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Playing a Gibson after a break: can a week really make a difference in tone?


mikeselmer

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Hi all,

 

I have a 1967 Gibson Hummingbird. I got it a couple of months ago and played it every day. Previously, it had seen no play for years, and I noticed the tone got better and better the more I played it. Then, I had a break from playing for 1-2 weeks. To my surprise, after the break the guitar didn't sound as good as I remembered. It sounded stiffer and more muffled, and the overtones just don't sound as good.

 

Can a week of not playing a guitar really make a difference in how an acoustic guitar sounds? If so, why is this? Or is this a case of my ears tuning in to the tone of the guitar and that my ears get used to the tone the more I play (and if I don't play, the ears cannot hear the nuances as well)?

 

oh, I should mention that when I got the guitar I had a luthier install a fixed bridge onto it, which also explains the sound intially getting better with playing.

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You can answer your question by playing it for a week or two and then see/hear if there is any difference. Any work done on a guitar can change things as far as sound. Listen for what you liked about the sound and see if you can hear that sound. Try and feel the guitar too. The best ones have a feeling not just a sound.

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Lots of potential variables here, including aging strings, changes in humidity, and, of course, our notoriously unreliable aural memory.

 

I do believe that a guitar that gets played every day often sounds better than one you only pull out periodically.

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Lots of potential variables here, including aging strings, changes in humidity, and, of course, our notoriously unreliable aural memory.

 

I do believe that a guitar that gets played every day often sounds better than one you only pull out periodically.

 

The room humidity has remaining more or less the same: around 40%.

 

The Tonerite seems really interesting! This is the first time I've heard about it - will definitely look into it.

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Lots of potential variables here, including aging strings, changes in humidity, and, of course, our notoriously unreliable aural memory.

 

I do believe that a guitar that gets played every day often sounds better than one you only pull out periodically.

 

Plus 1

 

 

Forget the t-rite and warm it back up yourself. You'll definitely meet again. .

 

 

 

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What are overtones? I'm not being a smart aleck (I'm not smart enough!). I just want to know if my AJ's have any of them. After playing my ALVAREZ for a few weeks, (which I was thrilled with), I played my East Indian Advanced Jumbo, and I could feel it vibrate against my chest, and the harmonics sang out like a chime. I do know that my 13 year old AJ has some wild stuff going on that my ALVAREZ just does not posess. Thanks in advance for enlightening me on what Overtones are!

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