View Full Version : Airing out my new Eastman
mandosonthemarsh
Dec-26-2008, 10:27am
I read somewhere, by letting my instrument hang on the wall it will open up the tone after a period of time. Is this a bunch ;) of bull or is there some truth to it?
Steve Ostrander
Dec-26-2008, 10:57am
Better to let it hang on your shoulder and play the snot out of it.
mandosonthemarsh
Dec-26-2008, 11:03am
If it was up to me I would do just that! Are you saying wood tone is enhansed by playing?
Rod_Neep
Dec-26-2008, 11:13am
Sure is!
Rod
Tim2723
Dec-26-2008, 12:29pm
Yup, most authorities tend to agree that the vibrations of playing are what does the trick (or some hang it in front of a speaker to vibrate it), but its vibrations that do it. Leaving it unplayed often has the opposite effect on an instrument that's already opened up, it can go to sleep.
Mike Bunting
Dec-26-2008, 5:18pm
If it was up to me I would do just that! Are you saying wood tone is enhansed by playing?
In more ways than one. If you play a lot, the tone will be enhanced as a result of you playing better.
MikeEdgerton
Dec-26-2008, 6:17pm
If you play a lot, the tone will be enhanced as a result of you playing better.
And thus Michael you have revealed the true secret of breaking in your mandolin by strumming it yourself.
James P
Dec-27-2008, 10:42am
I recall noticing improvements the morning after large, loud jams.
Before I got amped I'd take my 615 to these folk/rock jams with electric guitars, basses, banjos and drummers. Basically I'd be pounding on the poor thing just to hear myself chop. But the next day it often seemed like some "opening" had happened.
Then again it might've just been the relief of playing at a reasonable volume. ;-)
shadco
Dec-27-2008, 6:22pm
Well you could always hanging it in front of a speaker and putting a lot of Bill Monroe notes in it.
Might work ;)
Are you saying wood tone is enhansed by playing?
Absodarnlutely.
I have experienced both ends of this.
My non-professional understanding is that the wood itself, on the microscopic scale, optimizes itself in reaction to all the different stresses and compressions and tensions. When it is unplayed, the wood optimizes around that, and after many years of not playing, can sound flat and thunky. When played alot, the wood optimizes around the vibrations of the strings and it tends to optimize the tone.