Shipment shock?

[jeffcoop]

In the wine world, it's well known that, if you ship a bottle of wine or transport it a long distance, you should let it sit for a few weeks before opening it, because, if you open it soon after transportation, it's likely to be muted in flavors and aromas. There's even a name for the condition: bottle shock.

Can something similar happen to guitars? I ask because, within the last six months, I've received two guitars that when first played (after acclimatization) were disappointingly dull in sound. In one instance, I put on new strings to little effect; in the other, I also thought new strings would help but didn't get around to changing them. But then, after a couple of months, the guitars seemed to open up, becoming louder and richer sonically. In one instance, my Oxnard F40 Traditional, I did continue to play the guitar during its dull phase, figuring that the problem might simply be that the top was new and tight and needed to be played in. The other guitar, though, was 20 years old, and it had certainly been played in that time. The latter guitar indeed was causing some dismay, as it was not an inexpensive guitar. But this weekend, in anticipation of a visit to a luthier, I played the guitar for a bit, and there it was, the sound I'd been expecting but that had initially been missing. Is this something that happens?

 

[West R Lee]

Just a thought. It might matter where they came from? By that, I mean that if they came from a damp climate, and your house is a bit drier, in my book that can certainly make a huge difference. I know that my guitars sound far better when a bit dry.

Oh, and I have a brother in law who has a wine cellar. I have golf and hunting magazines in the house, he has "Wine Spectator". He goes to Napa and Italy and France to do wine tours, so every chance I get, I try to pick him up a bottle of MD 20/20 or Boone's Farm.......preferably the green, but the blue will do.

West

 

[jeffcoop]

Interesting thought, and that would make sense, but my house is humidified to about 40 percent.

 

[West R Lee]

Interesting thought, and that would make sense, but my house is humidified to about 40 percent.

Yeah, that's a bit drier than many places Jeff. My house stays at 50%, but man they sound great in winter when it gets down to 40%. Where'd they come from?

West

 

[fronobulax]

If we are going for more science and less anecdote I will also endorse the hypothesis that this does happen and a difference in humidity is a major factor. The manufacturer's recommendation is usually 40%-50% but going from higher or lower to that environment could both cause tonal issues and take a while before the instrument completely acclimates.

 

[adorshki]

I'm with the humidity group. My D25 (the top, anyway) seems especially sensitive to humidity, and definitely gets duller with higher humidity.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . Can something similar happen to guitars? . . .

No.

They can suffer in shipping, but if they do, the damage is permanent.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Just a thought. It might matter where they came from? By that, I mean that if they came from a damp climate, and your house is a bit drier, in my book that can certainly make a huge difference. . . .

Yup. That makes a lot more sense than guitar shock.

 

[Rich Cohen]

I'm on board with the point about humidity. However, there's also to consider how much the guitar(s) were played before you recieved them. Even when I let a guitar "rest" for weeks without play it, it takes awhile for it to return to the sound that I expect from the guitar.

 

[wileypickett]

I’m familiar with the phenomenon. I find that new guitars take a while to “warm up” — usually a couple two- to three-hour sessions.

I’ve never been certain, however, that it isn’t just me acclimatizing to the guitar rather than the guitar acclimatizing to me, or its new environment.

Guitars are mysterious animals!

 

[5thumbs]

My immediate reaction was "humidity", so I'm on board with all of the posts suggesting that.

 

[Rayk]

Who knows , there some that say guitars can sleep meaning if you don’t play them they can lose there umm, sparkle I guess to say or whatever you that open up sound .

I think to much humanity can muddy the waters so to say with tonalities.

Then there’s the “ you sure your ears weren’t clogged up ?” That’s one hard part about buying guitars online is not having the time to see if the guitar will blossom into what you want to hear before having to return it .

I can see it all happening so yes to all the above . Lol

 

[LesB3]

I had the same thing happen to me, on a guitar from the 40's! It had sat for decades and was in need of some minor repairs. When done, the luthier told me to take it home and play it for a few weeks as he thought the guitar would need that much time to "settle in." When I brought it home, it was fairly thin sounding but, sure enough, after about 2 weeks of casual playing, it really opened up. I don't know if it was the humidity changing, decades of non-use, or just because the new glue needed to "settle in." Maybe a little bit of everything.

 

[Br1ck]

If you've witnessed it, it happens. I'm not going to speculate on tone, but geometry very much a yes. Geometry can affect tone. But since humidity can affect geometry, it is somewhat jumbled as to what causes what effect.

 

[kostask]

I don't know about "shipping shock" the way the OP described it. I have experienced, and witnessed, guitars "sleeping". If the guitar takes an extended period of time to get to its destination, say more than a couple of weeks, It is more a factor of the guitar going to sleep vs. "shipping shock".

Also, as previously noted, a guitar leaving a high humidity area, say Florida, and going to a low humidity area (ex. Arizona) will have changes happening to it, even if the location in Arizona is humidity controlled to the "ideal" 45% humidity. You may see some action changes, perhaps a little bit of fret sprout, may need to tweak a truss rod, that sort of thing, and tonal changes will come with that.

 

[jeffcoop]

Thanks for all the thoughts. They make good sense. I don't actually see this all that often, but I recently had a pretty dramatic example, a guitar that was a huge disappointment when it arrived (and for the next week or so), but that is now what it is supposed to be. I hadn't done anything to it in the meantime (though it's now off getting a little TLC), but its sound transformed duringg the month after I received it.

 

[West R Lee]

Yeah, and again Jeff, I hear what you're saying about the humidity at your place being 40%, but I've just seen/heard it too many times here at my house. Again, my humidity stays right at 50%, except for about 3-4 months out of the year, when I run central heat. Many times dropping to your 40% during those months. The change in both volume and tone can be pretty dramatic just with that 10% change. They sound much better at 40% or so. That's why I was asking where your guitars came from?

West

 

[jeffcoop]

That one came from Virginia, and I think near the coast, so it may have been accustomed to higher humidity.

 

[maxr]

Were the guitars detuned for shipping? If severely detuned, could it be they've now adjusted to having normal string tension again?

 

[adorshki]

Were the guitars detuned for shipping? If severely detuned, could it be they've now adjusted to having normal string tension again?

Y'know I wouldn't have thought that could be an issue, but you made me think about it and decide, for the moment at least, "why not?".