Do guitars need 'breaking in'?

[RalphH]

I've bought a couple of guitars in the last couple of weeks, and I swear that both have sounded MUCH better after a couple of days of being played.

Do they loosen up, break-in and open up tonally over a short period of time? (I know woods improve over the years, but that's not what I'm talking about here).

It's also quite possible I'm subconsciously adjusting my right-hand technique to get the most out of them as I'm getting used to the guitars, but I could swear both have really improved tonally with a bit of playing in.

Just curious

[Tnfiddler]

There are gonna be people who will come on here and tell you no, that your ears just get used to the sound. My Bourgeois opens up after a few minutes of Playing and the bass gets deeper and richer.

[RalphH]

Cool, I will believe you (and my ears). My new hummingbird was 'really good' when I got it. Now it blows my mind when I play it.

[bufflehead]

New guitars are thought to "open up" over time. Here on AGF, it has been controversial as to how long this takes and how dramatic the change might be. My experience has been that different guitars open up differently, so perhaps the controversy happens because some forum members are playing guitars that open up dramatically, while others don't.

In my personal experience, the guitar that opened up most dramatically was a Martin Custom D, which transformed in terms of both volume and sustain after being played for about six months.

If you don't receive a lot of replies to this thread, you might want to search the archives, I've seen numerous threads on this over the past year. A search that may provide the greatest amusement would be to search the keyword "Tonerite," a device used by many to promote the process of opening up a new guitar.

[RP]

I think one thing that starts to break in after a few days are newish strings...

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by RP

I think one thing that starts to break in after a few days are newish strings...

Well that is true, although I've been through enough packs of strings in my life to know what that sounds like. That tends to be a settling down of any jangliness, not an opening up of complexity and richness, although it's possible that the new string sounds were masking all the overly tones I'm now hearing. It'll be interesting to see if I get exactly the same effect next time I change strings - I'll try to pay close attention.

Originally Posted by bufflehead

A search that may provide the greatest amusement would be to search the keyword "Tonerite," a device used by many to promote the process of opening up a new guitar.

I saw an ad for one of those once! Why you wouldn't just play the thing is beyond me - I mean the guitar must ring and make a hell of a racket all the time it's plugged in.

[tadol]

Every builder will tell you that a new guitar goes thru a break-in period - the structure reacts to the tension of the strings being brought up to pitch the first time, and then it reacts to the players strumming and picking bringing a whole range of other tensions and vibrations, and it changes as a result. Yes, they do need breaking in -

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by RalphH

I've bought a couple of guitars in the last couple of weeks, and I swear that both have sounded MUCH better after a couple of days of being played.

Some guitars open up, but not in two days.

[RalphH]

Nice, thanks for the opinions all!

Related question;

Woods are said to develop a long over time (years) in terms of tone and character. Do torrified tops, which are supposed to mimic that process still develop further, or are they then 'done'? Or perhaps they just then develop at a slower rate than a more 'green' piece of wood?

Again, just curious; if my hummingbird is now 'done' - or not - there'll be no disappointment on this end.

[brencat]

Originally Posted by RalphH

I've bought a couple of guitars in the last couple of weeks, and I swear that both have sounded MUCH better after a couple of days of being played.

Did you buy a Martin D-28 Marquis yet ??

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by brencat

Did you buy a Martin D-28 Marquis yet ??

Lol, nah, I couldn't find the boots and hat to go with it here in the UK so I bought a custom shop hummingbird instead and it's everything I could hope for.

I'm happily basking in that "I'll never need to buy another guitar" feeling. You know.. the one that wears off almost as fast as your wife can buy shoes

[fregly]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Some guitars open up, but not in two days.

Long term changes seem to me to be different from when the guitar has never been played and just strung up. Brand new guitars have a stuck in the box brittle kind of sound, and I find this clearly changes within hours and days, and then seems to level off .

[Edgar Poe]

No !
There are a plethora of variables that will make a guitar sound different to the player over the short or long term.

Probably the most common of which is getting familiar with a new instrument, and learning from playing exactly what makes that particular instrument exhibit its best traits.
It's no different than any other tool one purchases.
At first it will seem awkward, but once you learn how to use the tool, it's performance improves. It's not rocket science, magic, or voodoo. Just experience with the tool.

Remember your first bicycle. Even though it may state of the art at the time, did it perform to it's maximum potential, until YOU got experience with how it functions. Or if it were a low end bicycle, after you mastered it, it performed MUCH better. In fact some could make that low end broke do things others could not make the high end bike do. It's all the same....No Magic.
The key word is EXPERIENCE.
Even if you have the most expensive guitar ever built, and you can not play it, it will never sound good.

Life is really pretty basic, it's not magic, it's not aliens, it's not ghosts. What you see is what you get. Some can't deal with the reality of life so they attempt to bypass the simply and obvious for something that makes them feel better.

JMHO

Ed

[HeyMikey]

In my limited experience to my ears I’ve found that unplayed new or NOS guitars can takes weeks or months to fully open up - 100+ hours. Something that’s been sitting unplayed for even a few weeks or months will also need to be rejuvenated with a few days of playing.

[rob2966]

I have noticed the same phenomena of guitars sounding better after a couple of days of getting them and I attribute it to the player merely getting used to the new instrument, and as such, being able to get more out of it (making it sound better).

Later
Rob