"playing in" a new guitar

Costs are rising and times are tough.
Please consider a donation to keep this
place going.

Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.

We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.

You are logged in as Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >>Discussions >>Lutherie >>

Page: [1]

Message

<< Newer Topic Older Topic >>

PacoPaella

Posts: 163
Joined: Nov. 7 2004

"playing in" a new guitar

One question for the Luthiers and experienced players. Whenever i got a new guitar or talked to people about new guitars, "playing in" the guitar is a hot topic (i mean the initial phase whre you play the guitar for some months). I even had someone telling me that there are professional guitar-"starters" who are experts for initializing new guitars. Now i am wondering...i THINK i noticed an improvement in sound whenever i played a new guitar for smoe months, but then it could be that i just listened more carefully and noticed details i missed before, the longer i played. Did anyone ever care to record a guitar before/after that period? And what exactly happens during that phase to make the sound change? Does the sound ever change to become WORSE, or does it always get BETTER? And - if its the vibrations fo the wood that cause some changes in the acoustic of the guitar - wouldnt it be best to put the guitar in front of a huge speaker and play scales from CD for 3 months or so?

Lots of questions...TIA for your answers.
Daniel

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 28 2004 21:29:59

gerundino63

Posts: 1743
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands

RE: "playing in" a new guitar (in reply to PacoPaella)

Hi Daniel.

The sound og a spruce top will get better in time.
THe spruce top is still a bit stiff when it is new built, so it is getting looser while playing.
Cedar sounds right away good! but "they say"the sound is possible getting worse in 30 years.

I have indeed heard that some guitarists place them for a huge speaker with ( mind you) Hard rock music!

Peter

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 28 2004 21:43:37

Barney

Posts: 28
Joined: Aug. 3 2004
From: Cornwall

RE: "playing in" a new guitar (in reply to PacoPaella)

Hi Paco

I've also heard that the Flamenco guitar will, over time, gradually take on a slightly different sound depending on how it's played and what is played on it - I guess (to a very tiny degree) a bit like adopting the personality of its owner!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 29 2004 14:33:57

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: "playing in" a new guitar (in reply to PacoPaella)

This is the kind of thing that would be difficult, if not impossible, to measure quantitatively. Sound quality, after all, is subjective.

I play a Vicente Carillo blanca, 2003, and my friend Gaetano brought over a 2004 a few months ago to compare. He wanted to see how my guitar had changed over the year of intensive playing. What struck me was not how mine had changed, but how incredibly similiar the sounds were!

This is a bit of proof that good luthiers DO know what they are doing! The guitars were twins.

My guitar seemed to have a bit more richness and brilliance in the high end, picado and leads, but in other ways they were almost indistinguishable.

Personally, I haven't slightest idea how people could tell that their guitar has significantly improved. How do they know it's not just that they haven't learned more about how to draw out the resources of their instrment? It's natural to learn more the more you play. And, how do you tell how a guitar is going to sound when you play it, from listening to an mp3 which records a guitar that is miced up _in front_ of the guitar? Don't ask me! But on the other hand, my ears don't seem to be particularly discerning, either...

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 29 2004 17:56:26