Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Full Version)

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ohjelo -> Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 7:18:05)

Just came across a lacquer guitar from years ago that’s been sitting in cased in the closet for the rest of its life. It sounds so, well, new.

Wondering if there’s a way to speed up the aging or mature its tone besides playing for hours a day and leaving it outside the case? By the windown perhaps? Indirect sun?

I’m just curious as my 15 year old guitar’s lacquer has sinked in and dried nicely and sounds really good.




RobF -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 14:28:48)

I have a lacquered guitar that sounded like a piece of crap when I first got it. It was already a few years old but was virtually unplayed. Probably because it sounded like a piece of dead wood. I didn’t play it for the longest time but finally took it from its case and left it on a stand in my living room so I could have something within easy reach. It did improve a lot. Its color also changed from an obnoxious yellow to a much more acceptable noxious yellow, so...bonus. It took over ten years to improve, however.

I guess that means the answer to your question is no.

P.S. I also have a 60 year old Gibson acoustic that’s been played a lot. It’s technically not a great sounding guitar, it never was, and I suspect it never will be. Just to provide a counter-balance to the old saw that things improve with age. It’s good for blues, though, so maybe it’s not so bad.




Ricardo -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 16:53:40)

quote:

Wondering if there’s a way to speed up the aging or mature its tone besides playing for hours a day and leaving it outside the case?


Change the strings. Play lots of hard rumba rhythm...won’t take long.




devilhand -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 18:40:09)

quote:

rumba rhythm

Mr. Marlow you seem to have a thing for rumba. I think rumba is responsible for misrepresentation of flamenco in the whole universe. I still believe rumba is not flamenco.




ohjelo -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 19:35:52)

Thanks Ricardo and RobF.

I'll try leaving it out, tt's super super orange and hopefully it will fade a little. It sounds really good but it just has that unplayed tone to it.

Are we thinking that as the braces, glue, etc. loosens up, the instrument will produce more of it's character?




Stu -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 19:35:56)

quote:

Mr. Marlow you seem to have a thing for rumba. I think rumba is responsible for misrepresentation of flamenco in the whole universe. I still believe rumba is not flamenco


[:D][:D][:o]




ohjelo -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 20:48:27)

Right Stu? Post like his is quite upsetting. Not only did it hijack my question, it does not bring any positive result. Go away.




kitarist -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 22:04:10)

quote:

ORIGINAL: devilhand

quote:

rumba rhythm

Mr. Marlow you seem to have a thing for rumba. I think rumba is responsible for misrepresentation of flamenco in the whole universe. I still believe rumba is not flamenco.




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etta -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 20 2020 22:29:41)

For several years I have been using the "ToneRite" to accelerate the play-in time on new guitars, or to improve the response on guitars that have been neglected or not played. It is a variable vibrating device which is attacked to the strings just in front of the bridge. The guitar should be left on a stand; the vibrations can be felt over the entire guitar up to the tip of the head stock. I have always seen improvement if the device is left on the guitar for 4-7 days round the clock, but the amount of improvement varies from guitar to guitar. I do not know if the device is still available.




estebanana -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 21 2020 0:04:41)





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gerundino63 -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 21 2020 8:40:54)

@ Devilhand

From the book Toques flamencos by Paco Peña

As long as you believe something, you did not investigate enough. You can also use this in other matters.



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Echi -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 21 2020 14:18:03)

I would give a chance to Tonerite.
In advance I used to be skeptical, to be honest. I though an eventual improvement would not be measurable anyway.
Eventually I saw a picture of the Kohno workshop with some guitars hanging with that Tonerite and this means something.
Just recently a luthier told me it helps quite effectively the guitar to open up.
Other than this, I second Ricardo’s advice: constant strumming routine...




Ricardo -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 21 2020 16:39:04)

quote:

ORIGINAL: devilhand

quote:

rumba rhythm

Mr. Marlow you seem to have a thing for rumba. I think rumba is responsible for misrepresentation of flamenco in the whole universe. I still believe rumba is not flamenco.


When you get a Flamenco guitar I will finally be able to laugh at this.




Tom Blackshear -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 22 2020 12:52:46)

quote:


When you get a Flamenco guitar I will finally be able to laugh at this.


Strange, how many people have different opinions about flamenco music, which has adopted many universal forms from different cultures world wide. There was a time when the music was free form without much concentrated timing structure.

I might add that there was a time when Paco's music was not considered real flamenco.

Tom Blackshear guitar maker




Ricardo -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 22 2020 18:36:52)

quote:

I might add that there was a time when Paco's music was not considered real flamenco.


Never in this perceived universe. Yes, perhaps there was or is a group of individuals who might draw a line with regard to certain time periods of his work, in the process myopically negating the important evolutionary forks-in-the road those subjective lines identify regarding the genre as a whole...in the process revealing their personal preference to cling to the familiar road posts they know so well, misguided or not. But a “specific time when...” might be different for each individual.




BarkellWH -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 22 2020 20:06:08)

quote:

I might add that there was a time when Paco's music was not considered real flamenco.


When was there ever a time when Paco's music was not considered real flamenco? From the time he played with the Jose Greco troupe as a teenager until his untimely death, I don't recall anyone suggesting he didn't play real flamenco.

Some, and I was one, did not care for his later concerts involving bass guitar and harmonica, but neither I nor others suggested it was not flamenco. He just took flamenco in a direction I did not care for. But as far as I am aware, it was still recognized as flamenco.

Bill




devilhand -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 23 2020 10:49:47)

quote:

ORIGINAL: gerundino63

@ Devilhand

From the book Toques flamencos by Paco Peña

As long as you believe something, you did not investigate enough. You can also use this in other matters.



I'll borrow this famous book of Paco Pena from my local library when I'm ready to play along. But I'll definitely skip that Rumba section for sure. Alfonso Eduardo described rumba as terrible at 3:59. Expressed exactly what I feel about rumba.



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rombsix -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 23 2020 14:33:56)

You can try this:

https://www.tonerite.com/

I have one, used it, and it seemed helpful, but I didn't conduct any rigorous scientific testing.

Check out some videos of this product on YouTube...




gerundino63 -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 23 2020 20:19:39)

quote:

I'll borrow this famous book of Paco Pena from my local library when I'm ready to play along. But I'll definitely skip that Rumba section for sure. Alfonso Eduardo described rumba as terrible at 3:59. Expressed exactly what I feel about rumba.


Hahaha, Flamenco Puro! Eso es Hombre!




Tom Blackshear -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 24 2020 3:37:38)

quote:

Never in this perceived universe. Yes, perhaps there was or is a group of individuals who might draw a line with regard to certain time periods of his work,


I'm referring to the more modern jazz-men-co that Paco got into later in his playing style; fast picados and more modern chord structure, which was judged by those who were more inclined to the older players. Perico del lunar, etc.




Ricardo -> RE: Speeding up guitar aging for better tone? (Aug. 24 2020 18:36:10)

quote:

Alfonso Eduardo described rumba as terrible at 3:59. Expressed exactly what I feel about rumba.


Since you like Rito, please note the greatest cante accompanist Paco Cepero, never shied away from rumbas, even singing it himself. There was always a “fear” regarding trends that leaned toward commercially successful items. In 1922 the nerds held a competition of cante in vein. At that time it was that new fandango Naturales and the opera Flamenco stuff. Luckily, the maestros then and more recently with rumbas and such, didn’t embrace such fears and artfully enriched the genre as a whole with contributions of high art in “cante Chico”. In the end these labels of depth and purity are more superficial anyway, delivered by folks that have neither.




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