays in bands wanted me to build him one.

I played it for a month in the white. While still a loud and bright mandolin, it continued to develop a breadth to the low end. Since it has and adirondak top, it should continue to open up. My friend says that it's high end kicks his Pava in the rear. It's a perfect band instrument. Right now it's hanging letting the shellac cure.

I just had hand surgery, so it will get good and dry before it gets strung up again. Pretty drastic change. It's tonal character was there from the get go, but the change has been more dramatic than I would have expected.

[CycleBob]

Earlier this year I built a guitar and was amazed to hear how much the tone changed in the first couple hours of playing. I think the tone is still maturing even now (~6 mths in), but the change in the first couple hours was profound and undeniable. I’d be interested to know what actually changes from the point of view of the materials and physics.

[muscmp]

the guitar probably didn't change as much as your ears and brain got used to hearing it.

play music!

[CycleBob]

Originally Posted by muscmp

the guitar probably didn't change as much as your ears and brain got used to hearing it.



play music!

I know. That’s what I thought prior to trying it with a brand new guitar: I figured it was mostly a perception thing. It’s really not though, and I think luthiers are pretty aware of it which is why many have breaking in as part of their process prior to delivering custom builds.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by muscmp

the guitar probably didn't change as much as your ears and brain got used to hearing it.

play music!

The only way that a person would say this is if they haven't picked up their hand-built custom guitar from the builder within hours of coming off the bench...

Meaning no disrespect to either you or your guitars; looks like you have quite a stable of some nice ones... but, a guitar from a small builder is a far different critter from a factory built Martin...

They can go through some wildly disparate sonic frivolity!

For some reason, my experience with my Mark Angus F-40 (1979) was completely different; the Angus sounded GREAT, right off the bench... and has continued to be my "go-to" 6 string acoustic... I do believe it's built a bit heavier than my Goodall, however. Don't know if that would make a difference in the "coming out" period?!

[Alan Carruth]

Many players will say that the guitar doesn't change, but your hearing or touch on it does. I don't know any maker who thinks that.

My first archtop guitar sounded terrible when I put the strings on it. My wife had taken the kids to their grandparents for the weekend, and I worked late in the shop getting it set up. Around midnight I took it upstairs where it was warmer to put on the strings, and it sounded so bad I almost threw it out into the snow and went to be. I'm glad I didn't. By the next day it had started to get sorted out, and playing it really helped. The owner has said that he hopes I know what I did on it, because if something ever happens to it he'll need one just like it.

That was an exception in sounding so bad off the bench. What I have found in general is that they start out sounding 'pretty good' (remember, this is New England: that's a compliment We don't do 'fabulous'.) and then get better.