Broken-in resonance?

I know of accoustic guys who set their gutiars in front of their stereo speakers (when they're not playing) so that the music vibrates the gutiars. I even heard of one guy taping hiw guitar to the speaker and letting it rip!

I think the better builder are picky about their wood selection, and can use techniques that make the gutiar feel like it's been played on. That said I think all will agree that there is no substitue for actuall playing time to get a gutiar to open up.

 

Ummmm...........yeah.

 

Some builders who choose to and are able to, may use "old growth" wood that may have different tonal properties than newly harvested wood.

Others think special treatments to the wood, like cryogenic chambers that subject the wood to negative 200 degrees cold then slowly back up to +90 a few times to trap moisture molecules inside could add some mojo tonalities to the newer wood.

I understand your original post to also mean "all the parts of a guitar vibrating together" including the metal parts, but IMO if the wood is good just playing the thing constantly for a couple of months really helps.

Regarding the "Fender relic finish" you also mentioned: I personally wouldn't underplay the contribution that psychology adds to the tonal equation--that and feel, albeit artificial.

That being said, I do own a hand built replica guitar that was subjected to the above mentioned cryogenic treatments. I am a believer. This guitar has a tone in the wood I've not felt before, except from my real vintage pieces. But, who knows for sure--maybe this one is just a good one.

 

I think there is a difference in even 1 year's worth of fairly regular playing.
Why? I dunno...maybe it's the player getting used to the guitar a bit, too.

 

not necesaarily - if the woods are right - rings right out of teh box

but obviously teh more woods get to gel together the better they ought to sound

 

It's as much of a feel than actual tone that vintage solid bodies can have,i think of it as 'sag' in the wood,it justs resonates deeply and completely,in unison,in a satisfying way and i liken it to the sag of a tube rectified amp compared to a stiffer,SS rectified one(that would be the new gtr with the thick finish).

I have no idea how you get it,i suspect it's just the density of the wood and having a finish that doesn't choke the guitar.

I have a new guitar that does this in spades,so it's entirely possible.it feels and resonates like a vintage guitar,feels awesome.it's a collings 290,fwiw,just 2 stellar bit's of mahogany (body/neck),of the right density vibrating together in some kind of harmony,thin finish,i dunno,as an object it's just kind of 'tuned' to resonate together.i wish all my guitars did it.i stupidly sold a vintage fender that had the same quality.

 

Well I agree that a good guitar will sound good right out of the box, but it will only improve with age and use (and propper care).

I know more than one luthier who would say if you could take two identical gutiars (yeah I know impossible, but for the sake of the argument let's say it is).. put one in a time capsule... play the **** out of the other... compare them 20 years later... the one that was played on would absolutely, positively without a doubt sound better. I agree 100%.

 

There's something in the lack of finish on older guitars. I have a 73 Tele and so does my friend. Mine has a thin Mocha finish and has worn to the wood in lots of places. His has a black finish, has a couple of dings but basically is in good shape. His weighs what seems like twice as much as mine and has a much more dense and clipped sound to it.
There's a theory about the air getting in and drying the wood out when the finish gets chipped away.
I'd smell BS on that one were it not for seeing (hearing) the difference myself...
So, strip the paint off...

 

I have had my SG generally tuned to DADGAD for at least a decade now.
It may be a load of hooey, but the instrument sounds like god in DADGAD now, when I put it in Standard..meh.