WAKE UP ! Is your Acoustic, "played in"

[pepperco]

Hello,
(I did a search)

I'm not a big acoustic guy,
99% of the time I play my electrics.

Consequently my Montana J-45 just sits there,
for weeks sometimes. I can't help but think it
could and would sound better if it was played
every day.

I remember reading about people who wake
up or hit their guitars with sound and or audio
vibrations. For instance placing the acoustic
on a stand, in front of a loud stereo speaker.
The theory is the vibrations would wake up
or break in the wood, as if you were playing
it a lot.

What's your opinion ?
Old wives tale?
Bunk or De-bunk........

THANKS !!

[exhaust_49]

I don't think there is anything your going to get out of putting an acoustic in front of a speaker. I think you need the strings actually vibrating causing the whole guitar to vibrate. Putting a guitar in frount of a speaker only causes the soundboard (for the most part) to vibrate. You also need the neck to vibrate.

I bought my acoustic new and have played it every day for 5 years. It took a while but now it is the best acoustic I've played. It opened up very nicely.

[Monkey23]

Not quite the same thing but check out what the amazing Boucher guitar company does:

http://www.boucherguitars.com/versionang/VA/indexg.html

Click on the top middle: Adirondack Vintage Top



"A unique Boucher Family process – resonance aging – refines Adirondack wood
to give certain guitars incomparable heart. The unfinished guitar top is subjected
to a controlled aging environment. It matures like a fine port or quality wine,
developing new properties as the wood top absorbs, reverberates and is transformed by sound."


The Boucher’ acoustic chamber is filled with music 24 hours a day, music that surrounds and ages the suspended wood. This resonance makes the wood vibrate, allowing the Adirondack wood – already known for its projective qualities – to mature and become even more sensitive.

Boucher Guitars is aging hundreds of pieces of Adirondack wood. The luthiers have reserved

certain quantities of wood for 3-, 5- and 10-year collections.

The 3-year collection will be available in July 2005.

[Bryan T]

This topic comes up occasionally on more acoustic-centric forums. My personal opinion: playing loud music at your guitar probably would have an effect. Significant? I'm not sure.

I think you should just spend more time with the instrument or find an instrument that is already played in.

My acoustics are definitely played in (or "opened up," which is another commonly used phrase), but they got that way through being played. I think the guitar also keeps drying out as it ages, which will contribute to the change in sound. Finally, keeping fresh strings on a guitar goes a long way towards making it sound open, at least for me.

Bryan

[waxnsteel]

If there's any truth to it, putting it in front of a speaker will cause the strings to vibrate. WHen I play acoustic in the house, my other acoustics that are out, and on the stand vibrate sympathetically all the time. They do it if I'm playing electric loudly enough, too.

I can't call it true or false, but I can say every brandy new maple acoustic I've ever played sounded stiff, and overly bright, with very little sustain, but after playing the bejeezus out of em, I think they sound fantastic. There was one in a local guitar shop, same model. When it was new, I played it, and had the same opinion of it. Somewhere near a year later I got to play the same guitar (still in the store), and the same transformation had occured. Still kicking myself for not picking it up. After being in the store so long, the price got cut drastically.

Can't say I've noticed the same on other woods.

[62Tele]

I believe it's Rick Turner et al who has a machine to vibrate new instruments and supposedly they sound as if they've been played for years. The debate was over the stress the guitars suffer. If I remember correctly, Jackson Browne was in on this somehow, but it's been a couple of years since I read about this so don't hold me to too many details.

As for the speaker thing - I tried it years ago and didn't notice much difference. When I pull my Collings out and play it for a couple of hours I notice a much bigger difference.

[davess23]

I figure my guitars are played in by now...they've all been with me for several years. But I'm not sure that my playing them has had as much to do with how they sound as just the fact that they're getting older.

I used to really believe in the "playing in" thing. Then I learned that some of those time capsule guitars (you know, old guitars that are essentially NOS, found in mint condition under the bed or in the closet when somebody kicks the bucket) sounded really, really good...they can sound every bit as good as the heavily played old ones. Who knows?

[Old Tele man]

...like shoes and tight belts, guitars play better after a reasonable "break-in" period...except Ovations, since plastic is plastic.

[GuitarsFromMars]

My 1959 Martin 0-15 is broken in.No question.

[mad dog]

My '43 Martin O-18 is well broken in. It does "seem" to sound better when I pick it up more often, but certainly that's more me than the guitar. I have learned one thing. Any acoustic I own is tuned to open D when not being played daily. Change of seasons can do pretty nasty things to lightly built guitars, so I err on the safe side.

[Alainlafrance]

It is of a mechanical nature that placing an acoustic guitar in front of a speaker diffusing varied music at varied levels, alternating with playing the guitar fastens obviously the break in period. As the wood dries, its texture has to shrink accordingly and in harmony, so tightening the wood and giving it such crystal clear harmonics afterwards.
If you strum like hell a brand new acoustic guitar, it'll be dead after a few months; no way to repair that deadly injure to the wood.
Alain

[Miles]

Just got a Taylor 410ce and I'm just in love with the tone. I will play it everyday to help it open up.

I have a 1970 Martin D 12-35 that sounds like heaven. It has signs of age, but man, it just sings.

[pepperco]

If you strum like hell a brand new acoustic guitar, it'll be dead after a few months; no way to repair that deadly injure to the wood.
Alain

I'm not sure I follow this train of thought.... Could you explain ?

What about a brand new guitar that sits on a stand, in a very dry
climate for 10 years, rarely played ? I'm still learning, but does
not an acoustic guitar need to cure, settle, or dry a little to achieve
optimum tone ?

Thanks
:AOK

[tbp0701]

I think my '65 B-25--which came complete with a label-maker sticker reading "Sister Maureen" on the back of the headstock--is pretty well played in.

I remember there being some discussion about having the Mythbusters test the vibration theory on their site or something. I don't know if they ever did or what came of it, but it'd be interesting.

[jayhawk]

I had a Taylor 814CE that I left in front of my stereo's subwoofer for several months. I really think it helped. I can't prove it, of course, but I think it did improve the sound.

[Alainlafrance]

I'm not sure I follow this train of thought.... Could you explain ?

What about a brand new guitar that sits on a stand, in a very dry
climate for 10 years, rarely played ? I'm still learning, but does
not an acoustic guitar need to cure, settle, or dry a little to achieve
optimum tone ?

Thanks
:AOK
I meant one should play the guitar of course, the more the better, but not in the hard way; if it's strummed too strongly, this breaks the wood fibers prematurately before they have settled tightly against each other when the wood is dry.

[jiml2.1]

I play a Gibson L-4a acoustic/electric for one set with my band ... the remaining 3 sets, I park it very near my electric guitar amp while I play my strat, purposely trying to get it to "open up". I've been doing this for over six months, usually 3 - 4 nights per week. I usually play my strat somewhat (some might "very") loudly -- Loud enough to noticeably vibrate the strings. I have compared the Gibson to my other guitars for volume/tone and am sure it has opened up over the past few months.

So...I think if you play loud enough and long enough ... the guitar will open up. Of course, I'm aware I have been playing the Gibson at least 3 to 4 hours per week for six months, so I'm sure that has had an impact as well. I'm not sure I would get the same results with my home stereo, because there's no chance I can play it loud enough ... my neighbors would complain and my stereo isn't powerful enough anyway...

Just my 2 cents.

[ssimon64]

I believe a new accoustic guitar opens up after playing it for a few months, and continues to do so for years. I'm sure my gibson AJ keeps sounding better and better, I've had it for about 9 months.

But here's another thought, I think acoustics need to warm up too. like when I haven't played it in a few days, I'll pick it up and start playing and it won't sound so good at first, but it eventually warms up and sounds great. ..or maybe it's me warming up to the guitar. I dunno.

[Iralovesguitars]

when a guitar is resonated-via strings or outside vibration, what the "opening up" you are hearing is the glue bonds in the guitar relaxing. it could mellow it out a bit, which could be good with some guitars, where others will just become a bottomless pit---very deep, and dark. they could also develop a "memory" of how the player exercises the instrument(chord patterns). personally, i make all my guitars go through their paces---change strings gauges and types (PB vs. 80/20), different saddles, DADGAD, open Gm, partial capos, whole step down tunings, and i've found that it really makes a guitar shine when just a few simple changes can bring a totally new instrument out of it. lately though, i found my '00 Taylor 310ce sound nearly identical to a Taylor GSRC. sure mines had 6+ years of 10-20hr weeks on it, but I fully expect that guitar do whatever i need it to in the coming years. don't be afraid of putting a new saddle in the guitar, or trying new strings. heck, get a 12 string set and put the octave strings on a separate guitar. that will surely make you realize what a wonderful instrument can really do. somewhat of a choir of angles i imagine...

[drolling]

No question in my mind that acoustics do 'open up' over time - The natural aging process, humidity/temperature changes & string tension have as much to do w/the result as the amount of 'action' the guitar sees..

It's also one more good argument for buying used.

I've been 'breaking in' a chinese-made Selmer clone (Django!!) for a couple of years now, and the last time I changed the strings, I'd swear the guitar's *personality* transformed almost over night!

I couldn't figure it out till I remembered I'd just returned from a long road trip - the guitar had spent many, many hours in the car's trunk, being alternately frozen/overheated & subjected to non-stop vibration over thousands of miles of highway.

As Alain says, extreme treatment can also ruin a guitar, but if it does survive, you'll have a better instrument at the end of the voyage..

[CocoTone]

I thought tone was in the finger?? WTF. Make up yer minds!!

CT.

[bushmill]

Consequently my Montana J-45 just sits there,
for weeks sometimes. I can't help but think it
could and would sound better if it was played
every day.



Hey Chris,
To properly play it in, you could just sell me that J-45...;) My GAS gets so out of hand that I could play it for a year or two, then sell it back to you! :rotflmao

Cheers!

[Vibrolucky]

Playing in an Acoustic is not a Myth. I found a 68 Gibson J45 Slope-Shoulder that was "sitting under the bed". I bought it from the guy, put fresh strings on it. It sounded good, but not great. I played it everyday for about two weeks. Everytime I played it sounded better, and better. Now its sounds incredible, and inspiring.

I really do think that playing one that has been idle for a while will bring it back to life.

I recently played a nice looking 64 Martin D28. It was the absolute worst sounding Martin I've ever heard.

It never gets played. I think there is something to the idea.

[drolling]

I recently played a nice looking 64 Martin D28. It was the absolute worst sounding Martin I've ever heard.

It never gets played. I think there is something to the idea.It's a kinda "Chicken & the egg" question, tho'.

I, too, have seen & played minty looking vintage guitars (both acoustic & electric) that were real dogs.

So, do they sound bad because they never get played, or are they never played because they sound bad??:crazy:confused:??

[pepperco]

Hey Chris,
To properly play it in, you could just sell me that J-45...;) My GAS gets so out of hand that I could play it for a year or two, then sell it back to you! :rotflmao Cheers!

You never know, I seem to have a habit of selling gear that I really like !!
Only to buy another one later on......

Or I could just go the Keith Richards route, and pay a dude to play
my brand new guitar 8 hours a day for a year to "break it in for me".

They could also develop a "memory" of how the player exercises the instrument(chord patterns).

I have often thought of this. The J-45 I bought used literally sat on a
guitar stand rarely played (and never polished) for 10 years before I got it.
It quite possibly had the original string on it too. The seller bought it new
and NEVER used a pick. All finger picking. It had gotten so dry that it had
developed a 6 inch crack on the back !! Because of the crack I was able
to get the seller to knock of a significant portion of the
asking price, and I got it for 650.00. Had the crack professionally
stabilized and glued.

It was a leap of faith and a price I could not pass up. After I got it clean,
polished and repaired, I remember being a little disappointed in the tone
of the J-45. I thought is was significantly less rich and full than the J-45's
I had played at the Guitar Center. Slightly thin and had less projection
than I had hoped. But the upside is the price, and the fact that this
guitars primary function is a gigging instrument. Plugging in with a
peizo bridge pickup. So for my purposes, most of the subtle tonality
will be drowned out by the volume of a live band.

Thanks for all of the input on this thread guys, its been interesting.

[Robal]

Here's the patent that Steve Rabe (SWR founder) and Michael Tobias (MTD Bass Guitars) obtained for a device that intensely vibrates wood to enhance the sound characteristics.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=13&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=rabe.INNM.&s2=steven.INNM.&OS=IN/rabe+AND+IN/steven&RS=IN/rabe+AND+IN/steven

Here's the article that Rick Turner wrote about the process. http://www.acousticguitar.com/Gear/advice/vibration.shtml

Steve, Michael and I had a company called Timbre Technologies that used the patented process to treat guitars, electrics and acoustics. We subsequently sold it and the buyer has never used the equipment to my knowledge. Too bad. I know it works as I heard the results myself.

[Cybercat]

It's a kinda "Chicken & the egg" question, tho'.

I, too, have seen & played minty looking vintage guitars (both acoustic & electric) that were real dogs.

So, do they sound bad because they never get played, or are they never played because they sound bad??:crazy:confused:??

+++1!!!
You hit the nail right on the head drolling!

I was told this by an old Japanese guy many years ago. Unbelievable player, & all his guitars sounded terrific.

He was talking about 2nd-hand Japanese Strat replicas (JV, Tokai, etc.), but what he told me could apply to pretty much any guitar : -
...as a player (not collector) always go for the knackered looking one & avoid the "showroom condition" guitars like the plague
- they still look good after all these years as they're virtually unplayed...
Why? - because they're almost certainly the dogs of the batch that sound bad &/or nobody enjoys playing.

His advice has been invaluable. Each time i go into a music shop on a guitar-buying mission, I try to save time by always heading straight for the most "well-used", even beaten-up looking, specimen of whatever guitar I'm after in the place...

Invariably it's the best sounding & nicest to play of the bunch.

So, why is the best guitar almost always the most used/beaten-up looking one?
- because it sounds the best & is the easiest to play, so everyone (especially the staff, during endless hours of slack periods with few or no customers & nothing else to do but play the guitars) plays & plays & plays it...

It therefore gets playing marks, & probably a few pick scratches & dings, through heavy use, day in day out.
It also breaks in more than the others because of this, & gradually sounds even better, so it gets played even more, & so "opens up" even more....& so gets played even more, gets more playing marks & dings... - & so on, & so on, & so on...

This also applies to 2nd-hand guitars of course, nice sounding & easy to play guitars get played a lot (& eventually get the marks to show it), whereas horrible dogs don't get more than a few hours use ever, no matter how 'pretty' they may look..

With new guitars, in extreme cases ignorant customers see the picking scratches & dings, & don't want to buy the guitar because of them...(but it got the marks through being played, as it's feels&/or sounds so good...)
- so it doesn't get bought, and can eventually spend a few years as the staff's "weapon of choice" - getting several hours playing a day, 6 or 7 days a week...

In a case like the incredibly good 1999 Martin D-28 I bought last February, in the end the staff didn't want to let it go, & it may even get "hidden" behind the counter when serious customers come in, so it won't go anywhere...
Luckily my old buddy who worked there as a salesman (though long since promoted to management), hearing I was after a D-28 style acoustic, remembered & tracked down the one he & his buddies had played every day 5-years earlier - & was sill getting played all day, every day by the current sales staff...

Sure it was being sold as "new'" but was actually 7 years old, had a shipload of scratches & dings - even a small hole right through the top where something sharp had got dropped on (through!) it... - & appeared rather "heavily-used" for a new guitar, &, well, frankly, looked a bit of a mess, - but for an acoustic it played extremely well - as easily as a very good Strat - sounded big, but sweet; bold but clear; powerful yet haunting; extremely dynamic, dramatic and, erm, just *awesome*... ...and totally wiped the floor with every other acoustic guitar in the store (over 200) by miles, ...& even better - in view of the rather poor cosmetic state it was in, I bargained hard & eventually got it for exactly 1/2 the list price...

After a bit of TLC & a spruce-up by my good friend & luthier Simon Pinder, it is now rather better than new - with the money I saved we added fossilized walrus ivory saddle & bridge pins, bone nut, Waverly tuners, tortoise guard (old one fell off!), and Simon refretted it (old ones were almost worn to nothing in places!) with a tall but thin-ish medium jumbos, slotted & ramped the bridge & so on. It sounds incredible, & is an absolute delight to play, ...no effort at all! ;)

It's life hasn't got any easier (I gigged 18 nights last month) & prolly won't be doing any time soon, but I believe "an easy life" is akin to a death sentence to a guitar anyway, and at least now I play much better because of it (& do acoustic gigs more often), hundreds of people get to hear it, & I think everyone is happier thanks to following the advice I got from the old guy in Japan all those years ago... (erm, well, except for maybe the staff in the music shop...) :rolleyes:

I firmly believe all this is because initially it was probably slightly better than its siblings to begin with, & consequently got played instead of them, which had a 'snowball effect' leading over 7 years to it's current magic abilities.

The 'motto' of this story?
...Don't ever dismiss a guitar because it looks "well used" - there's probably a very good reason why it got to look like that! :AOK

http://web.mac.com/cybercat/iWeb/Site/Martin%20D-28_files/IMG_0279.jpg

- more pics : - http://web.mac.com/cybercat/iWeb/Site/Martin%20D-28.html
& (going back 30+ years) on my homepage : -

[Bryan T]

so it doesn't get bought, and can eventually spend a few years as the staff's "weapon of choice" - getting several hours playing a day, 6 or 7 days a week...

As someone who works part-time in a guitar shop, I find your description of this guitar's life to be pretty fanciful. At the shop where I work I am lucky if I get to spend five minutes with any instrument while the store is open. The notion that any one guitar is getting played for several hours a day, every day, for years is just not realistic. There are countless things that get done when the store has no customers, but that rarely includes making music.

Bryan

[Cybercat]

Hmm, Hi Bryan, point taken...
- but I think things may be a bit different there in SoCal to here in Hong Kong.
I have several good friends who work in music stores, & believe me, while they are pretty busy sometimes, at others they can chalk up a lot of sitting around with not much to do.

Shops, restaurants, petrol stations (gas stations) here (which are all full service - unlike in UK, customers here *never* touch the pumps) tend to have as many as 3-4 times the number of staff I was used to seeing back in London. Maybe the lower wages here allow for this, ...e.g. McDonald's pays HK$12 an hour to junior staff, thats just under $1:50 an hour in US Dollars, £0.80 in Pounds Sterling - I think that might even be a hair below some kind of new minimum wage legislation in UK (& US) since I lived there in 1990?

Most sales staff seem to be pretty young & inexperienced, around 18 - 20 or so, very few much older, & the staff turnover is pretty high in music stores (as it is in HK generally), almost no-one except higher grades the same now as 2-3 years ago. Same there?

Tom Lee Music, the main Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Fender, Marshall, Mackie etc. dealer, have about 2 dozen stores in HK, several in China & Canada, some of which are enormous - you could almost drive around in a golf cart on each of the 3 floors...

Anyway, every time I go to any branch midweek, there always seems to be at least one or two staff sitting around finger-picking, strumming, noodling or shredding(!), no matter whether morning, afternoon, evening ...or even 9 p.m at night when they close...

All ordering, sales & marketing, pricing, stock control, advertising etc., is done by a separate admin department miles away in their head office building, shipping is done by the shipping department, payments & sales are handled by the accounts/cashier girls & so on, so the sales staff never have to touch money or deal with stocks, packing, or anything - which leaves the sales staff free to sell, difficult in quite times with few or no customers. TL tend to keep most of the guitars roughly in tune (with themselves, usually not to any other guitar or concert pitch), whereas you'll find plenty of other stores like Tsang Fook (Santa Cruz dealer, among others) leave the strings completely slackened off, the staff saying "the guitar arrived like that from the manufacturers, so of course it has to be kept like that". Not sure the guys I spoke to there knew how to tune a guitar anyway - so they don't seem to do a lot...but they DO dutifully turn the air-con off at night so the humidity plunges from a dry-ish 40% to the ambient 98% overnight, and temperature rises from 20ºC to 30ºC or so - 7 days a week, - then they wonder wonder why the guitars crack...


Anyway, back to the "making music" during the 70 hours the store is open each week...
Saturday is still a full or 1/2 working day for the majority of people here, so it's only Sunday - THE main shopping day - when music stores are really busy & the staff have their hands full...
...They sell more on a Sunday than all of the other 6 days of the week put together... - Are things similar in SoCal too?

So Mon-Fridays (& even on Saturdays) with all the extra staff compared to in the west (& all of the admin work done elsewhere), you don't have to wait long to hear one or more of the dozens of floor sales guys (or girls) making music...
:RoCkIn

[jayhawk]

Here's the patent that Steve Rabe (SWR founder) and Michael Tobias (MTD Bass Guitars) obtained for a device that intensely vibrates wood to enhance the sound characteristics.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=13&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=rabe.INNM.&s2=steven.INNM.&OS=IN/rabe+AND+IN/steven&RS=IN/rabe+AND+IN/steven

Here's the article that Rick Turner wrote about the process. http://www.acousticguitar.com/Gear/advice/vibration.shtml

Steve, Michael and I had a company called Timbre Technologies that used the patented process to treat guitars, electrics and acoustics. We subsequently sold it and the buyer has never used the equipment to my knowledge. Too bad. I know it works as I heard the results myself.

Very interesting stuff. Thanks for posting. I'd heard of your treatment process (probably from the article you linked) but it almost seemed like an urban legend because I've never met or talked with anyone who had any direct experience with it. It's a shame the patent buyer hasn't done anything with it. Can you tell us who bought the patent?

[Rambo66]

The great Eric Schulte told me I should do this with my new J45. He learned of it years ago when he was the apprentice of a violin maker.

Playing music into the guitar causes the top to vibrate, loosening the top. He suggested turning on the radio in front of the sound hole every day before you go to work.

[Tuberoast]

I have a 58 D-28. When I bought it, the original owner merely "owned" the guitar. He never progressed as a player nor could play beyond the first position. Aside, from a neck set, it was extremely clean. I am now getting the pleasure of "Playing it in". I've owned it over a year and it's just gets better and better.

[dazco]

I guess i'm in the vast minority, but i don't believe that playing it or vibrating the string in any way is what opens them up. I believe it's age that does it. As proof i offered this up in another thread. a friend and his brother bought a new guild in the late 70's that was a dog. We would do weekly acoustic jams for many years, and no one ever wanted to play the guild. So soon after it was bought it went in the closet and the thing literally sat there in it's case for 5 years till one day we brought it out. The change was so dramatic that everyone wanted to play the guild. I kid you not. thats not the first case of a guitar improving greatly given time and no play, but it was the most dramatic. It went from a 4 on a scale of 10 to a 9 or 10. It was an awesome guitar at that point. Anyways, i firmly believe it's age and not playing, at least not to any extent worth mentioning.

[Shemp]

I've broken in 2 new acoustics and I just bought a third. There's no question in my mind that they open up over time with playing. I also believe that they "go to sleep" if they sit unplayed for a period of time and need a half hour or so of playing to wake up again. Think of a new guitar speaker. They sound like shit until they get 20 to 40 hours of playing on them. Any organic sound producing surface needs to loosen up to produce the best tone.

As to other sources of vibration helping to open the guitar up, I believe in it absolutely. A stereo speaker beaming good music at your guitar has got to help.

[RichusRkr]

What do you guys mean by 'sounds better' and 'opens up' when referring to playing in an acoustic guitar. I think I get the concept but I'm wondering if it will help my Martin. I've got an HD28, that sounds good, I guess like a nice Martin supposed to. It is sweet and mellow and warm sounding and soft. BUT it is not vibrant, alive and very stimulating or inspiring. I want those qualities while retaining some of the sweet mellow and warm. I'm not looking for the Taylor sometimes over the top brightness either. At home I play mostly my Strats so my HD28 gets played on average a couple of times a month for an acoustic gig. So my question is, if I play my Martin alot more will it sound more vibrant and alive, yes and brighter, or do I need to look for a different guitar that will inspire me to play. Sad to say my Martin doesnt inspire me to play. I really like the tones of Gibsons I've tried in music stores... but its hard to judge a guitar just from a few minutes in a store. At the prices lately of good acoustics I just can't afford to go on a tone quest like I have been on for electrics for the past few years....:jo

[Cybercat]

HI RichusRkr,

Whoo, difficult questions...
If it's a good guitar to begin with (as, from what you say, yours seems to be), then playing it a lot will only help...

I'm sure the more you put into playing your HD-28, the more you'll get out of it,
- & also, IMHO, the more rewards you'll reap on your Strats : -
I've been gigging on Strats 35 years this fall - I've found playing at home / practicing / learning new stuff on my D-28 (instead of one of the Strats, as I used to) means the Strats feel like toys on gigs, I can really play them so easily :D

OTOH, my D-28 had all the sweet, mellow, warm qualities you mention - BUT was also EXTREMELY vibrant, alive and very stimulating / inspiring to begin with....

If, on the other hand, that particular HD-28 was a tur.., erm, 'dog' to begin with, then polishing it ain't gonna help much....

[RichusRkr]

Ok, I'm gonna try to put more time into playing my Martin. I'm kind've skeptical tho, I think I'm looking for qualities inherant in a certain guitar that might be missing in my HD28. I do have a taylor 410ce that also doesnt really do it for me either. I did play a Gibson in a store a while back that DID do it for me but the price tag. I don't even remember the model. I've bought and sold Strats, mostly on ebay, until I got some that were over the top and became keepers. I just can't start that with acoustics, I don't feel so good about buying one on ebay anyway. I think I'd have to try one first. Anyone know a good music store that carries lots of acoustics here in the midwest? MO, KA, OK, AR, and TX.?

[B Vance]

For the most part a piece of wood still thinks it's a tree for the first 20 years after it's cut. I guess anything you think will speed up the process is worth a try.