When Does An Archtop Come Of Age?

[Gitfiddler]

OK, I'm talking about SOLID WOOD ARCHTOPS, not LAMINATE bodies.

 

Generally speaking, how long does it take for an archtop to really sweeten? 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? more?

 

I've read many articles about how archtops made from solid wood (top, back & sides) tend to sound better as they age. Yes, the wood and glue continues to dry, but are there any thoughts about the time frame for a well seasoned archtop?

 

My very first Heritage was a used '96 Sweet 16. I still love its tone, feel and appearance. Is this 13 year old nearing or at its sonic peak, or will it continue to sound better as it ages?

 

Let's hear from a few archtop owners and hopefully dealers on this question.

 

 

Here is 'Sweetie' sunbathing in Georgia:

[Spectrum13]

My Eastman 905CE was of age within a year. It's only a couple of years old but light construction IMHO breaks in faster. After 34 years my Guild flat top is perfert.

[the jayce]

The only thing thats going to make that arch top sound good is the player, i have seen these type of questions many times .

 

Most seasoned players (20 years +) know that any guitar (within reason) is going to sound like a dream if in the right hands, granted an older guitar may sound a little warmer in tone, but thats not going to make the guitar sound sweet, just the musician will, approach,technique,style,different types of vibrato, and experience is the key for the magic tone, not the age of the guitar.

 

I have seen guys buy the high end 1960's martin acoustics with more tone than you could shake a stick at, and have a guy play an unplugged electric squire or epiphone right next to them and sound a thousand times sweeter, may be hard to believe but true none the less.

 

If theres a sound your thirsting after (MAKE THE GUITAR DO IT!) with your hands, because no ageing process is going to give it to you just your playing will.

 

just a little food for thought.

[yoslate]

Not solid, I know, but it's my only frame of reference: My 576 feels and sounds quite "settled in" at eighteen years old. It has a "tightness," a "dryness" which I just don't sense in my Super, which was built in 2007. A good friend of mine has a thirty-plus year old L-5 and a 175, and they have that same quality I feel in my 576. And, as Tim said, it's about the glue and wood drying, but I think the finish drying, as well, is very significant. The wood and finish in my Super are magnificent. I just hope I'm still able to get my fingers around on it in fifteen or twenty years, when it's really sweet!

[111518]

The issue of why aged wood sounds better has been the subject of a lot of research by physicists interested in acoustics. (Many physicists seems to be musicians or instrument builders ...Einstein played violin.)

 

It's more complex than drying; though that is part of it. The chemical composition of the wood actually changes. If the following is correct, the first modern archtops made in the 20s are just now rounding into form. Here's a bit from an article I found on google.

 

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m120...ag=content;col1

"A wood's age is very important," she says. "Violin makers' lore says that it takes 50 years for optimum seasoning. I respect that lore. Most of the time it turns out to be right."

 

Why does aged wood play better? No one is quite sure. Scientists know that once a tree is cut, crystals begin to form in its cell walls. The older the wood, the greater its crystallinity and the less susceptible it is to airborne moisture. Hutchins believes that those crystals alter the wood's resonant frequencies by augmenting its vibrations.

 

Violin lore holds that how an instrument is played affects the way it eventually sounds. Craftsmen also believe that a top violin needs 80 years of good playing to get broken in properly. Players often report that an unused instrument "goes to sleep" and requires regular playing to bring back its luscious sound.

 

Hutchins thinks the explanation lies in how the harmonic vibrations of bowing affect the polymer chains of violin wood. Over time, the polymers tend to suffer microscopic breaks, which then reform into subtly different patterns. To test her theory, she ties some instruments to speaker cones and subjects them to 1,500 hours of classical music. "They do sound better afterwards," she says.

[Kuz]

I have asked J Thomas Davis (luthier in Columbus, he has made guitars for Arlo Guthrie, Leo Kottke, and James Hatfield) about when guitars open up and how long.

 

His response was it needs to sound good as soon as you get it, then it will only get better. If it sounds like a turd to begin with, it will improve some but never become amazing.

 

He also said the first 10-15hrs played on the guitar will open up the guitar at least 50% of it's lifetime "openness". The other 50% could take 10-25 years depending on how much you play it.

 

The bottom line was, the more frequently you play it, the better the guitar will sound. But it needs to be a good sounding guitar from the get go.