Re: odd question - "cooking" the guitar?

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 15:20:31 GMT, Dave Van
<dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Saul_Sabia wrote:
>> alright. so i know this person who is a HUGE liar but one of the things
>> she said stuck with me... she said that sometimes violinists will
>> "break in"
>> their instruments by placing them near a speaker (possibly in an
>> enclosed
>> environment?) and blare whatever music type they play. i think she
>> called
>> it "cooking", but i could be wrong.
>>
>> the theory is that by playing that style of music the violin grows
>> accustomed
>> to resonating at those frequencies, giving it an "older" sound.
>> something
>> to do with the wood, i suppose. she said it wasn't as good as playing
>> it
>> in the preferred style for a few months or years, but in a pinch it
>> would help.
>>
>> my question is two-fold: has anyone ever heard of doing anything like
>> this,
>> and has anyone ever done anything like this to the guitar?
>>
>> as i said, this chick is a story-teller and an inveterate liar, but
>> sometimes
>> there's a grain of truth, y'know? worth thinking about, i figure.
>>
>>
>> Saul
>>
>
>
>I've heard of it but not from any sources any more reliable than your
>friend. The idea being that the vibrations created by the sound waves
>help the wood to settle in to its final shape. This is theoretically
>done for a rather extended period of time, not just one side of an album.
>
>The problem I have with the theory is that there are other variables
>that will determine what a piece of wood is going to do: temperature,
>humidiy, how it is stored, how it is handled, how often it is handled,
>how long it is stored etc.
>
>BTW. I think that the term I remember being used was 'seasoning' not
>'cooking'.
>
>And what would be the point of doing it? It's not likely to turn a bad
>sounding violin (or guitar) into a good sounding one. If the guitar
>sounds good now, what would you expect to happen to it after 'cooking' it?
>
>Play the guitar. I guarantee you will get much more enjoyment out of it
>that way as opposed to watching it listen to recorded music.
>
>Peace
>
>DV

My guitar prefers to hear piano music anyway...so it probably wouldn't
help.
.

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