G McBride Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 A friend of mine told me that an older friend of his said that your guitar will sound better, if you keep a transistor radio playing inside of the body. At first I thought this was an old wives tale I had never heard but then I got to thinking about. Maybe by playing the radio inside the body while not being played, you tricked the wood into vibrating as if it was being played thereby you were artificially aging the wood and opening it up. You could put years of playing time vibration on the wood in a matter of months. Anyone ever hear of this before? Gill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 A friend of mine told me that an older friend of his said that your guitar will sound better' date=' if you keep a transistor radio playing inside of the body. At first I thought this was an old wives tale I had never heard but then I got to thinking about. Maybe by playing the radio inside the body while not being played, you tricked the wood into vibrating as if it was being played thereby you were artificially aging the wood and opening it up. You could put years of playing time vibration on the wood in a matter of months. Anyone ever hear of this before? Gill[/quote'] I did once.... but unfortunately, I left the radio tunred to a Rap station...so afterwards when I played Country Western songs, the guitar would throw up and run out of the room! Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliangirl Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I haven't heard that one but the flyer that came with my old Seagull guitar actually says to place the guitar in front of a stereo speaker daily to vibrate the wood and improve the sound of the guitar. I think someone actually did an experiment on this but I don't remember what the results were? It seems to me someone posted something about it on the AGF quite awhile back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr newhaven Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 in theory it makes sense...vibrate the strings so that it opens up the wood pores...etc... they even make products that you can place on the strings and it runs thru different wavelengths in order to emulate the full spectrum of sound... i dont know how much this will help though... in my experience a guitar starts to open up and sound richer even after a few months...but i imagine that 60+ year old guitars sound better than brand spanking new ones because of all of that age... i dont know if two months of radio play can recreate something that took 60+ years of natural play to get! also the discernible difference in sound is probably very small... i mean it doesnt cost anything i guess...so why not just sit it in front of the tv when you watch it...if you can hear the tv your strings can and in turn will vibrate their way to a better guitar? haha im just being as a$$ with that last statement...but hey...give it a try! the idea i find nuts is buying something specifically for the purpose of vibrating strings...if you have a radio on while at home/or the office...sit your guitar right in front of the speaker...it cant HURT... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august_reader Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 a record player inside would be kind of cool ... they still make those, dont they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G McBride Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 I have not see none in a while. You are showing your wealth of knowledge even knowing about a record player. Weren't those two knobs on the John Lenon series guitars the tuner and volume for the radio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I have not see none in a while. You are showing your wealth of knowledge even knowing about a record player. Weren't those two knobs on the John Lenon series guitars the tuner and volume for the radio? His old J-160e was much like a Line-6 now...the knob on the left changed the open tuning, like to "Open E" and "Drop G". The other knob only turned down the volume on Yoko's mouth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august_reader Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 The other knob only turned down the volume on Yoko's mouth. Hahahaha. That knob would have been priceless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Having a radio inside my guitar certainly sounds better than when I play it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Hey, I've got an idea. Play the damn guitar into submission! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G McBride Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 I try to play mine into submission but it has a lot more stamina than I. Sometimes I play like I am on the radio and when I throw in some vocals I sound like one of those channels that are not quite tuned in right. Karen, your Seagull came with those instructions because they knew you were going to show favorite playing time to your Gibsons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george black Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 a few years back I bought a 1961 j50. It had stayed in the case, under the bed all its life. When it arrived it was beautiful but it sounded terrible. It smelled new and sounded dead. I decided then and there that time of play is more important than time elapsed. I tried attaching sound exciters to my guitars(not with the stick on) but have gone back to setting them very close to speakers. Best yet is to play them very hard for at least 15 minutes in addition to their normal play time. geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djeffcoat Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 in theory it makes sense...vibrate the strings so that it opens up the wood pores...etc... they even make products that you can place on the strings and it runs thru different wavelengths in order to emulate the full spectrum of sound... This is the gadget that some swear by. http://tonerite.com/guitar/vmchk DJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 There are some string people who claim a violin's eventual 'matured' tone will be directly influenced by the level of musical competency and content played on it. They claim if one new violin is played by a novice or hack, and another is played by someone more proficient, there will be a noticeable difference in the tone in years to come. Having dealt with 'string types' I'm quite skeptical.... you think you guys are superstitious about things like bone bridge pins.... hah! Ain't nuthin' compared to the way some fiddlers act. I've also heard about leaving a guitar in front of a stereo speaker. No idea if it has any effect. My only addition is to suggest that in order to get the top vibrating, wouldn't it be best to have music played in the same general frequency range as the guitar? It would seem like it would then 'limber up' the top when those frequencies are present and maybe be more responsive when induced by the vibrating string. I know they have a fundamental frequency. I guess that's what you'd call it. Pick up any acoustic and put your face close to the sound hole. Begin humming an B or C note, then slowly lower the pitch down several notes.... think of the descending sound you'd make imitating a bomb being dropped. You're now humming directly into the sound hole. You will hit an A or G note and all of a sudden the guitar will come alive and the volume of your (reflected) humming will nearly double in volume. I have no idea what all of that means, but violin makers, archtop builders, people setting up banjos, they all use that info to fine tune their instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I have not see none in a while. You are showing your wealth of knowledge even knowing about a record player. Weren't those two knobs on the John Lenon series guitars the tuner and volume for the radio? Actually I think you have two guitars conflated. The 'radio' knobs you speak of were not on the J-160e but on his '58 Rickenbacker Capri. Here is a photo of John with the Capri in 1960 in its original condition. He removed the "oven" style knobs and replaced them with Hofner and then Burns "radio" style knobs. Here is a 325 Capri fitted with the Burns style: As to the artificial "opening" up of an acoustic guitar with sound waves, I'm very skeptical. I think the topic deserves the same amount of careful thought as the topic of the sonic differences between walrus tusk, ivory or bone bridge pins. Just play the guitar. It will open up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 "There are some string people who claim a violin's eventual 'matured' tone will be directly influenced by the level of musical competency and content played on it. They claim if one new violin is played by a novice or hack, and another is played by someone more proficient, there will be a noticeable difference in the tone in years to come." God help my poor guitar!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Yabbut... even if it's TRUE, that is defined by cork sniffing string types that 'think' they hear something different. If they were real musicians they could squeeze tunes out of a $60 Palatino from China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Sound/ tone is a very subjective thing. I have no doubt that the tone of a guitar will change as it ages. Vibrations may accellerate the proces, but sweet jumpin' Jehosephat!, a clip on vibrator??? come on. Any time a notion bubbles up out of the primordial ooze, especially if it is based on subjective input or speculation. Sooner or later someone will invent something that will fulfill that notion and, at once, seperate you from your money. I was at a Bluegrass Jam this past week-end. I'd finished my set, then went to sit in the audience and balanced 'Jean' on my shoe. She sang through the whole next set before I put her away. Her whole body and neck and strings buzzed in sympathy. I couldn't hear her, but I sure could feel her move. It's an acoustic instrument for crimany sake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Sound/ tone is a very subjective thing. I have no doubt that the tone of a guitar will change as it ages. Vibrations may accellerate the proces, but sweet jumpin' Jehosephat!, a clip on vibrator??? come on. Any time a notion bubbles up out of the primordial ooze, especially if it is based on subjective input or speculation. Sooner or later someone will invent something that will fulfill that notion and seperate you from your money. I was at a Bluegrass Jam this past week-end. I'd finished my set, then went to sit in the audience and balanced 'Jean' on my shoe. She sang through the whole next set before I put her away. Her whole body and neck and strings buzzed in sympathy. I couldn't hear her, but I sure could feel her move. It's an acoustic instrument for crimany sake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bent String Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 OK, it's been a minute since anyone has weighed-in on the subject of radios in guitars, but I have an anecdote that I believe will go a long way to muddy the waters even further. Please, this is long winded so, bear with me. In 1976 I was living in Pasadena TX and bought a spanking new Guild Dreadnought (a 42 I think). It was gorgeous. Paid $950 for it. Back then that was a fair whack of cash. Being a complete novice I had no idea of how good of an instrument it was, just that it was expensive. But what I did know, it was like magic. I couldn't believe the way it would keep singing when I strummed it and how deep and powerful a voice it had. So, I set out to learn how to play it. Fast forward about a week and my fingers were cooked. It had never been 'set up' for me, and had some really heavy 'pro' strings on it and the action was too high. So, I was forced to hunt down someone with some advice and gear more suited to my (0) skill level . I lived a few blocks away from Gilly's Club on Spencer Hwy. (Yeah, that one.) There, adjacent to the club, was a pretty good music store. Not knowing ANYTHING, I brought my Guild in with me, lay it on the counter, and explained my current finger health to the help. As I blathered on, this Hispanic looking dude sauntered up behind me, whistled and said, "Wow, son . . . now THAT's a good guitar!" Then he said, you don't play much do you. . . and so the conversation went. Finally, he said, "Get yourself some real 'slinky' strings. Those big bronze ones will eat up your fingers till you get some callouses built up. Later you can restring it with better sounding ones, but you won't even hear it for a while. And, oh, and since it's newly made, it's really not an 'instrument' yet, just a collection of nice guitar parts stuck together with some glue. It's going to shrink and age for a couple of years before it actually becomes one thing. . . you know, an instrument. If it were mine, I'd put a small transistor radio in it and leave it on 24/7 when you're not playing it." Why, I asked? He said, " As the glue and the wood, and varnish finish drying the vibrations will help position the wood and just shake all the parts together until they get more 'used to each other." Gee, thanks Mr. I would never have thought of that . . . Who are you anyway, "Oh, I'm Freddy Fender, pleased to meet you." His name seemed vaguely familiar, and it wasn't until he'd left that the counter person filled me in on why I should have known who he was. Still, I wasn't very impressed until I learned he'd rubbed elbows with the likes of The Beatles, and Elvis. So, I put on the crappy strings and put in the radio . . . If the radio helped I was/am to dumb to know it. But, it's a true story. AND, just to make matters worse, just this week bought a brand new Orangewood Echo, which BTW sounds no where near as good as the Guild, but still excellent "for the price". Yes, I'm keeping a small radio in it tuned to Country and Western stations, just to honor Freddy. Thanks, I think? Now, is that muddy enough for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bent String Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Correction: Now that I had time to go back and look it up, it was a D55. Book-matched Brazilian rose wood and MP inlays to die for. Haven't seen an original listed for some time, only newer ones from the 1990's on. Nice, but not the same tone woods. ow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 When I lived in the Rio Grande Valley years ago, we knew Freddy Fender by his real name, Baldemar Huerta. I didn't know him personally, but I worked with guys who did. The Gilley's tale is one heck of a story. I've done the guitar-in-front-of-a-speaker thing. As I recall, I turned the stereo to an FM classical station and pumped up the bass. Did it while I was at work; I figured that was 8 hours a day I couldn't play the guitar myself. As I recall, it helped some (the guitar was a Bourgeois dread) but I don't know that the improvement was Earth-shattering. In 2009 or thereabouts, I bought an Epiphone IB'64 Texan and also bought a ToneRite. The ToneRite device is one of those guitar toys people either love or hate. My verdict was it helped open up the guitar. There was an improvement, but I had a luthier/repairman friend sand down the poly finish on the top, and that opened it up even more. I stuck the ToneRite on a '98 J-45 I had (bought new in '99) and I couldn't notice any difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 Dr B, We moved to South Houston in the mid-80s, in the Pasadena School District. Wish I'd gone to Gilley's at least once before it was burned down. I hate to ask, but whatever happened to that beauteous Guild ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbpicker Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 I once placed a small Bluetooth speaker inside a guitar and let it play for a few days. I powered it through my phone tuned to a Pandora channel. Helped to loosen up this new 00 sized instrument. This speaker had excellent bass response, so it really rumbled inside the guitar. rb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 I can guarantee you 1 thing : Play the creature often - daily if possible, , , play it gentle, caress the tones forward, move one step up and play straight, , , go wild then start over. This will make your guitar real and the realer the better. . Left alone it will get depressed and fall asleep. When you grab it it will react like a just awoken person, , , stiff, non-generous, half beside itself. Keep playing though, , , and it'll wake up. More than that - it shall shine again. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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