What does "played in" mean?

[jay]

Hi shadowkarl........well at least I've learned something. I hadn't heard of A. von Reumont before......

Abstamaria.....if you go around saying things like that about Eric Johnson and his pedal batteries some people may start to believe you.

Personally, I'm becoming more and more convinced that if I don't connect my guitar and effects plus amplifier in the right order my tone is ruined and on the subject of batteries these clearly give an inferior result to mains electricity I feel.....


jay

[shadfan4]

Not sure about how much different a "played in" instrument would sound and doesn't have to be for the better!! I have had my bought new '76 US standard strat for about 30yrs now and it sounds and plays much as it did from new albeit it now has Kinman pups.

The thing I have noticed is the original machine heads are now as stiff as me when I leave the gym...Unlike a previous theory that a cast steel engine block will change over time I'm not sure about that but I know wood will certainly change and glue will deteriorate.

I have a Taylor acoustic and living in London I don't suffer the problems a lot of owners in the US have, living in hot or very dry or very humid parts of the US as the wood reacts quite severely and guitars have been made unplayable because of local conditions. Taylor recommend always leave the guitar in the case when not being used..



"Played in" not convinced.

Mike.

[frankmarvin]

on the subject of batteries these clearly give an inferior result to mains electricity I feel.....
( from Jay)

Maybe Jay, but it dont hurt half as much when you poke your fingers inside,

Played out , Frank:

[rogerbayliss]

I too have read about the blind test with Stradivarius violins and people were unable to tell the difference. I have a 12 year old strat and a 4 year old strat and a recently constructed self built. I can say they all sound different acoustically but the 12 year old strat does not sound much different to when I first had it. There are of course better sounding guitars and out of my three I prefer the Vintage 57 reissue and it sounds best acoustically and unplugged and also sounds great plugged in. I think acoustic guitars may be affected by the aging process more than electrics but if it does not sound good from the outset it probably never will !

I think accousic and semi acoustic guitars are more prone to humidity changes as the internal cavities are often untreated and prone to absorb/lose moisture more than solid body guitars.

[shadowkarl]

Hi Jay,
thank you for your kind comment on the Reumont case. Cannot send you a private e-mail so I have to enlarge the thread a little bit.
1. the following link will show you the man himself. (Prof. Reumont) and there you find also english literature links and sources. www.henrystrobel.com/vibrate.htm
2. The official english translation was VIBRATION DEDAMPING
treatment (Sorry I did not know that before I started my first answerings in this thread)
3. That is an early book published in England about the vibration treatment. (corroboration of at least part of von Reumont's findings is "The Playing In of Musical Instruments"by Oliver Bartlett, University of Cambridge Department of Engineering Fourth Year undergraduate project, 69 pages, 2001/2002.
4. This is mentioning for guitar application and its effects:
Note 1, Other Instruments: - While the emphasis has been on the bowed instruments, work has also been done with guitars, for example. SeeInstrumentenbau-Zeitschrift of 7-8/97,Neue Erkenntnisse beim Vibrationsentdaempfen von Gitarren, pages 31-38 and 44-47. Improvements in volume, sustain, rapid response, and tonal beauty are reported, and data are presented showing increases in output level and sustain.

As I mentioned getting more into this subject is fascinating; this are the only additional sources to help also about the laboratory testing regarding v.Reumont`s scientific conjectures.
Shadowkarl

[jay]

Thanks Shadowkarl for taking the trouble to make a further post.

I will follow up when I have had time to read some more about this
subject.

jay (the learner)

[jay]

Frank.....that's a shocking idea.

jay (somewhat amused)

[abstamaria]

Regarding the tests done with the violins, apparently there have been several done before, all with pretty similar results. In the last experiment (2010), one of the new violins was just days old.
I
The last test was criticized by some, but even the critics had good things to say about new instruments, which is hood news to us who couldn't afford the real vintage items. I quote one.

"Another participant, Laurie Niles, has criticized the characterization of the study - stating that she wasn't asked to identify old vs new violins, only state what her preferences were. She also noted that the new violins were adjusted by the organizers, while the old violins were in whatever state the lender had them. Her overall conclusion was "I think we can conclude that, with a very limited amount of playing time and under circumstances that are a lot like those in a violin shop (a dry room, lots of testing), we are just as impressed with the tonality of great new instruments as with the tonality of great old ones." She added: "Honestly, I have no issue with the idea that a well-made modern can sound as good as a $8 million Strad. The moderns I played under these odd circumstances were just beautiful-sounding. The old Italians were, too. This is good news for us violinists, because virtually none of us can afford a multi-million dollar Strad."
"