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#1
09-13-2022, 02:19 PM
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opening up quickly?
Has anyone ever put their acoustic guitar in front of speakers for long periods of time to hasten the opening up process?
Seems logical. If a guitar gets better with age because of the amount of time it has been played, set it in front of speakers and play music to it to simulate someone playing it. thoughts? 
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#3
09-13-2022, 02:42 PM
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Thanks for the tip - seems like a reasonable thing to do.
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#4
09-13-2022, 02:42 PM
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This is a subject that everyone has a different take on, but here's my $0.02:
Some of this is a function of age, and this is just going to happen at the pace it happens (setting aside torrefied/VTS tops). The rest is a function of "loosening up" the top wood of your guitar. I have buddies (that I respect a lot) who believe that the speaker trick you describe really works. I am not convinced, and here is why - I do not believe that the vibrations of a speaker can possibly move the top the same way playing the guitar does. When you play the guitar, you are taking strings that are under ~150-200 lbs of collective tension and essentially snapping them like rubber bands. That imparts energy into the top of the guitar via the bridge, which causes the top to vibrate. All of this is happening while the rest of the guitar is (mostly) stationary relative to the top. I do not think that the same level of energy - and maybe just as importantly how/where that energy is applied - can be replicated by a speaker. At least not in the way we're talking about here.
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Collings 1997 0002H Martin 2012 00-DB Gibson 2020 LG-2, 2021 J-185, 2018 Parlor M Rosewood Alvarez Yairi 1988 DY-52, 1982 DY-45, 1972 5068 12-string Nation NRP, Polychrome Couple of stray mandolins...
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#6
09-13-2022, 02:48 PM
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I'm giving one guitar this treatment right now, and the top & sides are vibrating quite a bit. It seems to work.
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#7
09-13-2022, 05:12 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
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#8
09-13-2022, 05:32 PM
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Quote:
My "office" is the small third bedroom of our small house. I converted it into an office for a job where I permantly worked from hiome back in the late '90s early 2000s. In 1975, my Dad bought me a stereo system with very large floor standing (12"?) speakers which I've mounted just under the ceiling driven by a an old hi-fi amp. So it can be loud but because of the quality it doesn't need to. I spend many hours in that small room, mostly listening to talk radio - it is often intersting but it almost drowns out the tinnitus. On the opposite wall I have four guitar hangers and I discovered, purely by accident that guitars that I hang up there, after a couple of months, opened up noticeably. Example - In late 2016, I bought a Waterloo WL12. Got it home and didn't like it, but a month later they told me I had throat cancer and the treatment started. When I wasn't in the hopsitla I was either in bed or in that odfice , trying to be light hearted on this and other forums, and listening to the radio. By the time my treatment finished, and I got strength enough to hold a guitar I took it down and ... wow! a bigger, fuller sound. I managed to get similar results on other guitars, not necessarilly new but which had "gone to sleep".
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom!
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#10
09-14-2022, 11:07 AM
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One of the problems in driving with speakers is that most of the sound just bounces off the guitar. It's inefficient, and LOUD. You can get away with a lot less power by essentially converting the guitar into a loudspeaker. There are several ways to do this.
One way is to cut most of the cone away from a speaker, leaving just enough material to support the coil. A cone of made of balsa wood, or a wine cork, is glued to the dust cap to make a 'stinger'. The guitar is hung up or held on a stand, and the stinger is set up so that it just touches the saddle firmly enough not to buzz. You drive it with almost anything: often folks use a radio. Some of my students report audible changes in a weekend with a 2W or better driver. It can still get fairly loud, but not as bad as the air coupled speaker.
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#11
09-14-2022, 11:11 AM
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When I bought my first solid topped acoustic, at age 16, I was told to use Classical music, as it had the widest range of frequencies.
I think I actually did it like 3 times. Doubt it made much of a difference. Doubt it would have anyway. Best way to "open up" a guitar is just to play it. A lot.
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