One of the best guitar surprises

[sacredground]

I’ve had my 914 CE for about seven months now. Part  of the fun is the waiting game. We all know that a new guitar right out of the box generally doesn’t know that it’s a guitar, yet.  I ordered mine straight from the factory, and so it had zero playing time. It’s a Taylor, so it sounded good...but after somewhere around 300 hours of playing I noticed something in it’s voice today.

The notes are rounder, fuller...the sustain and overtones have bloomed and blossomed a fair bit more. It’s one of the best guitar surprises I know of. You can’t hurry the process...it just takes time. In a digital world organic pieces of wood have their own life & cadence apart from the hurry and scurry. Maybe that’s why playing slows me down to appreciate surprises like mine today.

What guitar surprises do you have?

[Earl]

I had a similar experience.  Ordering a custom shop build from Martin (J-40) it shipped to Elderly then on to me.  Only the folks at Elderly and the factory would have played it before me.  It sounded really good from the first strum, but after 18-20 months it suddenly - and very noticeably - bloomed into a tone monster.  Unfortunately not long after that, it cracked along the center seam of the sound board.  Long story, but it had been properly humidified all along so I suspect wood that was not fully seasoned before the build.

914's have always been something to lust after and appreciate, but well above my pay grade.  I also wanted a 714 back in the late 90's when they were rosewood/cedar but could not afford one then.  It was a higher priority to pay off the house and recover from a move to Alaska.

[Strumming Fool]

Ordering a custom shop build from Martin (J-40) it shipped to Elderly then on to me.   It sounded really good from the first strum, but after 18-20 months it suddenly - and very noticeably - bloomed into a tone monster.  Unfortunately not long after that, it cracked along the center seam of the sound board.  Long story, but it had been properly humidified all along so I suspect wood that was not fully seasoned before the build.

Wow - I had a similar experience with a Martin M38 that I custom ordered with a nice sunburst. Blossomed into a wonderful guitar, but the center seam of the sound board split on this one as well. Martin replaced the top under warranty, and guess what? It split again! I ended up selling it some time later (with full disclosure to the buyer) before the second split worsened....

[Guitars44me]

 Fortunately I have no stories about split tops or blowing up Instruments But I  have found over and over it is possible to Speed Up the blooming.
 
If you have not used a Rone-Rite it's hard to believe the change that it can make in a relatively short time.  I know there are some people who claim it does not work, but I have used them on dozens of instruments, and there's always been at least a slight change for the better in the sound.

And some guitars sound drastically better rather quickly.  About the only time the two tone rights in my music room get turned off is when I go in there to play. Obviously, I am sold.

 And, it never hurts to put on new strings! Ha ha Ha

Play on gang and have fun

Paul 

[Edward]

My "surprise" is no big revelation, but a gratifying piece of satisfaction: my 2008 Custom DN (which is a curly maple/sitka dred spec'd like a 900) just flat-out sounds stellar: deep, bold, and articulate.  I recently compared it with new GP and man oh man, mine just put a smile on my face that, while the GP was without question is a fine-sounding guitar, my DN still has tone that thrills these bones!  I've played it a lot since I bought it in around 09, and it has since served as my go-live acoustic.  No doubt the countless hours on this guit have only improved it

Edward

[TaylorGirl]

I've had a similar experience with my 914 as you have. It really wasn't a surprise to me, I kinda expected a change. I experienced a similar change with my 2002 414. I describe it as, they now seem to have a more "matured" playing voice.

[Earl]

Wow - I had a similar experience with a Martin M38 that I custom ordered with a nice sunburst. Blossomed into a wonderful guitar, but the center seam of the sound board split on this one as well. Martin replaced the top under warranty, and guess what? It split again! I ended up selling it some time later (with full disclosure to the buyer) before the second split worsened....

Mine was cleated and the lacquer repaired - at my expense - as they refused warranty coverage and it held just fine for many years afterward.  I also disclosed the repair to the buyer, and that it had been stable for some 15 years by then.  The wide tops on those M/0000 sized bodies needed to be fully seasoned, I guess, although they really are not any wider than a dreadnought.....

Now back to your regular programming.