I have been using a Tone Rite on my 314 and a like the results. When I pick it up to play it sounds like someone has been playing it for hours. The top feels responsive and it rings like a bell.
A lot of people say they hear a marked difference, especially in new guitars, after "treating" them with a Tonerite. Their web site lists a few well known names who agree. https://www.tonerite.com/ In fairness, not everyone agrees. I don't own one, but Tim McKnight says that using one on his fine custom guitars helps teach them that they are no longer trees in a lot shorter time than playing alone would do, especially initially. I trust his wisdom and experience on such things.
cotten
If it's one thing I've learned on forums, a lot of people say
everything.
There are at least 1,000,000 forum posts on Tonerite, both for and against, on guitar forums. Google it, you'll be busy for weeks....
As I posted earlier in this thread, there are two components of a guitar "opening up" or changing over time, and Tonerite could only possibly address one of the components, if that:
"There's two major components of this. One is the stress inherent in a built acoustic. As the wood acclimates and settles, the "system tension" caused by glued joints and other points of contacts can reach a more steady state equilibrium. This is exactly what ToneRite addresses, and is why you have to keep doing it to the guitar to make the effect last. It's a slow process, but ToneRite can temporarily speed it up, until you stop the vibrations and the "system" snaps back to where it was. You can even sometimes experience by playing a newer guitar by vigorously strumming for 5 or 10 minutes. You can sometimes actually hear it change.
The second component is what you ask about - the wood itself at the cellular level. Over time (10+ years typically) the resin (not the same as "sap") crystallizes and becomes harder. This can add more upper and lower partials and a more bell-like tone. It's what I heard in that cheap antique guitar.
Your mileage may vary guitar to guitar, but yes in general there will be a difference and many would say improvement over time. "Most, including Tonerite, would agree any effect it has on a guitar is mostly temporary, which is why you have to keep doing it. And this re-enforces what it does and doesn't address.
