A bit of levity

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A bit of levity

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Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

A bit of levity

So a customer of mine swears by the ToneRite and sent me his for me to try out. I'm feeling a little bit like this guy right now, I hope you all have seen the movie

Let's not debate whether it works or not and just focus on how funny it is to attach a vibrator to your guitar. Talk about pul.... never mind.

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Andy Culpepper, luthier
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 31 2022 5:12:11

ernandez R

Posts: 737
Joined: Mar. 25 2019
From: Alaska USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

You have to play it left handed, it’s over too quickly if you use your right!

BTW: I’ve watched this movie so many times I’m embarrassed to say, about the last time I watched it just a few years ago and I caught that adult swim double entendre ;)

My guitars hang from in a cabinet with speakers on each sudevig them and a subwoofer down below, they get vibrated daily.

One day I’m playing there on the couch and I’m just surprised at the tone of whatever guitar I was playing, then one day it hit me, I had five or six guitars right behind me playing right behind me sympathetically. Playing the same guitar ten feet away and it wasn’t so… dynamic :/

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I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy,
doesn't have to be fast,
should have some meat on the bones,
can be raw or well done,
as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 31 2022 5:44:09

chester

Posts: 891
Joined: Oct. 29 2010

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Give this at least a minute, once you realize what's happening it'll be too late to turn off

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 31 2022 22:13:46

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to ernandez R)

quote:

BTW: I’ve watched this movie so many times I’m embarrassed to say, about the last time I watched it just a few years ago and I caught that adult swim double entendre ;)

Haha...I watched it a time or two...total coincidence that my son is named Wesley. Yep, had nothing to do with the movie at all.

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Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2023 3:53:25

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to chester)

quote:

Give this at least a minute, once you realize what's happening it'll be too late to turn off

Oh my god this is too good...that cast

No chance I'm not watching the whole thing. Thanks!

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http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2023 3:55:06

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1674
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

I didn't know guitars could have orgasms. I guess I'll have to see the movie.

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Ethan Deutsch
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I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 1 2023 22:04:58

estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 2 2023 0:46:56

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Never gets old...

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 3 2023 5:04:45

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to constructordeguitarras)

quote:

I didn't know guitars could have orgasms

I guess you haven't tried one of these (4:30)

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http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 4 2023 1:34:46

Stu

Posts: 2526
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

andy what does that thing do? I mean I can kinda guess but would like to hear exactly what.

cheers

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 5 2023 11:29:01

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1674
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

I guess you haven't tried one of these (4:30)

No, I haven't. That's pretty cool. But I don't understand all the toilet paper rolls shown on end on the screen.

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Ethan Deutsch
www.edluthier.com
www.facebook.com/ethandeutschguitars
www.youtube.com/marioamayaflamenco
I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 5 2023 20:43:22

Ricardo

Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

There is a belief that vibration, as in string vibration, will open up a guitar’s tone. Even Ramirez said something about the crystallization of the finish over time, as it slowly dries, if played with consonant vibrations, results in a more musical structure. What I found is that if you bang some rumba on a guitar it opens up quicker, probably the physical attack on the soundboard is helping expel the moisture content and that makes the guitar seem to “sound” better. But I notice a similar thing happen before and after rainy days…before the guitar sounds dull and after it sounds great. Humidity is the thing.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 6 2023 13:37:18

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Difficult to say: the basic idea behind is that a well played guitar sounds better.
Here you have the first distinction:
There’s the time a new born guitar takes to open up and to get certain characteristics and there's the time a used guitar takes to warm up each time you play it.
In the first case you have both the glue finish to drying up and the regular playing which makes the wood accustomed to better resonate.
There's non consensus about how this happens. There's a booklet printed by the Cremona luthier boards that says that the wood inner sap and resins tends to slightly move and settle down to reduce the friction.
Enrico Bottelli once told me something similar (cannot remember the exact words) about the long time required by a Hauser kind of guitar to open up and in general to wake up.
Also Moisture makes sense but then you similar problems also with dry places so I guess there is more than that.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 6 2023 15:53:05

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Stu)

As Ricardo said it’s supposed to vibrate the guitar to get it to open up/improve the tone. I did about 66 hours on one guitar and it had a very subtle effect. Probably rumba would be better, but it didn’t hurt.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 7 2023 4:22:03

Ricardo

Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Echi)

quote:

Enrico Bottelli once told me something similar (cannot remember the exact words) about the long time required by a Hauser kind of guitar to open up and in general to wake up.

Considering the price bracket of Hauser it makes sense that a seller needs to assure the buyer that it might take a “long time” to open up.

I have been fortunate to compare some good and bad Hausers…the age doesn’t really matter.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 7 2023 17:15:40

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Of course.
At the time Bottelli (a great luthier) used to make also a Torres homage guitar.
At the fairs the Torres guitar was more successful than the Hauser as it's a guitar ready to play straight away. Torres has very thin plates (around 2 mm at the top) while Hauser quite thick.
Almost all the pro-players of Battelli go for the Hauser model.
Whatever the reason it's a matter of fact you have guitars requiring more time to open up than others.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 8 2023 16:22:17

Stu

Posts: 2526
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

As Ricardo said it’s supposed to vibrate the guitar to get it to open up/improve the tone.

Oh! Ok so that's not what I thought it did! Thanks guys. Interesting

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 8 2023 23:21:03

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1674
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Echi)

quote:

Difficult to say: the basic idea behind is that a well played guitar sounds better.
Here you have the first distinction:
There’s the time a new born guitar takes to open up

My theory is that finishes take a long time to completely shrink to their final state and guitars sound better with the thinner final-state finish.

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Ethan Deutsch
www.edluthier.com
www.facebook.com/ethandeutschguitars
www.youtube.com/marioamayaflamenco
I always have flamenco guitars available for sale.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 11 2023 18:37:08

silddx

Posts: 570
Joined: May 8 2012
From: London

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

I bought a new Takamine steel string about 25 years ago from a music shop in London and the guy said I could break it in quicker by leaning the body against a hifi speaker for a few days while I listen to the music. I didn't, my speakers were wall mounted, but it seemed like a nice idea.

I have more recently tried leaning my own body against a loudspeaker while I listen to Sabicas, to see if it helps me play like him more quickly. I'll let you know if it works.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2023 20:15:43

BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to silddx)

quote:

I have more recently tried leaning my own body against a loudspeaker while I listen to Sabicas, to see if it helps me play like him more quickly. I'll let you know if it works.

A surefire method for quickly playing like Sabicas is to place a Sabicas CD under your pillow at night and let osmosis work its magic. Shouldn't take more than three nights before you are wowing your friends at parties and such with your amazing, newly acquired ability.

Bill

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2023 20:25:07

silddx

Posts: 570
Joined: May 8 2012
From: London

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to BarkellWH)

Is that with or without the jewel case?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2023 20:47:30

estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

I have been fortunate to compare some good and bad Hausers…the age doesn’t really matter.

Now this is something worth exploring, as Ricardo knows shiet from shinola-

Guitars that take time to open are very interesting and important. But the ones that are open after two weeks of string tension are as well. I see them as guitars that deliver instant gratification and guitars that don’t. Hauser, or any guitar that that needs playing to open up is gratifying, but it’s a delayed and anticipated gratification.

Guitars that are open more or less from the start however will also change in some ways over time and playing.

Curious stuff and I offer no reasons for this phenomenon because I don’t think it’s logically explainable, it’s just a thing I care not to guess about. I’ll put the guess on my website blurb though because it’s a method of search word optimization.

—————-

That all said, Ricardo please discourse in depth on your experience with what you felt was the difference between a good Hauser and a not so good one. This is very pithy stuff.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2023 22:11:55

davewphx

Posts: 126
Joined: Jul. 11 2011

RE: A bit of levity (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

The finish taking time to fully shrink at least makes sense, it seems possible. Evidently, turkish ouds have no finish on the soundboard. Supposed to help with sound projection? Mine only has finish on the bowl (too much). Its super easy to stain the top without any finish though.

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Dave

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 12 2023 23:31:57