What Does "Open Up" Mean to You?

**Chuck Naill** · Jul-14-2010, 11:55am

If you have an instrument that you think has "opened up", how would you describe the phenomena?

If you have an instrument that you want to "open up" what are your expectations?

In other words, how do you define the concept "open up"? Be as specific as you like.

chuck

**blueron** · Jul-14-2010, 11:59am

Aw c'mon Chuck, even this relative newby to the site knows this subject has been done to death a dozen times over.

But I know, that's not going to stop a lot of people from chipping in! :-)

**Mandophyte** · Jul-14-2010, 12:18pm

Chuck,

For starters see my seven (yes, 7) page post.

**Life Is Good** · Jul-14-2010, 12:30pm

I think it is similar to when a baseball glove or pair of shoes that get worn in, the fibers soften and it will have more give. There is a similarity to throwing a ball into the glove repeatedly and having sound waves bounce of the wood of a mandolin when it is played repeatedly to open it up. I think flex treatment by the luthier when building or using old wood would help advance the process.

**re simmers** · Jul-14-2010, 1:19pm

I would describe it as "the instrument is louder, more full to me..........but some people think I must be just getting used to hearing it.......and there's no scientific proof of either."

My expectations are that the instrument will get louder and sound fuller to me. And I expect others to disagree with me.

I define "open up" as sounding louder and fuller as an instrument is played. I would also define it as something that others think does not happen.

I think that sums up the previous 714 pages on this "opening up"..........or so it seems.

Bob

**Steve Ostrander** · Jul-14-2010, 2:02pm

"Open up" to me means FedEx just dropped off another mando in a box!

**MikeEdgerton** · Jul-14-2010, 2:06pm

Originally Posted by Mandophyte

Chuck,

For starters see my seven (yes, 7) page post.

Here's a link to your thread that works.

**Chuck Naill** · Jul-14-2010, 3:04pm

Originally Posted by re simmers

I would describe it as "the instrument is louder, more full to me..........but some people think I must be just getting used to hearing it.......and there's no scientific proof of either."

My expectations are that the instrument will get louder and sound fuller to me. And I expect others to disagree with me.

I define "open up" as sounding louder and fuller as an instrument is played. I would also define it as something that others think does not happen.

I think that sums up the previous 714 pages on this "opening up"..........or so it seems.

Bob

Okay, louder and fuller. I get your point. How about the logistics of play. Was there any difference is how it played?

Thanks for taking this seriously or a little serious...LOL!!!

**Big Joe** · Jul-14-2010, 3:29pm

How an instrument plays is more an issue of construction and set up than opening up. There is an interesting article in the Acoustic Guitar magazine on opening up and even discusses vibration and the tone rite. That may give a bit of help on this issue. I think opening up is when the instrument develops the potential it has as it ages and is played. As the magazine article states, the issue is more noticeable when they are newer than when they are older. That being said, they can go to "sleep" but will wake up again with play or excitation.

**OldSausage** · Jul-14-2010, 3:39pm

"Opening up" is when the sound of your mandolin changes ever so slightly, inducing you to believe that perhaps something wonderful has happened. It can only happen if you have not made any recordings with your mandolin yet.

**allenhopkins** · Jul-14-2010, 3:50pm

It's the first thing I do with the mandolin case. From there on, all downhill...

**jim_n_virginia** · Jul-14-2010, 4:21pm

Chuck if your gonna TROLL at least try and hide it!

**Mandophyte** · Jul-14-2010, 4:25pm

Mike,

Thanks for the correction.

**Coffeecup** · Jul-14-2010, 5:23pm

"What Does "Open Up" Mean to You? "

It's the cops! What do I need to hide?

**Chuck Naill** · Jul-14-2010, 5:27pm

Originally Posted by Big Joe

How an instrument plays is more an issue of construction and set up than opening up.

How would you characterize a mandolin that has been set up properly and that you consider open. What are the tonal giveaways that the product is open in your opinion? I take it that in your mind, playability or ease of play does not equate with an open instrument. Is that correct?

What I hope to find out here is if some of us are using the same term with differing definitions.

**fscotte** · Jul-14-2010, 7:32pm

My Martin D42 didn't just open up, it blossomed into a Holy Grail instrument. My dad bought it new in 1990. I didn't like the sound of it at all for several years, very tubby sounding, didn't have much sustain, and entirely too bassy. Well, at some point 5-10 years later it began to sound different. Yeah this is a slow process. As time went on it just got better and better. Today it's a divine instrument. Now did my tastes just change or did the guitar? Well, my tastes haven't changed. I can go to any Martin guitar shop and hear that same tubby, bassy sound with the new ones. No my tastes haven't changed at all. My Martin opened up over a period of years, and probably still is.

**mandroid** · Jul-14-2010, 9:17pm

confessing to suppressed, resentments

disappointments

just kidding

**tburcham** · Jul-14-2010, 9:30pm

I have posted previously about instrument break-in/opening up. I believe it happnes and I believe I can tell when it does. That and a quarter won't buy you a cup of coffee (-; My latest opening up story has to do with a guitar, not a mandolin. I recently traded my Breedlove Tenor guitar for a Martin D-18 GE. When I first got the D-18 GE, I was completely underwhelmed. It sounded tight with no looseness to the bass line. It was so tight, that I worked out a contingency to the trade that would allow me to trade for another model at no additional cost. Long story short, I started playing the GE every night and at Gigs...it went from being tight with hardly any bass to really nice and might I say (vintage) sounding on the bass line. It now stands out in every crowd I play with. So I've went from just being Ok with this guitar to absolutely loving it....its got the hollow log sound in spades now....but it didn't when I first received it.

Tim

**Big Joe** · Jul-14-2010, 10:21pm

Chuck...a proper set up allows the instrument to work efficiently so that it can open up. Playability is more an issue of set up and construction, but an instrument that has broken in can be easier to play. When everything is right, it just makes it easier to do anything. One mandolin may have more string tension or another may have a thinner/thicker neck or a different shaped neck than may be perfect for you, but you can fell it when you play an instrument that just seems to play itself. The big difference is the set up but when broken in it just seems to be better in all ways. I know that is very subjective but I don't know how else to explain it. It does not seem to matter what kind of instrument or what make or how expensive it may be. That's when you can have those magic moments that just seem to carry you where you never want to leave.

**i-vibe** · Jul-14-2010, 10:32pm

"What Does "Open Up" Mean to You?"

common phrase oft used by the big bad wolf, dentists, oral hygienists, and gynecologists.

**Paul Hostetter** · Jul-15-2010, 12:02am

**frankenstein** · Jul-15-2010, 1:48am

Beat me up Scotty.

**Mike Snyder** · Jul-15-2010, 2:19am

It's the sound of all that sensitivity training back in the seventies going to waste.

**grassrootphilosopher** · Jul-15-2010, 4:22am

I think the question could be phrased differently to stray from the beaten path. I suggjest: "How do you know that an instrument that is so far unknown to you is "opened up"? My answer to that would be: "You can´t know it".

I think the "opening up" phenomenon and the discussion about it is spurred by the fact that many people that play "decent" instruments are in awe when they get to play professional grade instruments. These folks then yearn for the sound they cannot get out of their heads. When they then experience "opening up" in their instruments, they think that with even more opening up a "Rover" may in time sound like a 1923 Loar.

**Bertram Henze** · Jul-15-2010, 6:03am

Sticking to the literal sense of the expression: if you hear your instrument behind a closed door in the next room first, then the door is opened and the sound is different. Anything resembling this is called "opening up".

Explanations:
1. when you bought your instrument, you had a cold and clogged eustachian tubes, which then open up as you get better.
2. when you bought your instrument, your practising room was full of plush upholstery which is worn down by visiting friends so now there is more sound reflection.
3. your spine slowly tends to bend forward with age, so you start to hear your own mandolin from the front instead of from above.
4. when your mandolin was delivered to you, it was packed with styrofoam stuffing. Years later, you found out that you had to remove the stuffing from the inside, too.