Does a guitar´s tone and sound improve with age?

[boombox]

From my own personal experience, I think the age of a guitar does make a difference, especially with rosewood instruments. I had a wonderful 25 year old Fylde Oberon, which I stupidly sold as I didn't realise how comparatively little a neck reset would have cost to get a similar guitar with the same tone. A few years later I picked up a seven year old Collings OM2H, which trounced every rosewood guitar I played before or since, but the neck wasn't for me. I still own an Avalon L32C which sounded great when I got it from the factory, but sounded really great after a year of regular playing - the increased amount of bass was unmistakable.

[markcrawford]

Yes.......yes. My Collings sounds better now than when I got it. Both my old and newer CeO7s improved for sure.I play the newer one almost exclusively now to speed it along. I will say that I used a tonerite on it for over a week and that seemed to bring the lows out...It was noticeable. Easy to notice because I was gone on vacation and left it going for 7 straight nights and days.

I dion't like buying new guitars and won't for the most part unless something really grabs me. iI would rather get one that has been played for a good while and maybe even already had a refret.

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by rov

Is this true?. I am planning to buy a Martin 00028 EC so an old one will sound better than a new one?

It'll probably sound better, but only if it was taken care of very well. If it's in poor condition, then I don't think it'll sound as good as a new one.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by koolimy

This is not directly related to your comment, but aren't most of your guitars extremely responsive and lightly built? I've seen at least 3 people that have mentioned the trebles on their guitar increasing (or losing bass, or gaining clarity, etc.), and all of them seem to have guitars that were already very good and responsive. I also experienced the trebles increasing with one of my guitars, but that was a classical so it was a net positive.

So it seems like guitars can definitely get worse with age, and it seems more likely to happen the better the guitar is right now. I still don't understand how it works, but Mr. Carruth mentioned how the main sound producing mode can affect frequencies up to 1000 hz, which is B5, basically the end of the fretboard on the high E string.

Yes, my guitars are all very good guitars, all very responsive, including the 1967 Martin D-35.

Regarding the increase in bass folks keep referring to, I have observed a little of that effect in newer guitars that might be ten years old or younger. My 2009 Collings OM1A picked up slightly more bass, for example. And for the Collings, that's a good thing.

But the loss in bass (or increase in treble) that I have referred to has occurred in some of my older guitars, specifically my D-35 and my Martin 000-28VS. Also, there has also been some slight loss of bass in my 1995 Olson SJ (cedar top/EIR back and sides).

I don't mean to make too much of this, because as I have noted, the changes are fairly subtle. But I know it's not just my ears. In the past I used Martin SP 80/20 strings on both my Martin 00-28VS and my Olson SJ because they were so "bassy" that I felt I needed to emphasize the treble with 80/20 strings. More recently, however, I have switched to using D'Addario Phosphor Bronze on these two guitars because they no longer need that treble boost because the slight loss of bass on these guitars has changed the balance on both these guitars.

- Glenn

[Pdubs76]

I don’t know how anyone could really tell with all of the other factors that have an impact on a guitars tone on any given day.

[mtdmind]

Originally Posted by Andy Mitchell

I'm not an expert at guitars, and have no idea if blanket statements about them getting better with age are true or not. But I am an engineer who knows something about materials and have worked with a lot of 100 - 150 year old lumber while renovating old houses. And old lumber definitely has different material properties than the less old stuff. Genuinely old lumber seems very hard and brittle in comparison to the newer stuff. You drill hole to put nails through to prevent splitting instead of just trying to pound them in. And assuming something like that happens to guitar wood as it ages as well I could definitely see an instruments tone changing with the passage of time. Better or worse, I don't know.

(and PS - after building a couple of kit guitars with torrefied tops, I'm not sure that the same 'old house hardness' is there in a modern torrefied top. They seemed to generate a lot of fuzz when you sand them and they smell different than a 'normal' top, but the material itself didn't seem harder to me. But I'm not really an expert, so take this observation with a grain of salt, lol.)

That is interesting about how torrified tops smell different than a normal top when sanded. Good to know from an engineer viewpoint.

[RADJJD]

Tonal changes as a guitar ages?

My experiences as follows:

I have owned & played my archtop acoustic guitar for 52 years, inherited from my Dad who played it for 20 years, it is now 92 yrs. old & all of the tone woods, carved cedar soundboard, Honduran mahogany back, sides, & arm, ebony fretboard & floating bridge are all as HARD AS A STONE, so humidification is a real challenge.

Built in a custom shop in Chicago in 1932, it has moved with me several times to vastly different climates & storage conditions: extremely hot, cold & dry prairies (less than 30% humidity) to now extremely humid (Pacific coast), plus altitude changes from sea level to 5000 ft. (Rocky Mountains), & different household heating & cooling systems. Yes, it has sounded different in different locals.

It has been stripped (original nitro) & now ultra blonde shellac (French polish) & restored with new bracing. Designed for steel strings, I have used a variety from D'Addario Phosphor bronze lights, Martin's, & now several nylons (Pro Arte EJ45's, Folk EJ32's, & La Bella 830's),

Yes, the tone has changed over time, most likely from all the changes; so have my hearing & my hands; if I had owned an AI tone analyzer over all these years, I might have some actual objective evidence. Otherwise, it is only one picker's opinion.

It does sound different today as I have just swapped out the mono nylon G for a wound Phosphor bronze 3rd string; quite a good improvement on some of my favorite finger picking chords.

I loved how it sounded when my Dad first bought it from a Pro Jazz musician, & I love the sound of it today; that is all I need to know.

I'm a player, not a collector.