Myth, magic, truth...ukulele "opening up"
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Mike $
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Nope, they don't. After a period of time people either figure out how to make it sound good, or their ears simply get used to the sound. Probably a combination of both.
I do remember my first kala elite concert. It did take some time. Then, boom- whoa -that sounds so cool, so much better than at first. I know what I heard at first, compared to later when "it", ... sang!
bbkobabe
Well-known member
Hmmm... I recall seeing an electronic device in a Guitar Player type periodical selling a device that sent tone bursts through the body of a newly purchased guitar to accelerate this "opening up" process.
Sounds like snake oil to me...
I've heard stories like ukuevey tells... but: Did that "opening up" happen to coincide with a string change? With you making a break through?
And Mike $ makes a point: Two things happen, getting used to it, and becoming able to play around it's weak spots. These begin to kick in after a couple of months of hour a days.
Maybe that means that you are the one opening up!
Sounds like snake oil to me...
I've heard stories like ukuevey tells... but: Did that "opening up" happen to coincide with a string change? With you making a break through?
And Mike $ makes a point: Two things happen, getting used to it, and becoming able to play around it's weak spots. These begin to kick in after a couple of months of hour a days.
Maybe that means that you are the one opening up!
Blank Williams
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In my opinion the instrument may settle and become acclimated to the climate which it “lives” in, which I suppose could have some impact on the sound over time. But I tend to agree that the “opening up” thing being a bit of an exaggeration. I think this is an endless debate. I’ve seen it brought up here and on acoustic guitar forums and I’m not convinced that “opening up” is really a thing.
I have experienced a spruce acoustic guitar opening up after 10 years. That made me a believer. (Although I can't really be 100% sure that its tone has changed after 10 years, I'm almost certain.) I'm a believer in this opening up stuff.
Graham Greenbag
Well-known member
Based on my experience of a limited number of instruments I’d say that instruments do change over time and that opening up is a real event, or rather progression. (Edit. I have kept some notes and done comparison tests against reference instruments.) It takes time and use and can be a very slow process, sometimes the process is so slow that it appears to not have happened yet and/or not be in progress. What you’re left with after the opening up process is done is going to vary between instruments, the changes in the wood allow the Uke’s sound to improve but it will still be limited by the original design and build.
(Edit. Opening up is one reason to consider buying an older or used instrument, particularly one that has been both used and used with care; folk rarely use an instrument that they don’t like so previous use can be indicative of potential usefulness. Such older instruments are more likely to have opened up or have made progress towards doing so. Anyone for a vintage Martin?)
I feel sure that this topic has been covered before so a search might turn up helpful results.
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I have an uke that I believe has "opened up". When I received it, I thought the volume going up the A string was noticeably quieter as one ascended past the fifth fret. That is no longer the case. I have read many comments from luthiers believing that their instruments will open up with use.
Many who are disbelievers use logic instead of experience to figure that instruments do not change. When I logic it out, I figure that there are situations where an instrument should open up (and for the better). One hypothetical is that the gluing is not even. With play, the tight spots would receive more pressure and be a stress point that might loosen up. Or the wood may not be the same uniform stiffness throughout (is that not what grain and flame affect?) so that vibrations from playing would again change some parts differentially from other parts of the wood?). That is what bebekobabe's snake oil machine might be doing to hasten the opening up process.
So I believe an instrument can open up or improve with time. That is my experience and someone saying it might have been improved playing (well, not in my case, lol) or new strings or imagination can believe what they choose since they have their minds made up.
Many who are disbelievers use logic instead of experience to figure that instruments do not change. When I logic it out, I figure that there are situations where an instrument should open up (and for the better). One hypothetical is that the gluing is not even. With play, the tight spots would receive more pressure and be a stress point that might loosen up. Or the wood may not be the same uniform stiffness throughout (is that not what grain and flame affect?) so that vibrations from playing would again change some parts differentially from other parts of the wood?). That is what bebekobabe's snake oil machine might be doing to hasten the opening up process.
So I believe an instrument can open up or improve with time. That is my experience and someone saying it might have been improved playing (well, not in my case, lol) or new strings or imagination can believe what they choose since they have their minds made up.
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Yes, in my experience a new Uke usually does "open up" after some time and some playing. I'm not a physicist, but I did stay at a Motel 6 once or twice. I know that wood is comprised of molecules and is fibrous. My best guess is that after experiencing the subtle vibration of resonance, the molecules start to align along the longitudinal axis of the fibers. This would allow the atomic subs to sortie in the direction of the propagating waves. That, in turn, would facilitate fractal interference, reducing enharmonic distortions, and promote sympathetic confluence in the body. I believe that explains it.
This might be interesting reading:
www.guitarworld.com
I think Yamaha now has at least 2 lines of guitars using their artificially aged wood.
Yamaha Creates Vintage Tone with New Wood
Yamaha has been making instruments for quite some time. So they know firsthand how age enhances the tone of the wood. In fact, the company has done a variety of tests to determine what those age-enhan
I think Yamaha now has at least 2 lines of guitars using their artificially aged wood.
My custom made gypsy jazz tenor uke with solid flame maple top and solid Indian rosewood body definitely opened up after about 18 months. I keep it in a humidified shelf in a bookcase.
Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
8 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 36)
•Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
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Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
8 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 36)
•Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
•Member The CC Strummers: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
BradDonaldson
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I will just say this, I don’t know any luthiers who deny that some instruments open up over time. We get to hear them when they are first strung up, 2 hours later, 4 hours, 12 hours and two days later. Believe me most instruments I build change quite a bit when they are first settling in. And I am not relying on memory here, as I have at least two dozen other instruments of varying ages to compare them to. One final thought, if you don’t think wood changes over time, I know a lot of people that are spending big bucks on torrified wood!
I've got used to feeling disappointed with the sound of a newly completed ukulele, when fitting strings for the first time. The next day, it sounds like a completely different instrument. This is something quite apart from the problem of newly stretched strings settling down.
The instrument will continue to sound a little better, day by day for a week or two, after which I can hear no further improvement.
I'm not saying that they don't change thereafter but, if they do, it must be very slight.
The instrument will continue to sound a little better, day by day for a week or two, after which I can hear no further improvement.
I'm not saying that they don't change thereafter but, if they do, it must be very slight.
kissing
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Oh this old horse.
Opinions and passions run high on the topic.
I'm on the side of not believing there is a plausible explanation for it, other than subjective interpretation of the player.
I do believe there are grounds for an instrument to become "settled" when it is bought new.
The strings stretch. The moisture content of the wood reaches an equilibrium. The player subconsciously learns the instrument's nuances.. etc.
However, beyond that if you look at the physics, it is not plausible.
Ukuleles and guitars are made of wood because it is a structurally strong material.
If, for the sake of argument, the structure of the wood changes due to it merely being played and vibrated, the more likely outcome would be that the instrument becomes obliterated. You don't want wood structure to change from vibrational forces.
And if playing does change structure of wood, with the amount of chaos and variability in the universe, why would it happen to change in such a way that "improves" the sound from the perspective of musicians? Seems like an oddly specific outcome when it is far more likely for there to be an undesirable or random outcome in such uncontrolled settings.
Opinions and passions run high on the topic.
I'm on the side of not believing there is a plausible explanation for it, other than subjective interpretation of the player.
I do believe there are grounds for an instrument to become "settled" when it is bought new.
The strings stretch. The moisture content of the wood reaches an equilibrium. The player subconsciously learns the instrument's nuances.. etc.
However, beyond that if you look at the physics, it is not plausible.
Ukuleles and guitars are made of wood because it is a structurally strong material.
If, for the sake of argument, the structure of the wood changes due to it merely being played and vibrated, the more likely outcome would be that the instrument becomes obliterated. You don't want wood structure to change from vibrational forces.
And if playing does change structure of wood, with the amount of chaos and variability in the universe, why would it happen to change in such a way that "improves" the sound from the perspective of musicians? Seems like an oddly specific outcome when it is far more likely for there to be an undesirable or random outcome in such uncontrolled settings.
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merlin666
Well-known member
That is it. There are changes of a very new uke when glue, finish, and wood still settle in over time and also responses to temperature and humidity changes that are short term. In the longer term like many years or decades there is just plain aging that is usually detrimental like with people where after they reached their peak it just goes downhill. I own several high end vintage instruments and would not be able to say if they sound any worse or better than new ones, or for the ones that I have owned since new if they changed over years and decades.
I hope nobody ever buys an instrument with the expectation that it will sound better after it has been "played in". If it doesn't meet your requirements when first you hear it, then buy one that does. Then if it improves with age (or if you do) - that's a bonus.
DuckyI
Well-known member
My main instrument is the upright bass. I bought a newly made instrument two years ago (alpine spruce top with sycamore sides and a poplar flat back, for any wood nerds out there), and changes the sound went through in this time have been incredible. Part of this could have been the hide glue and the oil varnish curing, and the spruce top getting used to vibrating more freely with lots and lots of bowing. But the changes have been huge, the fullness of its low end has really emerged only in the past year. It also sounds less 'boxy'.
Now a ukulele is a very different animal but I wouldn't discount that the sound can change in the first few years with lots of vigorous playing, not as dramatically but I can imagine similar changes making a difference. Opening up certainly isn't an old wives tale - it's very much real on some instruments.
Now a ukulele is a very different animal but I wouldn't discount that the sound can change in the first few years with lots of vigorous playing, not as dramatically but I can imagine similar changes making a difference. Opening up certainly isn't an old wives tale - it's very much real on some instruments.
I own a Gibson from the 1920s (an el cheapo when it was made) that has a completely different character from any of my modern instruments, including my Ken Timms. I understand the materials are different, who knows how it was handled over the years, etc. I’ll just say it sounds like a 1920s instrument is supposed to sound, and I’ve never played anything else like it.
I also own a koa Flea, and it has developed a warmer and sweeter sound after four years. None of the laminate Fleas/Flukes I’ve owned did that. YMMV, I guess.
merlin666
Well-known member
There is the thing with some really old ukes for sure. I have played a bunch of ancient Martin ukes and as a group they were fantastic. But what we don't know if Martin ukes were already great at the time when they were new, maybe because they used well aged small leaf mahogany or used production processes that were superior though less efficient. Or if those old ukes were not even a representative sample of the 1000s of Martins that were built but just some exceptional ones that were worthwhile preserving. Or did age make them great?
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