jimbotheking0069 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I dont know if its just me but when I take my guitar out of its case and play it it sounds good to me, but after an hour or so I think the sound changes and it doesnt sound as good. Its a brand new j-45. Only had it a month. Am I trippin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Maybe it doesnt like what youre playing ..? Id say its more your ears that adjusting rather than the guitar. Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 A bit strange to me - I always get it the other way around. Sometimes a guitar can sound a bit foreign just after it's grabbed - as the if the weaknesses are more exposed (especially in comparison with others). After a while things melt down and from there it just sings better. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 How is the tuning after the hour's playing time? If it's dipped out of tune subtley enough it can make you feel like it sounds poor, but a quick retune can restore glory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I think you're trippin. Mine works the other way around too. Sometimes its slightly dead when its been left for a week or so. After an hour it seems to come out of its shell. Body heat , the hour's practice, god , who knows . Strange phenomenon you have there . You a beginner ? Seasoned pro ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I think you're trippin. ...and as long as you're not out terrorising people or holding up petrol stations, there's loads of fun to be had trippin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Body heat, who knows . Here you open a side-path for discussion. Will different temperatures of the wood influence sound ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbotheking0069 Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Been playing 19 yrs. Its been awhile since Ive played. I had my house broken into last sep and my two guitars were stolen. I bought my j45 to spoil myself. So maybe its just not having played for 6 months on top of having to rebuild my callouses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Here you open a side-path for discussion. Will different temperatures of the wood influence sound ? I would imagine so. Maybe not just the wood, but strings too. In the spring n summer months it takes less time to 'wake up'. Bound to have an effect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 You'll have to dik around with the variables in your playing world to solve any puzzle. New strings, or string experimentation would be my first path. Tone shouldn't change much over a short time period playing. With my elder acoustics, what you describe happens when strings are old & tired, or in very hot, humid conditions. Cool and dry makes my flat tops spry and lively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 After playing in, the wood should be more limber and resposnive (think human live-ware tonerite). No, it's got to be the ears. The fresh 'hello, guitar' moment has passed. Take a break, brew a tea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 How is the tuning after the hour's playing time? If it's dipped out of tune subtley enough it can make you feel like it sounds poor, but a quick retune can restore glory. I was thinking the same thing! When i take my J-45 out of a 47% humidity room, I have to tune it about every 10 mins. I think the humidity here is about 4, or 5%! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarrr Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 When you pick up the guitar there is probably about 30degree temp diff between the wood and heat your body transfers. Wood contracts with cold and expands with heat... its in the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 When you pick up the guitar there is probably about 30degree temp diff between the wood and heat your body transfers. Wood contracts with cold and expands with heat... its in the book. That can't be right ? Only if the guitars sitting in less than 7°s ? Maybe I'm wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 When you pick up the guitar there is probably about 30degree temp diff between the wood and heat your body transfers. Wood contracts with cold and expands with heat... its in the book. 30 degrees? Are you really sure about that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbotheking0069 Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 I was thinking the same thing! When i take my J-45 out of a 47% humidity room, I have to tune it about every 10 mins. I think the humidity here is about 4, or 5%! Yeah I have to retune often also living where its low humidity. Maybe thats the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 The one thing I've had little trouble with in my acoustic guitar history is keeping them in tune in between daily playings. I usually get extended playing time at least twice a day, so I'm pretty much on top of things. With real old instruments I presume there are times when almost all the moisture has left the grain, and other times when the wood takes in some atmospheric dampness depending on storage, transport, and playing. I wonder, however, about the drying and care of the materials currently being stored and used in modern guitar building. Nothing's perfect, but it would be hard to know if improperly cured materials were used to make a ( your ) guitar. If they weren't premium quality kept in perfect condition before use, I imagine that one of the downsides could be instability under stress, which could cause tuning fluctuations. I know people who gave up learning to play because they couldn't figure out how to keep a guitar in tune. Hey, some machines suck, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 ... After an hour it seems to come out of its shell. Body heat , the hour's practice, god , who knows . . . When I take out a guitar this time of year, I don't tune it until it warms up from playing/touching - 15 minutes or so. You pick up a cool. (temp wise ) .guitar after you previously tuned it warm and it's going to be out of tune to some degree from the temp change. As far as sounding better out of the case than later - as some have commented, that's reverse of what you would expect. Perhaps heating up the strings (from touch and playing) is causing a change. Have you tried different strings? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarrr Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 The 1967 poop song by Keith - "98.6" the room temp(guitar) is 65-67f in winter....... ~30 degrees below the warm blooded 98.6f + 1 BigKahune..........when I pick up a gtr in winter I don't even tune until its been played for 10-15mins, the body heat/transfer to the back and hand action on the neck... nature does its thing. its in the book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Due to my own experiences I am sharing the opinions on influences of room temperature and body heat. Even slight differences in temperature and humidity will affect tuning in any case. Very subtle deviations may be sufficient to make a nice guitar sounding awful - the nicer guitar and playing, the more apparent. When taking it out of the case, I start playing a warm-up on an instrument - warming up myself and guitar or bass the same time. I leave the tuners alone at first even if a small amount of detuning is obvious. After a few minutes I turn to "fine-tuning" if necessary, and thereafter I am just having fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hojo199 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I'll tell you what -- I "trip" like that all the time. My guitars all sound different to me all the time. Drives me nuts. Honestly. The subjectivity of this stuff is crazy. Is my head plugged up because it was 60 yesterday and 20 today? Gee, ya think THAT might influence how I hear things? Or a jack *** place of work on a bad day -- or a really nice morning spent on the porch in the sun -- pick up the guitar with birds chirping? That ALWAYS makes my guitars sound "better." Does any of this make sense? It absolutely does to me. Maybe that's why I "need" so many guitars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbotheking0069 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 When I take out a guitar this time of year, I don't tune it until it warms up from playing/touching - 15 minutes or so. You pick up a cool. (temp wise ) .guitar after you previously tuned it warm and it's going to be out of tune to some degree from the temp change. As far as sounding better out of the case than later - as some have commented, that's reverse of what you would expect. Perhaps heating up the strings (from touch and playing) is causing a change. Have you tried different strings? . Yes I just replaced the factory strings to a set of sit aaron lewis sig royal bronze 13-56. I live in arizona so the humidity is really low here. Im thinking it has something to do with it. I do seem to have to retune alot and I wonder if the stock rotomatics maybe need a tension adjust? Or maybe its like someone said before, maybe its just my ears. Maybe hour of practice. Its my first gibson and im completely in love with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMELEYE Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Or maybe you just prefer the sound of your guitar fresh out of the case after it hasn't been played for a while. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Mine sound different all the time too.....hang on, they are different! (I don't have any similar guitars in my herd). Maybe try some different strings, perhaps some coated ones like Elixirs, to see what happens? BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I'll tell you what -- I "trip" like that all the time. My guitars all sound different to me all the time. Drives me nuts. Honestly. The subjectivity of this stuff is crazy. Is my head plugged up because it was 60 yesterday and 20 today? Gee, ya think THAT might influence how I hear things? Or a jack *** place of work on a bad day -- or a really nice morning spent on the porch in the sun -- pick up the guitar with birds chirping? That ALWAYS makes my guitars sound "better." Does any of this make sense? It absolutely does to me. Maybe that's why I "need" so many guitars! I recognize this to a degree - and from time to time my sensibility is a bit disturbing. At the other hand, it keeps the herd alive as I quite often glide further to other guitars to find the right sound and feel. My maples fx, really unfolds at night. . . Ain't this faible entertaining. . . . ,-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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