Guille-ToneRite

LOLZ sorry!! that was supposed to be the response to the comment about attaching an electric sander to the guitar. This one: "If you have an electric sander you can put a towel down on the top of the guitar and turn it on while moving around the guitar. " That's why I was calling it an experiment. Still, apologies for the confusion. Now if I may... can I understand why the comment about not being a fan before? I would truly love to understand what led you to that conclusion. I totally get not liking us (it's your right!) but I would like to take a second here to say that it feels like there's a lot of hate out there for our products. If you tried our products and they didn't work for you I'd like to extend our apologies if for any reason you felt it didn't bring results for you. I hope you contacted us to get your money back; It is our guarantee after all. If you didn't, please let me know and I will honor that today even if you're past the time. things happen, I get it - we are also human over on this side of the computer and we can create solutions for our customers. The part I don't really get (and please understand I am not saying this is your case) is some people bad-mouthing a product they have never interacted with. I wish we could all first give everyone and every company the benefit of the doubt before sharing negative opinions about things we haven't tried or experienced first-hand. Again friend, this is not directed to you, I am simply sharing my personal thoughts on this overall. I would love to end this comment by saying thank you for interacting with me on this. You didn't have to spend your time answering yet you did and I am greatly thankful you did and allowed met to correct my mistake when picking comments to quote. When I set out to join this forum, the sole intention was to help answer questions to ToneRite owners and people that were maybe interested or simply had ideas to share. But maybe my presence here is becoming an obstacle to our American freedom of sharing negative comments. Please let me know if that is the case and I will gladly move along. No hard feelings everyone. Warm regards and happy holidays. Guille

Sure thing! I'll give you an Example and an honest bonus note. here is an example: We are in Florida, and even though it is mostly hot all the time (sorry, not trying to rub it in 😉 ) humidity does have a huge impact on instruments, particularly during rainy months, which is pretty much half the year. I like to have quick access to my guitars and love the look of them out of the case so they are expose to the air-conditioned temperature inside the house, roughly 73 - 75 degrees. In this scenario, a ToneRite-treated guitar can hold their tonal characteristics for about 3 months before they start closing up. But again, if you play that same guitar a few times a week consistently, the sonic characteristics you gained from the ToneRite treatment will stay forever, or until you stop playing the guitar. Now keep in mind this is true with or without a ToneRite in the picture. Not playing an instrument for months at a time will cause changes in the way an instrument "feels" and sounds. Now here's an honest bonus - We would never say the ToneRite is the miracle to EVERY guitar ever invented under the sun. I, for one, don't believe one thing can be the cure for everything in any field. There are many guitars a ToneRite can have 0 impact on and, to be transparent and not let any of you have wrong expectations, I will share a few of those examples. - an all laminate construction instrument. While we frequently encounter good results with laminate back and side guitars, guitars that are completely made of laminate wood see very little to no benefits from a ToneRite treatment. The reason is all the glue used to put together this laminations. there simply isn't enough wood for a toneRite to work properly. If you don't like the sound of your 100% laminated guitar and think a ToneRite will make it sound amazing... don't buy a ToneRite. honestly don't. - carbon fiber instruments and Applause/Ovations will see almost no gains "sonically" speaking . Yes, Ovation/Applause guitars were created to be impervious to the elements and so the ToneRite has little chance to alter sonic characteristics here. same applies to carbon fiber guitars. HOWEVER, if you have a ToneRite around, use it on these instruments to improve the feel on the neck, if the necks are indeed made of solid wood. I would NOT recommend buying a ToneRite for this though, unless you are truly ONLY looking to enhance the feel of the instrument, not its sound. - Torrefied Martin top guitars. Every now and then, a torrefied-top Martin guitar owner says the ToneRite helped open up their instrument; however the feedback we have primarily gotten over the last few years, is that the ToneRite has little effect on these guitars. Something about the process makes these guitars really stable sonically-speaking and therefore their sound is hard to alter. Just being truthful ere so take that into consideration. Why am I talking about other brands here in the Gibson forum? well, simply because I think we all have other instruments besides our beloved Gibsons. Gibsons are in fact great ToneRite platforms because they are mainly made of solid wood. We continue to see great results with J15s, J200s, Hummingbirds, 335s, L00 ... you name it. But beware that the treatent for each of this instruments can be very different. Wow this got lengthy. Next time, in "ToneRite - the series" (watch out Netflix) if anyone is interested I could talk about other applications for the ToneRite and how to formulate the right treatment for your specific guitar. -Guille

Hi there!! awesome to hear you got great results. As a note: If you continue to play your instrument for at least 5 hours a week the "magic" will stay. You esentially pick up where the Tonerite left off and your playing alone will be enough to keep the audible gains. See, the wood that makes-up your instrument is constantly reacting to the environment around it. If you stop playing for a prolonged amount of time then it will start to stiffen. how quickly? well that depends on your climate and abrupt changes in temperature and if your case leaves inside or outside a case. If you find this to be safe you should try and let us know your results! I personally think it would be a great experiment 🙂 But apples to apples, I truly doubt a 5-minute treatment would compare to our recommended 2-week nonstop initial treatment with different intensity combinations. But again... I'd love to hear about your results. Keep us posted!! - your friends @ ToneRite USA I think you have a valid point here, but I will tell you we have successfully helped vintage instrument recover their sonic luster or even improve their tone altogether. And we don't stop at guitars We have helped a 200-year-old violin get rid of certain high frequencies that it's owner claim couldn't get rid off for years, even when the instrument was played everyday. If you would like to hear more about Professor Chang's testimonial I'd be more than happy to share. Oh and he is not made up by any means - anyone can check him out and all of his accolades online. Happy to hear you have come up with another use for the ToneRite. I am sharing this one 😉 ---------- Happy holidays everybody! And we hope that even when surrounded by friends and family you find time to play your instrument. It can actually be the best time to do so. 🙂 much love to all. - Guille

Just as a suggestion, If you are committed to a 10-day regimen, it will probably be a better idea to do 5 days nonstop at high, and 5 days between 40 and 60%. The key to this is 'nonstop' 10-days. Generally at this time of the year, if it is really cold where you are we would recommend to extend the treatment. Rushed treatments will definitely return rushed results. All the Best, Guille

May I add 2 cents to this? Our only REAL challenge is having people try the device for themselves, instead of paying attention to the claims of people who have never used our products because they "think" it won't work. Are we passionate about our products? HELL YEAH! It is our baby!!! And even though people decide to bash it without even trying it is, well, their decision. Everyone is entitled to talk and share what they "think" is good or not. In fact, we created this device so people could be more expressive (musically speaking), so we definitely will not try to shut anyone down. Would it be amazing if people tried it before discouraging others from buying it? you betcha! but as of now that is just a dream. We can all dream a bit right? ;) To your mention of a device that "consistently" emulates picking... we hear you brother. But that itself brings many challenges. For example, emulate... whose picking? out of 10 people, you'll be lucky to find two people who pick the same way, and I guarantee the remaining 8 or 9 would say that is the wrong way of picking anyways hehe. Second: this device might be waaay larger that our current unit (we have tried it, MANY times) and well, it brings other challenges - like being more costly to produce. Third: what is the ultimate physical result of string picking anyways? Isn't it string vibration? well, that is exactly what the ToneRite does! But we do sincerely appreciate the ideas and involvement. This surely fuels our R&D department and it allows us to get better and better for our current and future products. Thanks a million for the suggestions Warm regards, Guille

Hey there MR GIBS! Eternally grateful for your support through the years. Can you share with us the guitars you have treated with your ToneRite unit and the results achieved? double bonus points if you have pics ;) But really, truly thankful for your kind words and the willingness to advocate for our products. Warm regards, Guille

Hi there! no worries, and I see how it can sometimes sound a bit confusing - specially when I get too passionate and write lengthy posts :) Maybe looking at it from this angle might make more sense. Let's say we were looking at a graphic equalizer analyzing a particular guitar that has a significant spike around say, 220Hz. The ToneRite won't make that frequency disappear, but rather excite the frequencies around it, effectively smoothing out the Q around that range in the frequency spectrum. By doing so, the ToneRite is, in fact, equalizing and balancing the tone of your instrument. By using different settings on the dial, you can have the ToneRite tackle the high frequencies, the mids, or the low-end to achieve desired results. To your point precisely, the ToneRite is not aimed to transform a J15 into a J200 or vice-versa. And truly, why would someone want that anyways?!?! each guitar has it's sonic stamp that either aligns with your taste and playing style or not. The ToneRite will allow an instrument to mature faster (sonically speaking), which in some cases can be crucial to certain guitars due to their construction and/or tonewood pairing. I really appreciate the questions and open dialog. It's really nice to have this level of personal communication going on. Warm regards, Guille

Oh that's great to hear! Send me a picture and a I'll share your story on our social media. Also, it's worth noting that Ovation guitars were built to be impervious to the elements, so the ToneRite has little chance to work there. It would have to be a lengthy treatment of at least 3 weeks, and only to open the top if it is indeed solid wood (some have multilayered wood which is again very hard and engineered to be stable). If your Alvarez is solid wood all around try a 2 week treatment on it instead. It should have very noticeable results, specially on the harmonic complexity. If it only has a solid top but multi-layered back and sides, then try a 3 week treatment, but gains will be more focus around the upper register than on the bass frequencies. Best, Guille

Hi there @E-minor7 Thank you for sharing your concerns and bringing back the spark to this. I completely agree with you - our products have been in the eye of the storm almost since the beginning and, honestly, I would partly put the blame on us - and I'll explain this in a second. Keep this in mind, with almost no exception, bad reviews come from non-users; something that has always been a bit intriguing to us. One of my all time favorite remarks was from someone stating that "it seems to simple to work, therefore it must be snake oil." hehehe. What can one say to something like that. But we are all love here so nothing negative will come out from our end and fortunately, for every bad comment we have gotten, a positive review from an actual user has come up. For that I personally appreciate everyone who has taken it upon themselves to share their results. To you, thank you for being valued members of our ToneRite family. Here is why I said it partially was our fault: In the beginning, we were so eager to help people see results that we went on this quest for finding the shortest amount of time a guitar could be positively affected by the ToneRite. With the guitars we had on hand, that magic number became 72 hours. Did it work? Absolutely! but the results could've been waaay better and more significant with longer treatments, and due to many construction variables, 72 hours were simply not enough to get any results at all for other guitars. In other words, we cut ourselves short and contributed to feeding the fire. However, we have matured as a brand and one of the biggest examples of that is our now minimum recommendation of 2 weeks for a treatment. There is a particular way to control this primary treatment so please feel free to reach out so I can explain this in further detail according to the specs of your particular guitar. In some cases the treatment needs to be 3 or 4 weeks long once we consider tone-wood density, bracing pattern, body shape, etc. For example, for @Hall who posted here back in April about those two beautiful instruments, I wish I would have been here sooner. Hall if you are still around, try this instead for the SJ. Run the ToneRite at max speed on the dial for a full week. Once the week is done, play your instrument and see if you can spotted any changes like added projection and better meshed frequencies on the upper spectrum. I particularly love how a single week can eliminate harshness on the highs and leave you with a much more composed instrument that is defines but not piercing ears (this is particular the case on Maple tops when new, and also the Case for Sitka Spruce). After the playing time, set the toneRite back on the guitar and this time run it at a lower intensity, like 50 or 40% on the dial. This will induce different length vibrational frequencies into the instrument which will specifically tailor the lower-mids and lows of the instrument. This part of the treatment also focuses on the back and sides. unfocused bass can be overpowering and boomy, which translates into muddiness when playing. The ToneRite can tighten up the lows and provide the same amount of intensity but with a much more balanced relation to the upper register the instrument can produce. You mentioned that the results can go away and this is true and not true at the same time. TRUE: because with or without ToneRite, an instrument that has not been played for months or even years will not sound at its best. As you said, instruments go to sleep. UNTRUE: because after a ToneRite treatment you, the user, take on the baton. your weekly playing is enough to maintain the tonal gains. If for any reason you stop playing the instrument then you simply reapply the treatment. This is why is handy to have a ToneRite around; our average user owns about 5 guitars so it is easy to fall in love with a guitar for 3 months and neglect the rest. Then we rediscover why we bought this other guitar and well, the cycle repeats. (I know because this happens to me every year hehe) Conversely, the ToneRite has proven to be a great tool for studio work as well, as producers and sound engineers don't necessarily play their instruments all the time, but have them available for sessions since they know what to expect from those guitars. The ToneRite makes it easy to have the instruments at their optimal sonic state for every performance. Same thing happens for sessionists who need all of their instruments performing their best at all times. And to add to this, here is the debunk of one more myth about the ToneRite. There is no finite amount of hours you can run it on an instrument. So sorry this got so lengthy!! just sharing some insights and interesting facts sometimes get overlooked. Warm regards, Guille

Hey guys - Guille from ToneRite USA here. I figured it would be a good idea to have an open channel to chat and/or answer any questions. I always hated when in forums reps never chimed in so I am going to actually make myself available. But no worries, not trying to sell anything. I meant to be more active in this channel earlier in the year (we love our Gibsons!) but since I took this new position I have had quite some work to do! better late than never. Thank you all for sharing your comments. We pay special attention to comments and feedback that comes from actual user. 100% of bad comments come from non-users but hey! I respect everyone's point of view and that is the whole point of freedom of speech!!! Nothing but love will come out from our end - we appreciate passionate people in the music community and at the end of the day maybe we can all agree to disagree without the hate. I will say (and agree) that the ToneRite effects can vary from subtle to unbelievable. This is due to the many factors at play, like type of tonewood, bracing pattern, timber used for such bracing, climate, solid wood vs laminate, etc, etc. But know that in over 90% of the case there is sonic gain to be had from the use of a ToneRite. We have made some key changes this year to our company and Customer service/support is at the top of our list, so if you are curious about what a TOneRite could do for your guitars take our 30 day challenge. No tricks. No questions. if you don't like it simply send it back for a 100% refund. We stand by our products and this is now our way of demonstrating that. Much love to all and please ask away or share thoughts. P.S. To those who have bought our products, thank you for your support and for being a valued member of our ToneRite family. Remember you have a 3yr warranty with your device so don't hesitate to reach out for any help. Warm regards, Guille Executive Director - ToneRite USA