Members kwakatak Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Call me crazy, but I see guitars as more than just a collection of woods. I see them as pieces of workmanship that age and mature much like a living being. I just love how spruce ages to a nice honey color and how white binding can turn non-uniformly yellow. I can certainly see why some would like to purchase guitars with "vintage" top toner but OTOH there's also something to be said about a guitar that's taken years to arrive at. Who else feels this way? BTW, that being said, who feels that it's "cheating" to buy guitars with scalloped bracing (for that "open" tone that older guitars develop over time), "vintage" toner and other options that would make a "new" guitar seem to be "older"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Neil, you know how much old crap I have laying around and I love all of it. But you also know that I think we are in the second Golden Era of acoustics, my gosh there are some wonderful guitars being made today, and some of it is because people are pushing the new ones to sound open and vintage. The important thing to me is that each of us has one of more guitars that makes us smile and that we want to take out and play. Old, new, vintage, artifically aged - I don't care as long as it makes music. But I kind of agree with you, I own a couple of 40 year old cars that have soul that no modern one ever will, a basement full of wines that keep getting better and a house that is over a hundred yeas old with all the problems that go with it. And if the house was on fire the two guitars that I would grab are the '32 Dobro (purchase price $200) and the '69 Yamaha ($100), but I'd go back in for the 74 Martin and the the 76 Heitz Cellar cabernet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I don't know if I let them age, or they just get older. I play them for as long as I can or need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members larry50 Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I agree with Neil. Real blue jeans went out the window with those "stone-washed" and "acid" wash models. Give me a good pair of Levi's made of the old fashioned heavy blue denim and 10 years to break them in. Those are real blue jeans. Guitars are the same way, and good chardonnays and burgundy's too. I like to watch them age. But some people like the vintage look, stone-washed jeans and 20 year old bottles of wine. That's just the way it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 11, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I don't know if I let them age, or they just get older. I play them for as long as I can or need them. Oh yeah, me too. I love every little dink, nick and scratch on my guitars. Added character, I say. When they start falling apart I either pay to patch 'em up or try and do it myself with Elmer's glue and bailing wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I like the idea of playing my aged guitars. I don't like the idea of aging... myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NotDead Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I leave mine in the beams of sunlight on purpose. I love the gentle "tan" of the wood under florida sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 You're crazy, and a hopeless romantic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 11, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 You're crazy, and a hopeless romantic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members keithj Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 well here the way i see it 3 things get better with age guitars , whiskey, and harleys ..............hell ya:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I kind of wish my Masterbilt didn't come with the vintage toner because when I scratch it, it's extremely noticeable. A white scar on an otherwise yellow instrument. But it looked nice when I got it. And it still sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar_stringer Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Who here likes to let their guitars age? Well, unless you are planning their premature demise, they'll all age in time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members whiteop Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I have two that I like to age...a 71 Fender Strat and a 1981 Gibson ES-335. Figure both will be worth something some day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bek1 Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I have a mid-1930s Regal dobro. It's covered with finish-checking, and it looks fantastic and sounds better. Today I was looking at my 1973 Guild flattop (original owner so I've been there all along, and made the scratches myself) and saw the checking is beginning, up at the headstock. Love it. I bought a 1983 Guild 12-string last month, and the checking is already starting a bit on that one, too. The new Republic Tricone "relic" I bought is a great guitar, and the body relic work is convincing, but the neck doesn't have any done to it; his work is done on the metal body parts. It's a great guitar, but it's not a true relic like the others, and until it is, it won't really play and feel like one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Personally, I like to destroy all of my guitars before they get too old. They just don't have the same quality of life they had when they were younger. They begin to sag with age, the belly of the top starts to bulge, and the neck gets crooked. Sometimes they even start to fall apart physically and all the geriatric medicine in the world can't help. The skin develops wrinkles and it then requires plastic surgery. The joints get weak. An early death avoids those things. bigald18 :facepalm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Why the wobbleface? You asked to be called crazy in the first three words of your thread. I obliged. And, there is a certain romance folks here have displayed about their guitars and guitars in general. Your thread is an illustration of that. It's a good thing and certainly a happy hopelessness. I don't share the sentiment as I tend to flip guitars at the first hint of anything that develops with them I don't care for or decide to get something else. On averages I keep a guitar one to two years at most because the resale value is still very good. I do take very good care of them, maintain them at 45% RH and 75 degrees year-round and ensure they remain like-new to keep their value. Otherwise I just play them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cymro#1 Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Well.... I just like to look after my guitars best I can and keep 'em looking young, healthy and useful for as long as possible......like with me I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members riffmeister Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I love aged guitars. Especially spruce top guitars. The sound and the finish both 'mature' in indescribably delicious ways. Here is a new-to-me 21 year old spruce top classical guitar in mint condition, wow, what beauty both visually and aurally! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I like to age them naturally... Back in 1980 I bought a brand new Fender Bullet electric guitar. After 15 years of hard gigging the guitar was "aged" so much that my guitar tech guy was shocked at the amount of rust that covered the bridge and saddles. The saddles would not budge. He said it was impossible to intonate it unless the bridge saddles where removed and cleaned in naptha... After a year of playing my Taylor 114 every day it is opening up nicely and I can't wait to see and hear how it is 5-10 years from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I adore the sound of vintage Martins. If I had any solid ones, I wouldn't part with them, so yeah, I'd let them age, or enjoy whatever age they already come with if I happened upon a vintage one that I could afford. I think it's more than the sound - I love the patina and mojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I didn't know I had a choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Call me crazy, but I see guitars as more than just a collection of woods. I see them as pieces of workmanship that age and mature much like a living being. I just love how spruce ages to a nice honey color and how white binding can turn non-uniformly yellow. I can certainly see why some would like to purchase guitars with "vintage" top toner but OTOH there's also something to be said about a guitar that's taken years to arrive at. Who else feels this way? BTW, that being said, who feels that it's "cheating" to buy guitars with scalloped bracing (for that "open" tone that older guitars develop over time), "vintage" toner and other options that would make a "new" guitar seem to be "older"? Ten or 12 years ago I bought a Norman dread (owned by Seagull, out of Canada, of course) because I fell in love with the feel of the guitar and it's quite shallow neck, moderately wide neck (my preference). And it was relatively inexpensive. But it was green. When I brought it home, the whole house ended up smelling like a sawmill. I decided to let it dry out on the slow side -- since I figured the faster it dried out, the more likely changes to the body and neck would occur. It's relatively lightly braced (but it still sounded green, to be sure) so I wanted to cushion it. I left the silica gel pack in the string box in the case and left it in the case except when I played it occasionally. It didn't sound all that great at first but it seemed likely it would deepen up as it dried out, and, of course, it did. After a couple years, the smell of green wood was greatly diminished (it stuck for a long time) and I started leaving it out (the only way to get me to actually pick up a guitar regularly) on its stand. The sound was much rounder and warmer, with little of that flatness of green wood. And it's seemed very stable, even when I moved from 3 miles inland to a few hundred feet from the beach (a tiny apartment over some garages, no need to feel too jealous) about four years ago. I was nervous buying a guitar that green -- but it turned out nicely. Now if I'd only hadn't bought a dread... I was one of those kids who grew up around guys with Martin dreadnaughts and I just thought that was what a guy should have. (Well, if he could afford it. ) Nowadays, I sort of look at those Martin 12 fret 000-15's and think, yeah, that'd ease the old right shoulder issues... and have a tighter, firmer sound for finger picking, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Highway_61 Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I like the idea of playing my aged guitars. I don't like the idea of aging... myself! That's why I have endorsed this new line of guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 11, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 I didn't know I had a choice. Well, one thing I've learned about GAS is that beside because an "acquisition" disease, it's also one in which "turnover" is all too common. Some folks either don't give themselves adequate time to bond to their new guitars or simply just can't afford them in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted January 11, 2009 Members Share Posted January 11, 2009 Jeez, Joe, you're just to sane to have any fun with. Sorry about the warbly-face (you do seem kinda sensitive to those smilies, don't you? ) but I couldn't find the adequate "I'm bemused and don't quite know what to say in such harsh speaking of the truth." I guess would have been more apropos. Well, one thing I've learned about GAS is that beside because an "acquisition" disease, it's also one in which "turnover" is all too common. Some folks either don't give themselves adequate time to bond to their new guitars or simply just can't afford them in the first place. . Your perspective about the nuances of guitar aging is great, IMO. Wish I had that kind of brain. I live in a highly technical world though. For instance, where one person may see an aviator as a glamorous Errol Flynn sort of character personifying the aerial swash-buckler I know him better as a technician and tactician. That's also how I view guitar players. No glamour. Just a lot of work to develop skills, ultimately use them to establish an audience who's perspective is of a glamorous nature and feed off of it. I guess you can see now how I view the guitar itself. I take the arts in general and dissect them to reveal the core logic of their reality. Besides, I thought I had made it known that my contributions to this forum were to be taken LTA (that's lighter than air) and I do walk the edge furthest away from those seriously afflicted with guitar-sanity. I have no sensitivity to emoticons. I just prefer to use them sparingly and substitute words instead. Sometimes they actually come across as rational thoughts so I have to monitor that fine line. Being taken seriously might get me into something deeper than I really care to be. Otherwise, no fault no foul Neil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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