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estebanana -> RE: Japanese Seafood (Aug. 1 2015 2:34:56)
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One of the problems with evaluating these properties is it boils down to 'he said - she said' logic.
People believe what they want to believe. There's no empirical proof that instruments improve, yet we all know they somehow get better. To compare or share ideas sets up the problem that one maker thinks one way and another thinks another way. There is no scientific proof one way or another, and if there was, someone would say I don't believe in the science.
Talking about the way guitars play in is like talking about religion, it's more a belief system more than a factual thing you can chart very accurately by an empirical method. Part of this is what does constitute a well playing in instrument? Everyone has a different opinion.
One thing is profound however, baking tops has been market proven to make them more resistant to climactic changes and they are more stable. Whether or not an accelerated drying process will adversely effect a guitar top sound wise is unproven both by direct observation over a long period of time and empirically by scientific analysis of old tops with a control of non baked tops.
To state anything else is just opinion and pure speculation. But opinion and pure speculation are what makes the guitar world go around.
The real question is does baking a top make it any different that top that has been sitting around for 25 years? I just hand planed a top that was set up top dry in 1992. It seems much more "mature" than the other top sitting next to it at 4 years of drying. How do we really know that baking a top is damaging to a piece of wood if the baked top and the 25 years dried selection exhibit the same feel of maturity?
I think this is all builders voo-doo, opinion, speculation and that no body really knows. Dry woods are essential for making guitars and until there is hard empirical fact that baking the wood is a problem I see no reason to think it is. Baked tops have been used in the guitars of major brands like Martin and Taylor for years without any backlash in the buying or dealer community. The market place so far has shown there are no problems with top degradation.
How many more years will it take to be sure? Five, ten, fifty, never? There is no standard to test by.
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