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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi John,</FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><BR>the grater majority of guitarists and string players believe that
instruments sound better with age. I also believe that this is true in
most cases. One<BR>can look at the prices of most well built instruments
from now and yesterday and see a substantial price increase for the older
instruments. For example<BR>a Martin HD28 built today will go for less
than $2000, while the same guitar built in the 30s will go for up to
$100000. Most companies swear that they<BR>build a better instrument today
than ever and I also believe that. How can we not be more efficient in
2008 than 1930? We have made so many advances<BR>with machines such as the
CNC, and most importantly we have the past mistakes of others that we can learn
from. I often wonder what the reasons could<BR>be that widen the gap
between the sound of new and vintage instruments. Perhaps its because we
now put thicker braces in new guitars to lessen the possibility<BR>of the top
collapsing, or maybe its the thicker coats of lacquer that restrict the body's
vibration. I have never been a fellow who is caught up in
conspiracy<BR>theories but I wonder if perhaps pollution of trees makes some
sort of a difference. Pretty far out hmm? I can tell you that the
string instruments I<BR>own are 98 percent hand built and that makes a big
difference! I have noticed that a lot of the hand built violins, mandolins
and guitars of this day do not get much better over time. It seems that
after a month of playing they hit a threshold and are 99 percent as good as they
will ever get. I don't know why this would be, but I assume that the wood
is dried properly and the wood selection is hand picked by the artisan and he or
she knows what they are looking for to get the sound they want. I know
builders who go to Europe just to select wood for guitar tops and they
claim its because of the age of the wood. I had a mandolin that had a
European Spruce top and the builder told me he brought back a church pew to cut
several tops from. He declared that the wood was at least 400 years
old. Another thing that I have always found astonishing is you can't judge
the instrument by the beauty of the wood. Some guitars that have Brazilian
rosewood back and sides and an European Spruce top with beautiful grain can
sound like crap! As best as I can tell the tone wood used for the top/or
soundboard, tap tuning the air chamber and brace/rib placement are the
3 most important factors in string instrument building. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards,</DIV>
<DIV>Shawn Brock, RPT</DIV>
<DIV>513-316-0563</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.shawnbrock.com">www.shawnbrock.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>