Do acoustic guitars become more fine with age?

[YogurtKing]

So I was doing some shopping yesterday and tried out maybe 20 different guitars over the course of 2 hours. Price ranges were all the way from $300 to $2000. I found almost every guitar to be a little jarring on the top end. Bass was non-existent on cheaper guitars, and as the price went up, so did the bass response - to the point that some of the high end guitars I played had TOO MUCH bass, it sounded thumpy and awful.

 

Then I came home and picked up my 15-year-old Yamaha acoustic... cheap old thing, probably cost $200 at the time. The tone is well-balanced and quite pleasant. Not perfect, not amazing, but very very good and much better than anything I played yesterday.

 

 

Could this be a result of age?

[Terry Allan Hall]

Possibly, but Yammies are decent guitars in the 1st place...vintage "crap" guitars probably don't improve all that much...

[babablowfish]

Despite what many people maintain, I am a firm believer in the ability of all-laminate guitars to improve with age. I have played a lot of old Yamaha FGs that have all-laminate construction and which sound amazing, often better than solid-topped guitars which sell for more. In fact, I am trying like hell to restrain myself from buying yet another old Yammie that I played in a music store last week which validated this belief yet again. So, Yamaha makes good guitars that are very solidly built and that last a long time and they happen to age well.

 

So which model # Yamaha do you play?

[babybatter]

most people feel a guitars top needs to open up, and will then better reverberate.

But large dreadnaughts and jumbos tend to get boomy as they age too.

[eor]

eor hopes so, as his guitars aren't getting any younger

love,
eor

[guitarist21]

Most guitars (solid tops for sure, its arguable about laminates as Baba would tell you) open up with age. This often means that a guitar will sound more bassy if it is older and/or played more. I've never really heard of a guitar's higher frequencies getting more clear after opening up a little but I suppose it is possible.

Ellen

[MattSkibaIsGOD]

My mom has an old Montaya "D-15" style guitar and it sounds better now than it did as little as 3 or 4 years ago. So, sure they get better with age.

[Tony Burns]

When it comes to guitars - if they are not made with quality materials such as solid wood back, sides and top -they have little chance of ever getting great -good yes, great no - But , If you have a solid top it will get better with time ( thou all solid wood is best )- like the old saying goes- Crap in , Crap out !

[guitarcapo]

Improvement with age definitely happens. I cannot build a guitar from new materials that will sound as good as taking a 50 year old trashed Harmony guitar apart and rebuilding it. It's happened enough times to me that I'm sure something is going on.

[guitarist21]

Improvement with age definitely happens. I cannot build a guitar from new materials that will sound as good as taking a 50 year old trashed Harmony guitar apart and rebuilding it. It's happened enough times to me that I'm sure something is going on.

Speaking of Harmony (sorry to hijack the thread), I saw a Sovereign at the local GC which I visited this weekend and it had... NYLON STRINGS ON IT!! And they were really old. Sounded pretty dead.

(threadjack over)

Ellen

[Hudman]

So I was doing some shopping yesterday and tried out maybe 20 different guitars over the course of 2 hours. Price ranges were all the way from $300 to $2000. I found almost every guitar to be a little jarring on the top end. Bass was non-existent on cheaper guitars, and as the price went up, so did the bass response - to the point that some of the high end guitars I played had TOO MUCH bass, it sounded thumpy and awful. Then I came home and picked up my 15-year-old Yamaha acoustic... cheap old thing, probably cost $200 at the time. The tone is well-balanced and quite pleasant. Not perfect, not amazing, but very very good and much better than anything I played yesterday. Could this be a result of age?

 

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I decided to "upgrade" my 10 year Seagul S6. It was my only acoustic. I had a hard time in the begining finding anything in the $500 - $2000 range that sound better to me.

 

After my ears "adjusted" to hearing different guitars, I realized that I was favoring the S6 because I was used to hearing it exclusively for 10 years. It wasn't that the S6 had awesome tone that blew away every guitar 2 - 7 times it's price (For the record: the S6 did sound good, but it wasn't better than everything I played).

 

Keep hunting for a new guitar, the more guitars you play and hear, the quicker you will find one you like as well or better than your old Yamaha.

 

Better yet, stop now and save your money.

 

GAS is a bitch.

[babablowfish]

Keep hunting for a new guitar, the more guitars you play and hear, the quicker you will find one you like as well or better than your old Yamaha.

 

 

Heresy! Heresy, I say!

[Terry Allan Hall]

Despite what many people maintain, I am a firm believer in the ability of all-laminate guitars to improve with age. I have played a lot of old Yamaha FGs that have all-laminate construction and which sound amazing, often better than solid-topped guitars which sell for more. In fact, I am trying like hell to restrain myself from buying yet another old Yammie that I played in a music store last week which validated this belief yet again. So, Yamaha makes good guitars that are very solidly built and that last a long time and they happen to age well. So which model # Yamaha do you play?

 

 

In all honesty, the only all-laminate guitars that seem to consistently improve noticably w/ age are Yammies...everything else seems to require at least a solid top!

 

I find that interesting/odd, but can't argue w/ the evidence!

[Lancaster]

My Yamaha FG-435 seems to keep getting better,too. I really lucked out buying it but even at the time trying them all out in the store, this one had a certain "something " that others costing more didnt.

 

Anyone shopping for a good, cheap acoustic should always check whatever Yammies are around.

[thatsbunk]

i have to agree with whats been said here already...

my 32 year old fg-110 laminate yammie has been getting the majority of my acoustic playing time lately.

it definitely sounds better with age, but it's probably because:

-i've gotten better with age (not much, but some!)
-i adjusted the action, & replaced the old plastic saddle with bone

my other acoustic is an alvarez (rd-8c). also plywood. i've had it for about 2 years now & it sounds pretty much the same as when i got it. it's not bad.. but not great either. when i most likely get rid of this guitar, I'll be looking at a solid top for sure.

i've had the yamaha since it was new & don't ever see selling it!

[athomas]

all this talk about yamahas. Are the new yamahas as good as the older ones?

I have Martin -solid top & Back with laminated sides and the sound definitely got better with age. Everyone who listens to it says it has a very clear tone.

The materials that go into making the guitar defnitely contribute to the sound getting better with age, but the most important factor is the construction. I have owned some solid top guitars with both laminate and solid back/sides. that stayed the same.

Takamine makes guitars that sound great right out of the box but the tone stays the same. I owned a EG series - Solid top w/ laminate back & sides for 3yrs.

one of my first acoustics an Ibanez all solid wood had the same tone. I had that guitar for 5yrs.

[Hudman]

 

all this talk about yamahas. Are the new yamahas as good as the older ones? I have Martin -solid top & Back with laminated sides and the sound definitely got better with age. Everyone who listens to it says it has a very clear tone. The materials that go into making the guitar defnitely contribute to the sound getting better with age, but the most important factor is the construction. I have owned some solid top guitars with both laminate and solid back/sides. that stayed the same. Takamine makes guitars that sound great right out of the box but the tone stays the same. I owned a EG series - Solid top w/ laminate back & sides for 3yrs. one of my first acoustics an Ibanez all solid wood had the same tone. I had that guitar for 5yrs.

 

 

I have a 2002 Yamaha FG 413S. It has a solid spruce top and laminate nato sides and back. It sounds great and is well made. I bought it used a few weeks ago. It appears to have not been played much. There is no sign of fret wear. I fully expect it to open up a bit.

 

On a side note: I think it is an earlier version of the current FG 720S model. The specs are identical.

[babablowfish]

athomas asked: "all this talk about yamahas. Are the new yamahas as good as the older ones?"

So happens I was in Manchester NH this weekend on an errand and stopped into Ted Herbert's Music to noodle around. I walked past the wall of Martins and Taylor's - not to knock them, but I just don't seem to connect with them - and found a Yamaha LL-6. Very nice guitar indeed. Solid top with a too thick gloss finish but with a nice satin finish on its 3-piece neck. The neck was very comfortable I would rate it more comfortable than my Parkwood. The tone was very nice indeed - about on a par with my Parkwwod, though not as loud. The sustain was the best I have heard (a record previously held by an Ibanez AW100 I used to own.) That particular one had a crack in the top so it was markded down to $349.00 if memory serves. The LL-6 is defintely a guitar worth checking out. By the way, I A-B'd it with the FGs they had - there were several models - and the LL6 sounded better to me than any of them.

[Totoro]

They won't get better if they are not properly cared for. Just like a good wine will not get better with age if it is not kept in a proper cellar. Leave a good bottle of wine in the sun and it will be spoiled in a couple weeks. Leave your guitar in the trunk of your car on a hot summer day too many times and the same rule applies.

[Freeman Keller]

To answer the first question - probably, most (or many) people feel they do, there are lots of theory on why and even some ideas on how to speed it up.

There are a few nay-sayers, and even some folks who say that an unplayed guitar can "close up" (TAH has an anecoted here). The only thing remotely conclusive is the story (urban guitar legend) about the guy who has two prewar Martins with serial numbers only a few apart. One was a working musician's git and was played hard and lots over its history, the other almost literally sat in its case under a bed. When played side by side the general feeling were that both were wonderful old guitar, but very similar. I'm sorry that I've lost that link - it at least makes for a good read.

When I built my 000 I recorded it at day zero, after a month and after three. It is over a year now and I need to do it again. Unfortunately it is on analog cassette tape which makes it very hard to A/B. I don't think I hear much difference between the first two, I think I hear something at 3 months - but frankly I can't say. Only way to really tell is to record the same guitar under the same conditions over its life.


As to the second question, my old FG-150 is a pretty swell sounding guitar considering all its been through. Not bad for a plywood cheapie (but the brass pins are the real secret LOL)

[mikechoate]

I can certainly tell you the two instruments I play the most -- an all solid wood Martin and a all solid wood Weber mandolin, sound MUCH better than when I got them (3-4 years ago). They do get played just about every day too. I have no doubt solid wood instruments improve with being played.

[babablowfish]

As to the second question, my old FG-150 is a pretty swell sounding guitar considering all its been through. Not bad for a plywood cheapie (but the brass pins are the real secret LOL)

[jjang1993]

i do find that new guitars have too much treble. i played a takamine EG530SSC at GC a couple weeks ago and it has almost no bass.
i played a martin 000XC-1E and it sounded pretty balanced, but im afraid as it ages it will get more bassier and duller.

i have a plywood cheapie harmony guitar and call me crazy but i think the tone got better after 2 years of having it. right now its strung with 10-46s nickels because the bridge is starting to pull off and it does sound decent, almost better than my alvarez!

[eflat]

Hmmm I'd like to think they do, haven't really had my acoustic long enough yet though. Without critisizing every other post here, are you sure that your guitar sounds better just because its 15yrs old? Or may it be due to the fact that your ears have listened to that guitar for so long now that everything else doesn't quite sound right? Just my 1p.

[babablowfish]

Hmmm I'd like to think they do, haven't really had my acoustic long enough yet though. Without critisizing every other post here, are you sure that your guitar sounds better just because its 15yrs old? Or may it be due to the fact that your ears have listened to that guitar for so long now that everything else doesn't quite sound right? Just my 1p.

 

 

Nope, I'm sure.