does a new guitar's voice or sound improve with age? need advice

[zaskar1]

hi all

i was looking at some of the posts and people mentioned that it takes up to a year for a new guitar to "open up" meaning that the voice of the guitar is "fuller" or perhaps actually has a more dynamic midrange?

i was wondering if this might apply to my situation.

i have a 6 month old, 2012 Taylor 814ce, bought it new from GR.

i am considering purchasing a used 2006 Taylor 914ce, as to me, it sounds different, but much fuller in the mids and bass.  i havent done a one to one comparison, but i am pretty sure they do sound different, as i have gone to visit the 914ce several times, prior to putting down the deposit.

i guess my question is, will the 814ce eventually sound as "full" as the 914ce after a year or so when it is suppose to "open up" or is what i hear today is what they both will sound like.

thanks for any opinions and comments

z

[flaggerphil]

Well...maybe and maybe not.  Guitars "opening up" can be a tricky subject.

[jjrpilot-admin]

Personally....I'd just continue to hold on to your 814ce...and enjoy the process. 

"Flaggerphil" is right though in his above post...

[Giraku]

I second to jjrpilot.
I always enjoy a process of "growing" a new guitar.
As Phil said, it is a kind of gamble. You never know how a guitar grows.
It's a bit like parenting. It is unpredictable what a child grows into. But to me, watching how he/she grows is the most enjoyable thing.
And I believe that one can influence the direction how a child/guitar grows.
So my suggestion is to play your 814 a lot. Play your favorite tunes with your favorite style.
The guitar will eventually transform the way you like it.

Buying a 914 may ensure you get the tone you love right away. But there would be much less room for any change.
It can be good or bad depending on your perspective.

[michaelw]

hi z,

in terms of the 2 guitars, they're both spruce/rosewood GAs with mahogany NT necks
(scarfjoint headstock on the 8 & fingerjoint on the 9) & ebony fretboard/bridge -
the 914ce has an engelmann top with standard II forward-shifted bracing & relief rout
while the 814ce has a sitka top with CV bracing (also forward-shifted with relief rout)

the grain structure on the woods used on the 900s would be considered 'premium' -
tighter, straighter grain on the top, back & sides & likely darker colored rosewood
which may  or may not  equate to a tone that has a bit more definition & 'focus'

the 914ce has 6 years of age on it & the 814ce 6 months -
depending on how much each guitar was played & how they were played
could  be factors that contributed to the 'maturation of tone' over time

the CV bracing design was meant to help provide more overall 'richness' &
slightly more open mids, which may  be more noticeable in a rosewood guitar

the unknown factor is, will the 814ce continue to deepen & warm up over time to where
its tone is more to your liking, whereas the 914ce seems to be more favorable 'right now'

imho, none of what i just posted amounts to a hill of beans - that being said,
the guitar that you prefer the tone of, the one that inspires you to pick it up &
play it more often & for longer periods of time is the one i'd suggest holding onto

true, there's a possibility that the 814ce could  open & 'warm-up' within the next 6 months
or it could take years - strings, saddle & picks (if you use them) may alter the tone a bit
more, but i would not count on a 'night & day' difference, because it may or may not happen

also, in 6 months the 812ce will be one model year old, whereas the 914ce will be seven years old -
there's a possibility the 914ce may  continue to 'bloom' over the next several months/years as well

there's a saying that goes 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' -
if you have the opportunity to acquire a guitar whose tone you gravitate towards now, that
seems to be more of a 'sure thing' - whether or not the 814ce will develop into the guitar
you want it to be is a bit more questionable &, imho, the only way to know is to give it time

if you're in a position to where you're able to have both guitars for a while, that could be 'the ticket'
in order to see if the 914ce still sounds as 'sweet' down the road, once the 'honeymoon' phase is over

good luck with your decision

[M19]

Financial considerations aside, if another guitar sounds significantly better, I'd go with that. There is no guarantee that a guitar will change over time, or that any change will be for the better. Don't make a decision on what "might" happen, make it on what is.

[jmg257]

Take the one that sounds good NOW...make sure there is not an obvious difference such as string type/brand, cause otherwise there is no guarantee that the 814 will improve.

I believe guitars will, or can, loosen up...I had new HD-28 that did just that after a month or so.  That said, I would not base a tone-based choice on the possibility...what if it doesn't?

[cigarfan]

Bottom line ... guessing what a guitar will or won't do in the future is a crap shoot. Listen to what your ears and hands tell you today. That's what I would go with.

[mgap]

Good advice with checking the strings that can make a difference.  Also the 900 series should have bone nut and saddle rather than Tusq, that can make a difference. 

I will say that my 814ce did open up and it sounds fuller after about 6 months but became much more noticeable a year after I got it. 

[e8n]

Guitars change and so do your ears.  What you think is great when you first start playing changes.  As your ear changes you may really love more crispness in your guitar or you may really like a deep thundering bass.  It all depends.   Do what's right for you now but just know that it too will likely change.

-Dave

[darylcrisp]

this may have been suggested as i didn't read all the replies, but i would highly suggest taking the 814 with you where the 914 resides, and doing a compare of both there. sometimes the room makes a huge difference-many of us can probably attest of the wonderful guitar we bought in the shop that kicked everythings butt, somehow a week later at home it just doesn't do it..............not always, but its happened to me.

time to spend a little cash on different strings if you haven't tried. having owned some 814's in the past, i can recommend DR RARE phosphur bronze(get the medium gauge or the med/heavy gauge-which are like light and light/med of other brands)
sometimes john pearse strings can help a taylor a lot(recommend-try the 80/20 bronze and the phosphur bronze
try some martin SP, 80/20 and phos bronze.

i would also recommend sticking a true medium gauge set of john pearse or Martins and tuning down a half step-you'll have a whole "nuther" guitar there.
also the Martin 12.5-55.5 set is a real nice tweener-tune it down a half step.

last, if you really want to get another guitar, may i suggest checking out a GS model. now there you'll find something with a whole lot more of everything the 814 throws at you-in my opinion.

keep it fun-enjoy the process-think it thru and play it thru
d

[Strumming Fool]

Every guitar that I have owned for a reasonable length of time has opened up. Some take longer than others, but they all do. Will an 814 sound as full as a 914 that's 5 1/2 years older? I can answer this question in the only way I know how: I don't believe that my newer guitars will ever "catch up" to the older guitars, because the older guitars will always be older! That said, I also believe that the changes become more subtle as time passes, so that the differences between a 16-year-old and a 10-year-old guitar for example (with all other elements being equal) will be less discernable. In your shoes, I'd hold onto the 814 and enjoy the opening-up ride. There will always be other guitars to add for contrasting sounds later...

[Cindy]

Also the 900 series should have bone nut and saddle rather than Tusq, that can make a difference. 

+1 to this comment. The bone saddle will offer a different tonal quality and sustain than Tusq.

[Herb Hunter]

I never consider the opening up process when buying a guitar. I buy a guitar based on how it sounds in the present. If it improves with time, so much the better, if it there is no betterment, it doesn't matter because it already sounds great or I wouldn't have bought it.

I have a 1996 814 that I bought the same day the dealer received it from the factory. It sounded great when I bought it and sounds great today. If it  underwent an opening up process, it was  such a slow or subtle process that I didn't notice it. The same applies to a 1998 cedar/ black walnut Taylor grand auditorium guitar. I do have a 1997 Engelmann spruce/Brazilian rosewood Taylor grand auditorium guitar in which I noticed a slight improvement after 5 or 6 years. Again, all three guitars were bought within days after the dealer received it from the factory.

Incidentally, I replaced the nut and saddle of my 814 with bone ones about 5 years after I bought the guitar and the tonal difference was hardly noticeable. Bone being a natural substance is inconsistent so its tonal properties, unlike Tusq, can vary. It may be that a different nut/saddle set made of bone might have produced more of a tonal difference for better or worse.

Your 814's tone may or may not improve with time but I don't think it will ever undergo such a dramatic change as to sound like another guitar. My voice, never good, has improved over time as I've worked to make it sound better but however much it has improved, I still sound like Herb. A different microphone, like a different saddle material on a guitar, might make my voice a bit more pleasing but my voice will not sound like someone else it will still sound like me.

[Giraku]

I second to jjrpilot.
I always enjoy a process of "growing" a new guitar.
As Phil said, it is a kind of gamble. You never know how a guitar grows.
It's a bit like parenting. It is unpredictable what a child grows into. But to me, watching how he/she grows is the most enjoyable thing.
And I believe that one can influence the direction how a child/guitar grows.
So my suggestion is to play your 814 a lot. Play your favorite tunes with your favorite style.
The guitar will eventually transform the way you like it.

I guess I forgot to say something important with the previous post in the quote above.
I assumed that you found a bond to your 814 when you bought it.
To me, buying a guitar is a process of finding a guitar that sings to me.
The fact that you bought the 814 means that it captured your ear and heart somehow (or at least I thought that way).
This is why I suggested cherishing the time spent with the 814.

I understand how you feel because I had many similar experiences in the past.
From time to time, I found fantastic sounding guitars at shops and thought they are better than what I owned at that time.
Then I brought some back to home (exploiting 2 weeks or 30 days return policy). There I could do A/B tests under the completely same environment.
Most of the cases, I found the ones I already owned better sounding than the new ones. That was probably because I knew how to "speak" with the guitars I owned. I knew pros and cons of them so that I could adjust my playing accordingly. For new ones, sometimes I felt playing a bit awkward just like having conversations with newly met girls (exciting but awkward).
Of course, in rare occasions, I found the new ones clearly better than the old ones. In that case, I found trusty new owners for the old ones and moved on (much easier than filing a divorce following the above analogy).

So, if you can, bring the 914 home, assuming you get a good return policy. And do a fair A/B test. Good luck and enjoy the process.