Crazy theory/...

[egoidealmusic]

I met this guy at an music store today and we got talking about breaking in a new acoustic guira (i.e. going easy at firs vs. really digging in) and I mentioned the sticking a radio in the soundhole.  He laughs as says it's worthless, but says that wraaping a heating pad in the towel accelerates the drying (aging) of the wood, sort of like a slow torrification.  As wacky as it sounds, there's a logic there.

 

Now I'm not in any rush to stick a heating pad in my 45, but was curious as to your thoughts.

[MissouriPicker]

Break it in by playing it.  That’s why we buy guitars. ……..There are different kinds of gadgets to break-in guitars and/or get more tone/volume out of them.  I think one was ToneRite.   I tried playing loud music in the room where my guitars were hanging.  They did respond with the strings vibrating from the loud music. Don’t know how long any positive changes may have lasted…..I just play my guitars. Don’t care if another guitar is louder, etc.  I only have to please myself.

[egoidealmusic]

I definitley agree with you, MIssori, but just thought it was funny enough to share.  I'm sure all guitars are different,  but this one REALLY likes being dug into.  But I've had othe guitars that have taken a lot longer to really bloom.

[duluthdan]

Heating pad is not hot enough to torify  wood at the molecular level, but probably hot enough to weaken glue. Not a good idea at all. 

[E-minor7]

I don't believe you can shock the guitar by playing hard too early - but you can certainly do by warming it up from inside.                                                                                                                                            My own philosophy is to present the woods to different styles of playing - from finger'n'flat-picking to strumming and sometimes heavy bashing. All over the board.  Solo-notes too.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Every 'place' or way that can produce sound must be exercised. The entire organism must vibrate in as many ways as possible.                                                                                                                                                                 Learning the components to swing together is more important than drying them out. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by E-minor7

[IanHenry]

The idea of playing music too guitars is an interesting one, because when I was looking for a classical guitar I discovered a Japanese manufacture called K Yairi, and I read somewhere that once completed all Yairi guitars are put into a room where they played music to them for a few days.  I haven't been able find where I discovered this but here's the company's website>

 

  K. Y a i r i E u r o p e

[kelly campbell]

I qm not ready to put a heating pad near any of my guitars.  Welcome to the forum Egoidelmusic...

[fortyearspickn]

We've got a battery operated heating pad / vibrator combo.   I'm gonna stick it in the sound hole of my SJ200 and put it in the back bedroom with the lights off and some Barry Manilow on the hifi  for the day. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by fortyearspickn

[egoidealmusic]

Thanks for the thoughts, folks.  I thought it seemed a strange thing, but as I'd never heard of it before I figured I'd see if anyone else had.  And now I know why it seemed silly!

[zombywoof]

Yeah. Sounds like the guy giving you advice would claim the best tool for opening up a guitar is a clam knife.  Opening up is one of the most overused phrases there is when it comes to guitars.  While guitars will settle in rather quickly as they start adjusting to being played under tension what most are talking about is a change in the molecular structure of the wood as the grain "loosens" up causing it to respond differently as it continues to dry and is subjected to the vibrations passed on from the bridge plate.   Back in the day we used to place new acoustics near the drum riser on stage or in front of stereo speakers with the bass knob turned up high.   Bottom line just play the heck out of the guitar and give it 10 or so years and you will start to hear that parched dryness old guitars take on. 

[Boyd]

Like the thread title says: crazy theory. I just play my guitars and enjoy them.  IMO, spend more time practicing if you want your guitar to sound better. 🙂

Edited September 6, 2021 by Boyd

[cunningham26]

6 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

We've got a battery operated heating pad / vibrator combo.   I'm gonna stick it in the sound hole of my SJ200 and put it in the back bedroom with the lights off and some Barry Manilla on the hifi  for the day. 

back in my teenage years we believed tone was all in the fingers

[gossmanster]

The best article on thermal aging I've ever read is on the Roukangas site: https://ruokangas.com/specifications/thermally-aged-tonewood/

I think reading that illustrates how a heating pad and a radio aren't going to have the same results.

[QuestionMark]

1 hour ago, cunningham26 said:

back in my teenage years we believed tone was all in the fingers

Sounds like the truth and some wisdom to me.

 

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

[BoSoxBiker]

It never ceases to amaze me how a guitar can "open up" over night on a stand after being cooped up for a few weeks. I do a rotation of every 4th week it's out on my stand. It's to the point that I never change strings on it's first day out because I find out they don't need them the next day. I do leave myself a note if I think the strings are near the end when I put it up, which lets me know to change them on day-1 a month later when it comes out. 

Sometimes I'll get in the mood for one and break it out mid-way through hibernation. I'm trying various things right now to save me an overnight waiting period for optimum tone. For example, yesterday on my D41, I played it for 20-30 minutes right away, let it rest for a few hours and then played it in the afternoon and it sounded nice.  

I know the joke made earlier has much truth normally. Play the guitar instead of it playing you. If it's dull, try a brighter pick. That sort of thing. It's not hard to do, and I do it. It's just more fun to me when it wants to sing naturally.

[kidblast]

heating the wood?  Oy vhey!

don't think that's gonna be a good idea,  it will yank out all the moisture..  that wont be good.

file this under "don't do it"

 

amazing the crap comes outa peoples mouths..

 

back in my teenage years we believed tone was all in the fingers

some of us still believe that's where it is..

 

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by kidblast

[Seagull]

The numbers say my J45 studio just turned a year old the last week of August.  I got it new last October.

It is amazing how much it has opened up in just under a year.  I can't wait to see what five and ten years will do for it.

For the first few months I had to tune it every time I looked at it.  Now its as solid as a rock.

I would rather "Make" a vintage guitar than buy one.  My grand kids are gonna love this one someday.

I don't like the heating pad idea either.  But I do think that variations in temp do help break one in.  Not damaging extreme temps...

[rct]

Every decade since I started playing there has been some new secret to "breaking in" your expensive acoustic.  Put it on the washing machine every time you wash clothes.  Stand it in front of your Klipsch 9000s and blast rock and roll at it.  Put a radio inside of it.  Blow a fan into the soundhole for hours on end.  Blah blah blah.  Same guys that espouse all this stuff would never "break in" their brand new car by taking it out on the worst rutted roads or letting it sit out in the rain and snow for two seasons or not wash it for months at a time, but they'll fall over themselves to "break in" their expensive guitar.  Much mirth.

rct

[dhanners623]

I would fear that sticking some heat source inside a guitar to "dry out" the wood would present humidification issues -- as in the wood would get too dry too quickly and crack.

I lived in Kuwait for five years and had my J-35 for three of those. I do wonder how different my guitar (built in April 2016) sounds from a J-35 from the same period that has spent its life in a wetter environment. Then again, I now live in Manchester, UK, and rain is almost a daily occurance. I think my J-35 now sounds better than ever.

Gibsons seem to be idiosyncratic guitars anyway. If someone were to ask me, I'd say it really is just a matter of playing the instrument regularly. 

[MissouriPicker]

On 9/5/2021 at 10:59 PM, duluthdan said:

Heating pad is not hot enough to torify  wood at the molecular level, but probably hot enough to weaken glue. Not a good idea at all. 

Instead of increasing your electric bill, just leave it in a hot car and use solar power…..NOT!

[MissouriPicker]

On 9/5/2021 at 9:44 PM, egoidealmusic said:

I definitley agree with you, MIssori, but just thought it was funny enough to share.  I'm sure all guitars are different,  but this one REALLY likes being dug into.  But I've had othe guitars that have taken a lot longer to really bloom.

I hear what you’re saying and it’s an interesting topic.  I’m just not technically skilled or knowledgeable enough to do anything but find guitars I like and play them…..lol….Whatever “opening up” is, I suspect my guitars do it slowly, but that’s okay with me.    I’m a finger picker and play pretty softly.  I’m sure a bluegrass picker would get a lot more sound and different tones out of my guitars than I do, but I’m not in competition with anyone.   I just like playing guitars that I bond with…….

[IanHenry]

18 hours ago, rct said:

Every decade since I started playing there has been some new secret to "breaking in" your expensive acoustic.  Put it on the washing machine every time you wash clothes.  Stand it in front of your Klipsch 9000s and blast rock and roll at it.  Put a radio inside of it.  Blow a fan into the soundhole for hours on end.  Blah blah blah.  Same guys that espouse all this stuff would never "break in" their brand new car by taking it out on the worst rutted roads or letting it sit out in the rain and snow for two seasons or not wash it for months at a time, but they'll fall over themselves to "break in" their expensive guitar.  Much mirth.

rct

"Put it on the washing machine every time you wash clothes"  I used to know a Girl who did that, she always looked forward to wash day😊

[BoSoxBiker]

16 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

Gibsons seem to be idiosyncratic guitars anyway. If someone were to ask me, I'd say it really is just a matter of playing the instrument regularly. 

There are two long threads right there, IMO. I've been thinking since reading this that idiosyncratic might be the best word to describe them I've seen.

The second part is very interesting pertaining to the original topic. I related earlier how I rotate guitars so that every 4th week a guitar has it's turn on the stand to be played for a week. If I have not taken a particular guitar out for a few days during it's hibernation, it seems like it's flatter sounding than it otherwise would be. I actually started keeping a log of that a couple months ago as a 5th one was entering the cycle. I think string age factors in, too. I'm also keeping track of strings' age and how much of that age is on the rack being played daily verses in the case. Why? Because I'm a bit of a geek and was the one in the IT department who was passionate about data-mining.

[dhanners623]

All this made me think of an interview I read years ago; I want to think it was with Jerry Douglas in the long-defunct "Frets" magazine. He discussed taking some new wood-bodied resophonic, stripping all the metal and sticking it in an industrial-sized microwave oven (can't recall for how long) to dry out the wood. As I recall, he claimed it aged the instrument 15 years or so.

On edit: I Googled it and apparently they were Dobros built by Rudy Jones, and he dried out his wood in microwaves: https://www.vintageandrare.com/showroom/product/rudy-q.-jones-squareneck-dobro-1977-276

Similarly, I recall an interview long ago (with Jackson Browne?) talking about strapping a new guitar onto some industrial vibrator device (no, not that kind...) to "open up" the wood. 

Edited September 10, 2021 by dhanners623

[ksdaddy]

I knew a Pentecost preacher that insisted the finish on a guitar hampered it's tone so he stripped the finish off every guitar he owned. J200, D35, 50s Kay, didn't matter. Idiot.

John Lennon did some stupid **** like that as well.

If crap like the Tone Rite worked, at least ONE of the guitar companies would utilize it. Don't they want their product to sound better than the neighbors?

I don't believe any of the aging voodoo, or in fact thinking we know more about building guitars than the person who built it.

On a more basic level, if anyone is searching for gimmicky ways to improve the tone of their guitar, that tells me they're not happy with it. Trade up.