Predicting broken-in tone?
 

I keep reading about how some guitars mature and sweeten over time and some guitars seem to be consistent from the get-go.
My question is about how you find that “one” guitar if the tone you hear in the shop from the new guitar is different than what the guitar will sound like 2-5 to 15 years down the road? Seems especially true when you talk about high end guitars. I heard this big-time when I picked up a Adirondack Spruce and Koa guitar. I'm not planning on buying that guitar but if I was how would I know whether or not I'd like the way it sounds years later? What I’m most likely to get is a Bear Claw Spruce (‘cuz I like the look) and solid Indian Rosewood guitar. How do you know or predict what way the guitar will mature? Will it get deeper and darker or lighter and brighter? Is it a guessing game? Does it have anything to do with how I play it?

You buy a guitar based on what it sounds like now. The exception of course is a custom build which from what I have read here is basically an educated guess mixed with a leap of faith. I wouldn't buy a guitar that didn't sound good today hoping it would get better.

Other than the initial settling in after a guitar is built and strung up for the first time, most of this notion can't be proved empirically.

We find vintage guitars that sound very good, and claim all sorts of reasons for it. We don't know what the guitar sounded like when it was new, and if it got better or worse - or if it sounds pretty much like it did when it was new. Steel string players claim that guitars get better, and classical players claim that they get worse.

I recommend buying guitars you like the sound of now. I've never had one go sour, so to speak. If they do indeed get better, that's just a bonus.

Yep. What Barry said...

Well, yo can get a crystal ball like this one..

http://cdn.iwillteachyoutoberich.com...rystalball.jpg

..but I think it's better to take Barry's advice, and buy based on what you are hearing now.

There's no way to predict how/if it will open up. And if and when it does, it the changes occur so gradually that you might not even notice them, as your ears will have adapted at every step. Like TB said, buy it for what it sounds like today.

+1 to everyone who said buy what you like now.

But, as a general rule, a well constructed solid wood acoustic will, to a degree, open up with play (but it's hard to document because it takes a while). From my experience this means development of bass, increased responsiveness and dynamic range, and taming of the trebles. Not a seismic shift - but a guitar just becoming a little bit more of what it already is.

If you've ever played a guitar that's fresh off the bench and just strung up, you should have a sense of the tightness of a brand new guitar. With playing, they seem to loosen and develop more bloom - and that's what I expect when I buy a brand new guitar. But I also only buy what I love now, so, while I expect a marginal improvement, I don't buy based on the anticipation of what that will be.

Cool! What you folks are saying makes sense. Thanks.

Its all a bit of a quessing game,bought from new..Just play the hell out of it.
Give it some Pete Townshend..5 Tonerite's..Who knows.Have fun !
Maybe a lighter built guitar would have more chance.

I have experienced pretty significant changes in tone in the first few weeks of owning brad new guitars (luthier built), particularly when red spruce is involved. Over the first few weeks, they lose the stiffness (harsh respond to pick attack with little sustain or overtone) and start to bloom and sustain. The difference is substantial and notable. However, after this initial break-in, I've not been able to easily track in my mind's ear how things change over the long term. It's very slow, for sure.

That's not a crystal ball in that picture! That's a round light. C'ain't get nuthin' from a round light 'cept...light. And, I've been waiting for an opportunity to put this out there since I cannot for the life of me find the original post, but someone, and I think it was either Alan Carruth, Howard Klepper or Charles Tauber once mentioned something, within the last year I believe, about just hanging a guitar on the wall or leaving it out in a room if one wanted to maybe get some more out of it tone wise (and I'm not sure that was the original point so if someone can link me to the post I'd appreciate it) so about four months ago, totally realizing the risk at about 25% average humidity, I decided to do just that to my 2006 J-50 to see what would happen. And even though the ears aren't that great at remembering sound I think this guitar is changing some towards a more mature, complex tone especially in the bass response. And no cracks yet for those that think it would or should. The finish is beginning to craze a bit and I'm wondering if the finish is finally starting to really cure out and that is contributing. I do play it more too since it's really handy to have one guitar that isn't in a case. Don't mean to hijack the thread but guitars do change with time in my experience.

I absolutely would not leave a guitar to dry out in 25% RH. You may get a tonal improvement because the wood is losing moisture content, but you are just asking for a crack or some other kind of damage.

just to add
 

I think guitars get deeper/darker with time.More mellow.Less a bunch of parts
stuck together..All vibrating as one.(especially if played at 432hz:D)
+1 to what above folks have said,buy one that moves you now.Not what it will do ahead..Or buy vintage.

Truth, if you like what it sounds like new, as it hits the "milestones" at 1, 5, 10, and 20 years (give or take) it will generally be more of what you liked in the first place.

I agree with Barry. Buy for the hear and now and just enjoy it while you can.

The reason some guitars change tonally has to do with the impact of the vibrations over time combined with the natural effects of wood aging. As wood ages it looses moisture and becomes lighter and stronger. Builders know this and try to dry out the wood as best they can prior to building (the wood Martin, Taylor and Gibson are building with today has likely been drying for years) they produce guitars that will sound consistently good for decades, but still over time they continue to loose moisture and change. It happens with all products made of solid wood which is why the process of artificially aging wood (torrefication) came about.... I guess you could buy a guitar with a torrefied top and leave Tonerite on it for a few months.