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IT has been a point of interest over the years of waiting and listening for when that magic moment happens with new Guitars. The bloom effect, as many refer to as , when your guitar tone/sound audibly has the quality of volume expansion or swell .
I first noticed this on my 2007 SCGC TR , after five years, suddenly woke up with this apparent volume increase. It was quite a moment. Or maybe it was the ear wax had suddenly cleared from the canals. It would be interesting to hear of some of your experiences with this bloom factor.
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Hi there ,
I bought my dream guitar 1934 d mahogany in 2014 , i suppose it is soon to hear the “magic bloom sound ” . I think the magic moment will be in 2 or 3 year …let me see then i will tell you . ?.
Btw honestly i have to say i love this santa cruz sound . Very very much ,
Thank you America..
Ciosi
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Waiting for the sleeping giant to awake so to speak. Ciosi. I’ve heard others say about 6-7 years. Don’t miss it. Coming soon to your town soon. Ka blooom
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Interesting that you bring this up now Chris.
I was playing the OM last night and I thought to myself that IT IS LOUDER/RICHER! The previous owners did not play it much…I have confirmed that with them.
Did it open up??? I have been playing it a lot over the last several months so Maybe it Just ‘Bloomed”.
When the 1934 D opens up You might hear it in Northern Ca.!!!
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My first one – the OM – was pre-broken-in and it was pretty perfect then and it’s only gotten better.
The 00-29 sounded AMAZING the first time I picked it up, and, like the other, it has improved over time, gradually. In addition to being acoustically great, it sounds better with the pickup now than when it was first installed – it’s warmer. I think the bits have all begun to get on better and relax, making it big and warm for such a small guitar.
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Matt you and Hank were who I was thinking of when I posted this . I was there with both of you when you first received n played your newbies… Both of you now have had your guitars for about 2years. Me thinks? Any how let’s keep this none in the mix. My D has the Italian spruce with Adi HHG braces and am thinking it is going to take maybe A couple more years to develop that broke in turbo powered bloom that I experienced with the S. Swan custom TR with German and EIR. What’s that classic old Stones tune “Time Time. Time Is On My Side”. Oh yes it is
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My experience is that all my guitars have matured differently, with no rhyme I can recognize. I can say that every guitar I’ve owned has benefited by the “aging” process. Some opened up significantly in a relatively short 6 month period of time. Others have taken a few years, while improving gradually along the way. Surprisingly, a SCGC EIR/German OM I currently own is one that has been slow to open over its first 2 years. However, it has gone from being a very nice guitar to pretty incredible — with no signs of leveling out. I’ll be anxious to see how my new Custom SCGC Coco/Italian OMG matures. It came to me with an unusually mature sound and it’s hard to imagine what it will grow to become.
One thing I’ve noticed is that some of my guitars have a short-term opening that occurs every time I play them, especially if I haven’t played them for a while, like a week or more. These guitars seem to warm up & provide a more complex tonal profile after playing them for 10 minutes or so.
– Paul –
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I also believe most guitars need to be played a bit to open up, but the long term changes I can’t say alot about – all my guitars were bought used, and I can’t really say how much playing time they got. But the short term opening up, like if its been cased for a couple months, I do really believe that most need 10+ minutes of playing to start getting their voices back in shape –
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As to when (and if) a guitar opens up/Blooms.
I wonder if the enviroement in which the instrument lives has any bearing on the when (or if).
I have only had 2 “New ” guitars in my life, the Martin HD-28 and the SCGC 1934D. The martin is now 25 years old and is as Bloomed as it is going to get. The 34 Zorro is a couple of years old and was very loud and Grand Piano like when I first got it. The others I bought used and I have already spoken about the OM. The O.T. was Otis Taylor’s main touring guitar and so has had a whole bunch of playing time. The F has always sounded rich and full.
All my Ramuda are kept full time in an American Music Furniture Guitar Habitat Cabinet. The RH is kept at a constant 42-48%. So other than playing time the conditions are the same for each guitar….but I don’t notice any difference in sound after a bit of time of playing on any of them.
I thought I remember Richard Hoover saying that the guitars he builds are “already open” because of the age of the woods he uses and the enviroemintel conditions of the shop.
Having said all that, I do hear a difference after restringing of course but I also have always been told to not buy a guitar and expect the sound/tone/volume to get better over time….buy the sound you like at the moment.
So…is it enviroement,age, playing time or do we just want to believe in the “Bloom Fairy”? -
10 minutes of hard playing Everly Brothers tune’s “Wake Up Little Suzy” and my trusty Tonerite.
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I think that instruments *do* change with age – my 2012/2013 00-29 has definitely opened up.
There are also changes in sound attributable to changing string type – gauge, material, et cetera – or changing the height etc of nut, saddle, frets, relief, etc.
But I also think that there’s a certain amount of what Zorro called ‘the bloom fairy,’ too. I don’t think that instruments change radically. My OM and 00-29 both sounded really amazing to start with, and while they have changed, the change has been gradual, not transformative.
Instead, it’s possible – and perhaps probable – that as the player becomes more accustomed to the instrument and learns its capabilities and how it responds, the *player* changes. They may learn to address the instrument in ways that draw out the best from that instrument. Increasing familiarity over time allows the player to be more attuned to the instrument so that they respond differently to it.
That’s what I’ve experienced. I know that I play differently on the OM and 00-29, based on what each does, and that provides a raison d’etre of sorts for having multiple different instruments. Most things can be played on any instrument, but sometimes the choice of instrument helps.
-mh
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Matt..as usual your comments,after due consideration , ring true.
I was playing the OM again today and REALLY trying to listen to it. Then I did the same with the 34 Zorro.I found myself playing the 2 guitars differently enough to make the same song sound “Different”.
I was playing “Can’t you see” using the same chords and as close as I could the same finger picking pattern(although I have never been able to play the same song the same way every time) and there was a distinct difference in “feel” to the piece.
As the old saying goes….Horses for courses.
By the way… good use of French to justify G.A.S. -
Thanks, my friend.
And French is as good as any a reason to justify another guitar.
Someday I’m going to get a 15” SCGC archtop in natural with a floating pickup with a neck like my OM. But that ship on the horizon has to come in first, and there are some rough seas, rocky shoals, and contrary winds to navigate first. I want it for the warm bottom end and the sweetness and sheer power of the high end, both of which are considerable…and because it’s another voice to work with.
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Well, I wouldn’t argue with any of you, but I swear that my guitars sound better after being played a while, even just 5 minutes. I can’t say its the guitar waking up – might be the strings waking up, might just be me settling down into the drivers seat, or it could just be the delayed re-awareness of what an old friend brings to the party – but sometimes, I’ll pick a guitar of mine up and it just doesn’t float my boat on first strum, but after a few minutes, its like reconnecting with an old friend – one of the reasons I have a hard time letting anything go –
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I’m gonna find out about the bloom in a couple weeks when I get my new guitar that is set to head to finish in the next few days-can’t wait to break it in. A Vintage Southerner with std Sitka/Hog, custom string spacing, added purfling, full back ‘burst, black tuning knobs. The truck keeps pulling in the direction of the SCGC cuz I live and work a couple miles away. I’ve managed to endure the wait with only a couple drop-ins to bug Carolyn but she’s nice and takes me right into the shop to check progress.
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The title of this thread reminded me of this song:
My own experience is that my dreadnought was pretty loud when I bought it nearly new in 2002. But it was brash. A perfect Rockabilly guitar. So I banged on it fr about 6 months. “Wake Up Little Suzy” was indeed one of those songs. 🙂
After 6 months, the tone started to get more complex, but the power did not drop.
For a number of years I couldn’t overdrive the top. It always just got louder and the topped out without flattening. These days, like me I guess, it’s more mature, more complex, and a little less powerful. I can overdrive it if I try.
🙂
D
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