G&L guitars improve with age?

The place to discuss, post photos, video, and audio of the G&L products (US instruments, stomp boxes, etc.) produced after 1991, including the amps & gear we use with them.
Ribsspare
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Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:36 pm

G&L guitars improve with age?

Post by Ribsspare »

Do you think a G&L guitar will sound better with age?
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Elwood
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Location: Canada's Mexico

Re: G&L guitars improve with age?

Post by Elwood »

[quote="Ribsspare"]Do you think a G&L guitar will sound better with age?[/quote]

...probably after 20 years you could hear a small difference...or a BIG difference if you've been playing/practicing with it everyday ;)

I was playing with my '51 champ lap at that pickup sounds soooo gooood...I guess it'll be another 30 years before we can hear a 60 year old MFD.

Lotsa factors to consider...how well does the finish protect the wood from external changes,
type of wood, how it was stored.
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Philby
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Re: G&L guitars improve with age?

Post by Philby »

I reckon ALL guitars sound better with age, provided they're reasonably well constructed to begin with. For the first ten years the guitar still thinks it's a tree, but as the wood dries out and it gets played more, the whole contraption starts to resonate as a single entity.

I have a 95 strat that was extremely average for the first 10 years of its life. But during the last 5 years it has suddenly developed the clear bell like tones that good strats have. I haven't done anything to it except to keep playing it.
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blargfromouterspace
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Location: Central Highlands, Australia

Re: G&L guitars improve with age?

Post by blargfromouterspace »

I agree with Philby, provided that there is no serious abuse of course. When I first got my Bluesboy it was kind of stiff and difficult feeling. After only two years of use it's feeling pretty damn good, I think it's 'played in' now. I totally expect it to keep getting better too.
-Jamie
NickHorne
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Re: G&L guitars improve with age?

Post by NickHorne »

This somehow remains an engineering enigma, just exactly where and how this happens.
But totally agree, it really does.
My c2 includes bridge and neck gradually coming into more efficiently-coupling contact with the body, (settling till they reach the point where they fit so closely that they stop settling) and glues continuing to harden more, as well as changes in the woods themselves.
Bringing the young wood up in good habits, like keeping the truss set properly, sensible temperatures etc, contributes to healthy adult maturity in my experience.
Good guitars definitely get better. And it's one of life's system errors that we have to wait a bit. But what if it was the other way around, and they got worse??