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Is there a way to accelerate the break-in period? I heard there was some discussion of this during a recent meeting of the Colorado Luthiers, but I was unable to go.
Anyone have any methods or theory on this?
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

1)Play it hard
2)Place it in front of your speakers with loud music playing
3)Play it hard

Others may have better ideas

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I guess you could place your guitar in a stand in front of a speaker and play the type of music you want to play on it through it. Im not sure I buy into this method, but its the only one Ive heard of short of highering a musician to break it in for ya

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

JJ, looks like we were typing at the same time

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J,

check out this link and then go to the link for Edward Dick's presentation at the last Colorado Luthier's meeting
http://www.coloradoluthiers.org/getTogethers.htm

Something like this?

Paul, I like the setup you have there. Would there be any benefit to having it strung up to get used to the tension during break in?

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Might be. I'm not sure. But the way I have it clamped to the neck won't allow for strings without grinding them into the fingerboard.

First time i read something like this, very interesting concept!

DaSilva Ukulele had a cool little "breaker-inner" that I noticed while there. It was an old small squirrel fan motor with a pick mounted on the fan cylinder. The Ukulele was mounted in front of the contraption so that the pick would strum the strings when the fan was on. He had a dimmer switch in line so he could control the strumming speed. Mike said he would set up a Uke, turn it on and leave the shop for the evening...

What Paul rigged is a sort of 'stinger'. I usually cut out most of the speaker cone, and use a cork or balsa 'stinger' glued to the coil cover. You can hang the guitar up, with strings on it, and have the stinger on some sort of a stand. As long as there's enough pressure of the cork on the bridge saddle to keep it from buzzing (you'll know!) it will work fine. Alternatively, you can rig some sort of a clip to clamp to the saddle. You are, of course, converting the guitar into a very lo-fi speaker with this.

This is a _whole_ lot more effecive than setting the guitar in front of speakers. With 'air to air' coupling most of the sound just bounces off, and the guitar really doesn't move much. You need to blast it to get anywhere: remember 'TimbreTech'? With a stinger you can put a lot more energy where you want it without having to crank things up too loud. a couple of watts of input power will make a noticable difference over a weekend.

One thing I've noticed: I usually use a radio to drive the thing, as I don't have a CD changer. At first, when somebody is talking, it sounds like 'duckspeak', or maybe like they're under water. At some point you start to be able to make out the words clearly, and _that's_ when the tone of the guitar improves.

And, yes, you can measure changes in the way the wood works that correlate with 'playing in', no matter how you do the deed. Some violin guy actually sold, or sells, a system that uses a variable speed motor with an eccecntric weight as the vibrator, and incorporates computer controls. It runs at a certain speed until there is a change in repsonse of a desired magnitude, and then the motor speed is altered. As usual, large claims are made, but it has not caught on for the most part.

I've tried just about everything through it. I find that music with a lot of drums gets pretty anoying because the system moves so much that it vibrates (As Al stated, yes, you'll notice it, terrible noise). So I settled on classical music with lots of sustained notes.

Another interesting fact from the Colorado Luthiers get together...Edward Dick has his vibration device hooked to a device that changes the note of the vibration so that he can hit every note on the scale. He will go through every note for about 2 hours, then switch the frequency. This way, every note available to the guitar can be programmed into the wood. He told of many instances where customers have claimed this really works. He said it won't make a bad guitar good, but it will make a good guitar great!
Tracy

What an amazing group we have here.I learn somthing new every day.
Thank you all.


cecil

Can anyone explain the changes that take place when an instrument gets "played-in"? Maybe the wood could be batch processed by the tonewood suppliers and be sold as pre-played-in.

We all have first hand experience with some of the amazing properties of wood when we bend it on a hot pipe.

Kurt

There was a book that Edward shared with us, but I can't remember the name. It was written by a chemical engineer I think. It was mostly about the properties of wood in violins, but it could be applied to guitars too. The way vibrations at certain frequencies broke down the molecules of wood and rearranged them. But I'm no engineer, and it was way over my head. Just something to think about.
Tracy

You could always use a jig saw like James burkett showed

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". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Gee, Hesh, I thought I was pretty clear. As I say, you remove most of the cone of the speaker, so it won't make too much noise by itself, but leave enough to hold the coil in place. Carve a cork into a cone long enough to protrude past the speaker frame, and about the same diameter as the coil at the bottom and 1/8" or so on the top. Glue it to the coil. Set the speaker up on some sort of stand, such as a tripod, and hook it up to something that can put out a couple of watts of power and play some music.

Hang the guitar up by looping a string under the E string tuners. Damp the strings with some strips of foam slipped in underneath: I usually put them at the 4th and 11th frets. Move the speaker stand in until the point of the 'stinger' cork touches the bridge saddle. perpendicular to the top. Turn on the music. If it buzzes move the speaker in so that it makes firmer contact.

A refinement is to use some sort of clip on the stinger. I got some tiny clip clothspins once at a 'craft' store that work OK; they're about an inch long. The little triangular metal pinch-type paper clips work well, too. This will allow you to put more power in.

Nobody is sure of what changes in the wood. Carleen Hutchins made some measurements of violin family instruments and showed that the lower wood resonant modes have broader bandwidths and more amplitude after they've been 'shaken'. It's as if the wood 'loosens up' a bit, becoming more flexible. I once vibrated a strip of spruce for a month in a feedback loop with an amp and measured about a 25% increase in the damping factor: the amount of energy it dissipates. There was no change I could see in the stiffness. That's one test on one sample: not enough to do more than suggest further research. There have been a few other experiments, mostly directed at things other than musical instruments, that have yeilded contradictory results.

At any rate, if you look at the output spectrum of a new guitar, and then look at it again once it's been played in, the 'main wood' peak tends to be taller and broader 'after' than 'before'. Guitars with this sort of spectrum tend to sound 'fuller' and 'richer' compared to ones that have a narrow 'main wood' peak. OTOH, the narrower peak can 'project' better and sound more 'clear'. As usual, there's a balance to find here. Also, a guitar that starts out 'thin' and 'harsh' will tend to become more 'full' with age, but one that is full and bassy to begin with can end up 'tubby'. They all seem to change in the same way, and that can be good or bad, depending on where you start from.

YMMV