While my guitar gently sleeps.

rustneversleeps · October 2017

We all know about guitars are said to “open up” with playing and age etc.I’am having thoughts the other way.Ive a decent guitar that sounded great and with volume.This guitar gets very little use now and it’s in the case most of the time.Played it today sounded like it was stuffed with socks.I changed strings not much better.Ive taken account of humidity as well.So do they get sleepy

ICBM · October 2017

Yes.

If you can, keep it on a stand or a hanger not in the case - it will absorb natural vibrations from the room and follow humidity changes, and the sound will open up. Really...

richardhomer · October 2017

ICBM said:

If you can, keep it on a stand or a hanger not in the case - it will absorb natural vibrations from the room and follow humidity changes, and the sound will open up. Really...

Most quality makers tell you to put your guitar in its case when not being played, yet my 25 year old well played Martin seemed to go off the boil after a lengthy period of incarceration.

A few days in the open seems to have done it the world of good....

camf · October 2017

Honestly, you guys will do anything @ICBM says. You do know that all us Edinburgh Fretboarders all sit with him in a pub in Roslin and buy him a drink every time one of you believes one of these outrageous stories. We usually have to take him home in an ambulance.

camf · October 2017

(I've just taken my J45 out of its case.)

ToneControl · October 2017

I use a ToneRite

they rotate one around the store in Ivor Mairants, makes a big difference

TTony · October 2017

Good to see you posting a new thread @rustneversleeps ;

rustneversleeps · October 2017

TTony said:

Good to see you posting a new thread @rustneversleeps ;

As you know i’am trying (me best)

thomasross20 · October 2017

I always thought it was best to keep then in their cases (that's what it says be in my Larrivee booklet).......... Though now they're all out on stands, I guess I'll find out..

richardhomer · October 2017

camf said:

Honestly, you guys will do anything @ICBM says. You do know that all us Edinburgh Fretboarders all sit with him in a pub in Roslin and buy him a drink every time one of you believes one of these outrageous stories. We usually have to take him home in an ambulance.

@camf - I’ve just bought a Jensen Tornado because ICBM told me the one in your Princeton sounded good. Please don’t tell me I’ve been ‘had’

camf · October 2017

Barman... another Pimms for @ICBM

Bridgehouse · October 2017

No. No, it's not true

@ICBM keeps saying that I have to have a bloody Rickenbacker bass.

I categorically do not need a completely outdated anachronistic oddly shaped overpriced chunk of wood like that.

I have plenty of Precisions that fulfil that perfectly.

camf · October 2017

Barman... make that a double!

Bridgehouse · October 2017

camf said:

Barman... make that a double!

Has he moved onto the Cool Aid yet?

thomasross20 · October 2017

Isn't it Kool Aid? Or is that not cool?

Bridgehouse · October 2017

thomasross20 said:

Isn't it Kool Aid? Or is that not cool?

I'm glad I'm not cool. Or Kool.

thomasross20 · October 2017

Lewy · October 2017

They certainly do go to sleep. I keep all my guitars in cases (except my little L'Arrivee parlour which seems impervious to environmental change) so I just make sure to rotate which ones I practice on. As I've only got three flat tops (apart from little Larry) it means they're never more than 2 days away from being played.

Resonators go to sleep too (whether they are in a case or not), but there are specific things you can do to wake them up straight away rather than having to play them for any period of time.

Phil_aka_Pip · October 2017

Lewy said:

Resonators go to sleep too (whether they are in a case or not), but there are specific things you can do to wake them up straight away rather than having to play them for any period of time.

pray, tell.

CHRISB50 · October 2017

Yep my Lowden sounded dead if it hadn't been played for a while. After a few hours it was fine again.

Lewy · October 2017

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Lewy said:

Resonators go to sleep too (whether they are in a case or not), but there are specific things you can do to wake them up straight away rather than having to play them for any period of time.

pray, tell.

I used to play in a duo with a guy who had a collection of more than 30 pre-war biscuit and tricone Nationals. They were all out on stands but obviously didn't all get played that often. His routine for waking up one that hadn't been played for a while was:

- hold it vertically by the headstock end of the neck and tap the body and coverplate all over with your fingertips to dislodge dust that may have settled
- then detune slightly...not so much that any of the strings go slack, just enough to be able to...
- .....pull each string in turn out of it's bridge slot, and then slide it across the saddle to let it snap itself back in
- retune

You could definitely hear a difference before and after.

Phil_aka_Pip · October 2017

wow duly awarded

rustneversleeps · October 2017

Just a bit of a update.Left the guitar out of its case for a few days and played it.Its back to its former glory.Thks for all your help guys,(Martin 00015sm)

crunchman · October 2017

Think that's the problem with having too many guitars. You find some that don't get played enough.

I play a guitar of some kind almost every day, but sometimes one will sit in it's case for a month or two. I have less than I did, but I could do with selling one or two more. it's just that they are all slightly different, and I can kind of justify keeping them.

rustneversleeps · October 2017

It’s a nice problem to have having too many guitars though.

koneguitarist · October 2017

I have an old Sigma D28H which I have owned since 1988, and for about 6-7 years I battered that guitar 2-3 gigs a week and it sounded amazing. I either had 12-13's on it and it was punchy and resonant, despite back and sides being ply.
However I stopped playing it for a couple of years due to new bands, sometimes I was on bass sometimes lead so the acoustic was in a case shut away.
When I finally took it out it sounded awful, not just dead but seriously dull no bass or treble.
I did the usual changed strings and played it a bit which started to improve the sound but due to my hands I struggle to play it for more than 4-5 mins at a time as I cramp up with such a small V profile neck. I now leave it hanging on wall, accessible to just grab every so often and play a while. Not as good as it was but only one that's a keeper out of all my guitars due to sentimental reasons.
Most important thing, keep playing them.

VimFuego · October 2017

I don't play much guitar anymore (fiddle is my main thing now, and combined with a bit of arfer in my left hand makes it uncomfortable) but I still keep the larry on a stand and whenever I go in my studio (aka the spare room) I will take it down, if only for a few mins, and pick out a few things on it. Dunno about electrics, but acoustics certainly benefit from being played daily.

AliGorie · October 2017

The forthright answer to this is - I chose good instruments when parting with my hard earned cash, they always sound good
no matter what the atmospheric pressure or humidity or solar wind intensity etc is doing and within reason what strings are on them.
That being the case this allows me to concentrate on what having guitars is all about - creating music. Thats what I listen to - everything else is a distraction.
Also knowing theres a quality constant allows me to enjoy other aspects of playing - like how my music on my guitars sounds in different 'spaces'. E.g. I can still hear the sound of my Lowden floating around St Andrews in the Square in Glasgow - I was so taken with the 'effect', almost like playing through an Ecoplex - I almost lost track of where I was 'in the piece'.
On the point of them becoming less responsive with lack of playing - yeah, well so do I, I haven't been playing much the last couple of years and when I have the guitar I take out may have lay'n for month's without being played so it's a 'wake up call' for both of us

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While my guitar gently sleeps.

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