Open Sesame!

[kdavid]

Today i have the evening off, so i sat down with my DV-6, strummed a G chord
& HOLY STUFF! I almost had to look at it again just to make sure the guitar
trolls didnt exchange mine overnite with someone else's.
All of a sudden, it seems louder, more balanced, & just plain sounds BETTER
(not that it didnt sound good before )
i've heard of this 'opening up' thing, but not experienced it.
Just DANG...
Well, i'm back to playing now.
Thanx for listening

 

[adorshki]

Today i have the evening off, so i sat down with my DV-6, strummed a G chord
& HOLY STUFF! I almost had to look at it again just to make sure the guitar
trolls didnt exchange mine overnite with someone else's.
All of a sudden, it seems louder, more balanced, & just plain sounds BETTER
(not that it didnt sound good before )
i've heard of this 'opening up' thing, but not experienced it.
Just DANG...
Well, i'm back to playing now.
Thanx for listening

Hey, just curious, did you buy it new, and/or do you have an idea of how many hours of playing it has? My D25's a '96...happened to me when the guitar had about 300 hours on a nice WARM day, strummin' pretty good, when I realized, "Wow, this thing's really hummin' today. I can even feel the neck vibrating!" Anyway, know how ya feel!

 

[kdavid]

its a '96, & is going to need a fretjob soon, but i bought it from my luthier (on cosignment) who
knows his fans...er...customers :lol:
apparently this baby hadent gotten any playtime in the last couple years, i'm told
right now, i believe him. but i really dont know how many hours i've been playinig on it.
its just finished a great hard rain & has cooled down greatly, &
its backside is buzzing my belly...now thats a new one on me :lol:

 

[adorshki]

its a '96, & is going to need a fretjob soon, but i bought it from my luthier (on cosignment) who
knows his fans...er...customers :lol:
apparently this baby hadent gotten any playtime in the last couple years, i'm told
right now, i believe him. but i really dont know how many hours i've been playinig on it.
its just finished a great hard rain & has cooled down greatly, &
its backside is buzzing my belly...now thats a new one on me :lol:

Yeah I saw it was a '96 in your sig...I'm thinkin' that was a VERY good year for Westerly. And mine did it shortly AFTER the first fret job. Took about 300 hours. SO if the wear rate is anything close to similar between 'em, that would put yours in the same range. I think a guitar's total playing time is more important than chronological age when it comes to developing tone. It only took me about 2-1/2 years to put the first 300 hours on it.
And yeah, and when it vibrates your chest cavity like that it can make ya start coughing when you're singing! :lol:

 

[Brad Little]

Interesting about opening up. For a couple of years, my F-50 seemed to have lost some of its sound, just seemed a little dull, especially on the fretted low 'E.' I tried new bridge pins, different strings, a new bridge plate (the old one was worn so that the strings were pulling up too much). It got to the point that I was playing my Epiphone more, then bought a D-50 and was using that as my go to guitar. Then, last week I pulled out the F-50, and lo and behold, it had regained its voice! No idea why, but i'm not complaining.
Brad

 

[devellis]

Perchance has the humidity dropped in the last few days in the places where these guitars live?

 

[Brad Little]

Perchance has the humidity dropped in the last few days in the places where these guitars live?

In my case, no and yes. When I first noticed the 'rebirth' it was during a very humid time, summer in New England can be almost tropical in temp and humidity. We had probably 3" of rain or more the last 3-4 days, but today it was much drier, probably down to 50% or less.
Brad

 

[hojo199]

Perchance has the humidity dropped in the last few days in the places where these guitars live?

Yes summer in New England can be brutal on tone -- especially here on the shoreline. It can also affect playability. i have taken guitars out of cases and not believed the difference in feel as the weather changes.

 

[kdavid]

its the 'monsoon season' here in the southwest, maybe the extra humidity has something to do with it, now that humidity is mentioned...then again, my strength is up lately, so im playing at least a couple
hours each day--

 

[wontox]

I stated in an earlier post that I'm not a big believer in age-related "opening up" regarding guitar tone. That's just my personal experience, and the physics involved in such a phenomena seem a little sketchy as well. I've heard some mediocre-sounding (to me, anyway) older high-end guitars in my years. Nothing is more objective than guitar tone; take a so-so sounding guitar into a tile-walled bathroom (nothing weird here, folks) and notice the incredible dif in volume and tone from playing in a large carpeted room, for instance, or try using 13's on a guitar formerly strung with 11's.

Acoustic Guitar Mag just came out with an article about this big study going on with all these guitars built with the same top wood log being scientifically sounded and measured...it'll be interesting to see what the results are. For sure, my guitars often sound different to me from day to day, and since I seldom use a pick—sometimes I think the relative hardness of my right-hand fingertips (washed any dishes or had a shower lately?) and string age are the most mitigating factors. Plaster walls certainly reflect sound differently than relatively soft sheet rock walls. Humidity may certainly play a part as well.

Wontox

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

Place Your gits securely on stands, directly in front of Your stereo's speakers, and let them vibrate along with smooth jazz or something like that, for around 8 hours.
Four years ago, My then new Tacoma built D55 didn't seem to have tonal potency, that is, until I read about how the stereo buzz affects guitars.

 

[adorshki]

Four years ago, My then new Tacoma built D55 didn't seem to have tonal potency, that is, until I read about how the stereo buzz affects guitars.

For a real treat take it down to the airport and get as close to the runway as possible. The commercial jet runway I mean. Or if you're lucky enough to live near a military air base that's even better.