ToneRight for Guitar

It is a device which can generate 10 pages of posts overnight.
The whole "opening up" story.
I hang recalcitrant sounding ukes on the HiFi speakers to get the same affect.

You could also strap a uke to a Harley for a cross-country trip. :D
 
I think they can help. Never tried one but my brother who is a big mandolins player has one. He 5,000 miles away so I can’t borrow it too bad. I’d love to try it. Playing anything, or vibrating the string for long periods, can help but let all components settle in. I think acoustic instruments open up but only a feeling. I can’t prove it. Great idea just not ready to part with my $doe$ on! Just my opinion.......YMMV
 
I think they can help. Never tried one but my brother who is a big mandolins player has one. He 5,000 miles away so I can’t borrow it too bad. I’d love to try it. Playing anything, or vibrating the string for long periods, can help but let all components settle in. I think acoustic instruments open up but only a feeling. I can’t prove it. Great idea just not ready to part with my $doe$ on! Just my opinion.......YMMV

I am going to disagree.
There is no scientific (or even logical) basis of playing an instrument to modify wood (which is hard, dry and rigid) structure in a manner that is objectively and definitively better in tone. How and why would it improve? Does the wood "know" how to sound better and alter its physical and chemical structure to please peoples' ears?

The only instance where "time" may play a part is if the guitar originally had a thick finish, and the finish wears off making the soundboard thinner and slightly more freely vibrating. Even that would have a minimal or negligible effect.

The biggest factor would be an improvement of one's playing and also increasing familiarity with the particular instrument.
The rest is pure subjectivity.
 
I am going to disagree.
There is no scientific (or even logical) basis of playing an instrument to modify wood (which is hard, dry and rigid) structure in a manner that is objectively and definitively better in tone. How and why would it improve? Does the wood "know" how to sound better and alter its physical and chemical structure to please peoples' ears?

The only instance where "time" may play a part is if the guitar originally had a thick finish, and the finish wears off making the soundboard thinner and slightly more freely vibrating. Even that would have a minimal or negligible effect.

The biggest factor would be an improvement of one's playing and also increasing familiarity with the particular instrument.
The rest is pure subjectivity.

"Experts" talk about the wood opening up over time. I don't know if that's from time, playing, or both. I'm not sophisticated enough to notice a difference between how a uke sounded when I bought it in 2014 and how it sounds now.
 
You are entitled to disagree. I said it was only a feeling. The Uke, being a very small instrument is subject to so many variable before the sound comes out. I think we’d all like to think they sound better with age. But I agree, no science behind it. YMMV. I do know, that humidity has a huge effect on how a Uke sounds. I was complaining the other day about my TT solid top laminate..... it just didn’t sound as good as it usually does. Then humidity went down to 55% ( I’m on east cost) and BAM it sounded better. Also string have a huge impact on how a Uke sound. So point it, who knows. Everyone can think what they want. Just my opinion. I’d still like to try it on one of. myall solid tenors
 
Yamaha does this when they make their bass guitars. Whether it makes a diff or not, who knows?
 
I have seen many discussions on this device and other methods over the years. Some swear by it. Years back people would suggest putting an instrument in front of a speaker and playing loud music to break it in. Who knows? Heck, look at the news. as we see in many things, there are times when people will insist on believing what they want to believe even if faced with evidence of the contrary. I also know that there is a lot of snake oil sold out there with pseudoscience and flowery prose to back it up.

I have no idea if those devices or theories work or not. I have had some vintage instruments that sound great. I don't know if it is the age, player, craftsmanship, quality of wood, all or none of the above. I do know that I would never buy an instrument if it did not sound good from the start. I don't want to hope that it will eventually improve.
 
There are many ways to deal with buyer's remorse such as returning the instrument or selling it to someone who will actually like the sound. Spending more money on modifications or devices to "improve" the sound is another way, and it sometimes succeeds because with subjective things like this our ears tend to tell us what we want to hear to justify the additional expenses ....
 
EDW, I agree totally. If instrument does sound good off the wall or after a string change, it does t come home with me!
 
Let's face it, anyone who's "optimistic" enough to pay that sort of money for some piece of juju pseudo-science is bound to say that it improved their instrument ... no-one's going to own up to being duped, are they?
 
Previously I had been interested in a tonerite and had watched several videos. Here's a YouTube video in which measurements were taken before and after on a guitar

https://youtu.be/fDEh24mhQQQ

The other video just demos with playing but with a ukulele
https://youtu.be/N0qTb9qoOdI
 
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