"waking up" a top

[Dr Izza Plumber]

I've kept My Guilds and Taylor guitars standing in front of the stereo speakers for most of this past week. They've been fed a diet of "smooth jazz" along with the sub-woofer set above normal on intensity.

My word! The D55 is now louder and stronger in the Bass dept than My GAD50. This is a complete reversal of both guitars tonal attributes, prior to the musical indoctrination.
The Taylor also, seems to be more responsive across the board, and it let Me know so by popping the high "G" string last night.

I play at least 4 of My acoustics axes everyday, but the stereo diet has simply surpassed what I could accomplish by playing the guitars.
I'm a believer!

Dr. Izza,

Let me ask you this: have you had these guitars a while, during such time you have played them on a regular basis, and assuming they had been "broken-in" by now, and now by giving them this "treatment", they are still sounding better than before?
If that is the case, then it would be safe to say that almost any solid top guitar, even after its "breaking-in" period has come and gone, when the wood has settled in, would get better if subjected to this bombardment of sound waves.
So there is one more level we can take our guitars to, in addition to just playing them, to break them in, and that is this treatment of sound waves, to wake up resins that have been locked up for years.
Anybody agree?
Disagree?

The D55, I've owned for about a year now. The Taylor 855, since about July. I don't believe the axes vibrate when playing, as intensely when utilizing the stereo, subwoofers directed into the soundhole. BTW, both guitars were manufactured in 2006.

"Case" Closed. :wink:

 

[fronobulax]

JerryR -- well, not really... I was sort of "spanked" for flirting here...

Did it ever occur to you that people were responding to your flirtation and just trying to see if spanking was an acceptable activity?

<ducks for cover/>

 

[Carol]

fronobulax -- I don't think I can safely respond! *S* And NO -- that wasn't a flirt!

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

We need some serious flirting around here. Liven up the place!

 

[BluesDan]

I understand completely, lately electrics have been doing it to me.

Hey Jeff.......I know you have been ripping out those blues scales, and if electrics are doing it for you, you should check this video out. I play it pretty much the same way, it's simple blues, yet really really cool.......and easy when you break it down........
Check it out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bKYcDLJhvR0

Enjoy!!!!

 

[Jeff]

I understand completely, lately electrics have been doing it to me.

Hey Jeff.......ripping out those blues scales, .........check this video out. ..........simple blues, yet really really cool.......and easy when you break it down........
Check it out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bKYcDLJhvR0

Enjoy!!!!

Dan,

Thanks for the link. Today by far the best session ever with my instructor, a couple of time both of us rocked back & closed our eyes & it was good.

Never imagined I could understand & actually hear what I'm learning now. Had Smitty grinning when I ran patterns all the way up & down from the 12th fret, actually, from the 15th fret a little. May have to sell the Starfire & get one with a longer neck.

Ain't all pretty all the time, Still looking for the roots here & there along the way :roll: but I'm getting closer, Just too freaking cool.

 

[john_kidder]

I expect we get a lotta disappointed people - especially when you get topics like "Look closely at this Brazilian" :shock:

Perfect - I wonder what .alt sites we get quoted in?

 

[huitzlopochtli]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what type of spruce a 74 F112 would be made of? I know there's supposed to be a difference, apparently, but I don't know much about tonewoods or the construction of a top. And what is 'figured'?

 

[bluegrass jubilee]

If I'm thinking clearly, an F-112 would have some manner of sitka spruce top. Probably AA grade, maybe AAA.

Figured wood means that it has a wavy or flame appearance to it. It's typically found on higher graded woods and is considered an upgrade due to appearance. I don't have a pic handy, but if you google 'figured maple' or 'flamed maple' I'm sure you'd find some nice examples

 

[huitzlopochtli]

So a higher number of A's = better wood? How would I determine what my guitar is, and what separates the a guild sitka top from any of those $100 guitars that also use sitka?

 

[Scratch]

Sounds like a Hans inquiry to me!

 

[CurtO]

I just got done practicing my set for Worship this Sunday. When I hit the first chord after taking my D50 out of the case my eyebrowse raised to a very pleasant tone improvement. I'm not really sure this has anything to do with my top waking up, I'm not sure it was ever sleeping. Maybe I just didn't remember just how sweet it sounds. In any event it really does seem to sound better everytime I play it. And I really mean it this time... :wink:

Has anyone ever played O Come O Come Emanuel on the guitar? When chording there is a switch per syllable. Whew!!! what a work out!

 

[kostask]

So a higher number of A's = better wood? How would I determine what my guitar is, and what separates the a guild sitka top from any of those $100 guitars that also use sitka?

It goes up to AAAAA (5A) which is also referred to as a Master Grade top. The wood is better from an appearance aspect; it doesn't really have a bearing on the sound of the wood. Also, the grading of a top (or other woods, for that matter) is very much a subjective one. One person's AAA top, might be another person's AAAA or AAAAAA, or just an A or AA. There are no truly objective criteria for grading a top. The usual criteria used, grain lines per inch, uniformity of color, silking (more a measure of how close to perfect quarter the top is) all vary according to the spruce used. Sitka and Engleman, may be fairly uniform in color, and have a lot of grain lines per inch. Adirondack may have more color streaks, and fewer lines per inch, yet it still may be a AAAAA top, as Adirondack just isn't as uniform in color as Sitka and Engleman, and will generally have fewer lines per inch.

As stated above, some lower grade spruce may sound as good as the higher grades. In some cases, the lower grade but still great sounding wood gets a sunburst finish, to cover the appearance up some.

Kostas

 

[fronobulax]

Has anyone ever played O Come O Come Emanuel on the guitar? When chording there is a switch per syllable. Whew!!! what a work out!

Thread jack.
Not sure whether it was the arrangement or the guitarist, but you can get away with a very sparse arrangement - basically one chord on the downbeats and let it ring. Obviously you would be expecting the vocal line to carry things and this works best the closer you are to a Plainsong type chant arrangement.

 

[CurtO]

Thanks Frono, at the risk of jacking the thread even further.... I could go the route you suggest, however I find that if I can keep up with the way it is written it improves my chording and rhythm technique so I try to go along with it if it makes sense.