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RE: What makes a guitar "open u... (in reply to NashvillePlayer)
How much the guitar is played. An old guitar that hasn't been played is still going to sound "green" allbeit the woods may have matured for the better over time. Best method is to just play it.
RE: What makes a guitar "open u... (in reply to tri7/5)
I have used the "ToneRight" with success to jump start new guitars as well as open up those which have been dormant. Some guitars respond better than others.
Posts: 3487
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: What makes a guitar "open u... (in reply to tri7/5)
quote:
How much the guitar is played. An old guitar that hasn't been played is still going to sound "green" allbeit the woods may have matured for the better over time. Best method is to just play it.
In 2000 I bought the Arcangel Fernandez blanca that is still my all-time favorite flamenca. It came through the English luthier and dealer Brian Cohen, who said it had belonged to a collector who preferred anonymity. I had it appraised by Richard Brune.
Brune said he had been over the instrument with a magnifying glass, and could find no sign that the guitar had ever even been handled, much less played. No microscopic nail marks on the golpeador, no microwear on any of the frets. He said it appeared to have spent 18 years in a collector's case somewhere. He added that he "really liked this guitar."
When I received it, I took it out of the case, tuned it up and played an E-major chord. It knocked my socks off. It began its career with me, and continues to be, the loudest flamenca I have ever owned. The tone has been solid and brilliant from the get-go.
I have witnessed the "opening up" of several guitars. A friend bought a new '73 Conde media luna blanca that was as dead as a stick of lumber when it was new. Over the course of three years it opened up into a really great instrument.
But the Arcangel was brilliant, loud and solid from the first chord I struck.
RE: What makes a guitar "open u... (in reply to NashvillePlayer)
quote:
ORIGINAL: NashvillePlayer
Or I guess I could take GuitarBuddah's advice and try coaxing it with a drink and sweet talk but if I get the same response I've gotten with women when applying that method then this new guitar is never gonna open up!
Ah well, ahem, this is a flamenco guitar, maybe she likes it rough.
Start of teasing her a little, tickling and taunting her. Find out what she likes, when you do then start to push it. It may not seem like it but she probably wants you to take her past the brink of what she can respond to and then when you ease off just a little the magic happens.
Maybe you need to get to know her to get her to open up.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: What makes a guitar "open u... (in reply to NashvillePlayer)
Much discussed topic. Many people feel this is just a myth, humidity being the only real factor. Others, like myself, feel that HOW the guitar is played makes a difference. I often refer to Ramirez book, though it sounds like pseudo science, the drying out process of some finishes allow crystallization in such a way that "good vibrations" help this process from good intune playing of a maestro....though if it is true then this "blasting the speaker" at the guitar should also work.
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