Anybody else have a guitar that they wake up and like all of a sudden?

[GangstaPat]

I bought a Manuel Rodriguez solid top guitar on a SDOTD last year for around $50. I was hoping to find a "beater"; a low cost guitar that I didn't care much for and could leave sitting around on the stand instead of babying like I do all my guitars. After years, problem solved! This guitar didn't cost anything and when I got it I didn't like it's tone much. It has only visited a case a few times when I just needed to move it out of the way. I picked it up yesterday and started noodling like I always do and WOW! It is bright and loud and all of a sudden i like it's tone. What happened? Anybody else ever have this happen to them?

[jseth]

Perhaps some shift in the humidity content of the woods... hard to say. I would just enjoy it and play the heck out of it!

As for me... each and every day, I look at my guitars and realize what an incredible blessing they are for me and how much I treasure having music in my life!

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by jseth

Perhaps some shift in the humidity content of the woods... hard to say. I would just enjoy it and play the heck out of it!

As for me... each and every day, I look at my guitars and realize what an incredible blessing they are for me and how much I treasure having music in my life!

+1, that could be it.

I also think our ears change over the years.

Are you playing it in the same room as you used to? That can make a difference as well. Just take your guitar into the bathroom and then compare the tone to playing in your living room.

[GangstaPat]

Originally Posted by jseth

what an incredible blessing they are for me and how much I treasure having music in my life!

Well said. I will definitely be playing the guitar in different places to see if/how that affects the sound. I also cannot help wonder if I just got used to hearing it because it's always out and gets played so much. I am a believer in the phenomenon of guitars settling and then opening up as they are played. I just never had or thought that I would have a guitar whose tone that I did not like initially blossom into one that I do like no matter how much it "opens" up.

Originally Posted by GangstaPat

Anybody else ever have this happen to them?

Yes -- and I don't think it has anything to do with how the guitar might have changed; I think the change came from within.

My National sat in its case for the first several months I owned it. The V neck was big and unwieldy and the action seemed high, so I just dabbled with it occasionally and then put it aside in favor of my others.

I can't tell you what happened or how it happened, but in January something clicked, and I suddenly "got" it. Now I can't go a day without spending at least an hour with it, often playing nothing else for a week or more.

I think that sometimes, for whatever reason, we're just not ready for a guitar at that given moment. And if there's a lesson in all this, it's to be very cautious about getting rid of a guitar you're not bonding with. They can sneak up on you!

[Scatcat]

Originally Posted by GangstaPat

I bought a Manuel Rodriguez solid top guitar on a SDOTD last year for around $50. I was hoping to find a "beater"; a low cost guitar that I didn't care much for and could leave sitting around on the stand instead of babying like I do all my guitars. After years, problem solved! This guitar didn't cost anything and when I got it I didn't like it's tone much. It has only visited a case a few times when I just needed to move it out of the way. I picked it up yesterday and started noodling like I always do and WOW! It is bright and loud and all of a sudden i like it's tone. What happened? Anybody else ever have this happen to them?

Yes and I have a theory for my better sound. The guitar is in the living room near the tv and the stereo and I think that the tv voice or the music in the stereo make vibe the wood of the guitar improving the sound.

I hope you understand my bad English. Excuse me

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Scatcat

Yes and I have a theory for my better sound. The guitar is in the living room near the tv and the stereo and I think that the tv voice or the music in the stereo make vibe the wood of the guitar improving the sound.

I hope you understand my bad English. Excuse me

Hey Scatcat, your English is fine and we understand what you're saying. That's another possibility.

[Orion252]

This just happened to me. I bought a used Martin last fall and it just didn't click with me. I took it out of the case this past Sunday for the first time in months as I was about to post it for sale and it's like a different guitar. I've played it at least two hours each of the last couple of days. Climate, taste, I have no idea. I do know it's not going anywhere!

[GangstaPat]

Originally Posted by Scatcat

Yes and I have a theory for my better sound. The guitar is in the living room near the tv and the stereo and I think that the tv voice or the music in the stereo make vibe the wood of the guitar improving the sound.

I hope you understand my bad English. Excuse me

Yup, I understand perfectly and to your point the guitar is always out where I am so retentive that I put my other guitars back in the case the minute that I finish with them.

[beatcomber]

This happens all the time to me...

I have a 1962 Gretsch Tennessean in very clean original condition. I've always loved the way it looks, but have always found it kind of hard to play, even after a proper set-up.

I've recently experimented with different strings - I went from D'Addario Chromes (flatwounds) to D'Addario roundwounds to Thomastik-Infield Jazz Swing (flatwounds), all in the .011 gauge. Of the three, the round-core TI's were by the far the best in terms of feel and tone.

I also spent some time fine-tuning the height of the individual pole pieces on the pickups, and besides improving its tone, this seems to have also affected how I perceive the feel of the guitar.

The end result is it went from a dud of a guitar (but a pretty one) to a guitar that I absolutely love playing.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by GangstaPat

I picked it up yesterday and started noodling like I always do and WOW! It is bright and loud and all of a sudden i like it's tone. What happened? Anybody else ever have this happen to them?

I've always chalked this up to good days and bad days, and little to do with the guitar itself. Some mornings my fingers and my ears are in a good place, and I can run through my guitars and they all sound great. Other days -- it's like guitars are crude instruments and it's a wonder that music can be made with them.

But I have no idea what makes the difference. Maybe the brand of morning coffee?