Guitar enthusiasts will all be familiar with the concept of a broken-in guitar. One that’s already been played for 1000 hours, one that sounds better than it did brand new.
It isn’t about the wood drying. It isn’t about fretboard wear. It isn’t about elapsed time. Those are all real topics, but they aren’t the same thing as “an instrument that’s been played in”.
Something apparently happens when an instrument is physically played a lot. Something about the shaking of the instrument or the way it resonates that somehow “opens up” the tone. Whereas a new instrument might sound tight or timid or thin, after hundreds of hours of playing it begins to sound relaxed or warm or boisterous by comparison.
The easiest way to accomplish this is to actually play the guitar for 100s of hours. Most players seem to agree on that. So what could possibly be wrong with that?
Well, some people want to get there faster…
Artificially Vibrated Guitars
And so, there are now ways available to artificially vibrate a guitar. The data isn’t clear on any of this, but here’s a quick overview of the main types of vibration and how they work…
- Normal Vibration (Real Playing): This is the old-fashioned “go play that guitar for 500 hours” approach to playing-in a guitar. This is undoubtedly the most fun, least expensive, most simple option available. But it is slow, and so…
- Mechanical Vibration: A variety of devices have been available for decades that, one way or another, physically shake a guitar to achieve a played-in state. The results appear to be mixed but are anecdotally noticeable and generally cause no damage to the instruments, assuming one uses a purpose-designed device. Instead of waiting months or years for a guitar to sound settled-in, the same effect can apparently be had in just days or weeks. But the devices aren’t cheap and suddenly you’ve got another piece of gear in the closet, and so…
- Acoustic Vibration: The newest vibration technique to gain popularity is acoustic vibration. This takes advantage of ubiquitous streaming services and the stereo speakers/monitors that a guitarist almost certainly already has, so there’s no new hardware involved. The guitar (or multiple guitars at once) are placed in front of a decent-quality speaker that’s playing a certain set of sounds, the guitar vibrates along with the sound, and the instrument(s) get “played-in” while you sleep. The main new idea is that this involves needing no new gear, though the amount of time it takes to play-in a guitar this way has not yet been established.
So, there you have it.
Does artificial vibration even work? I’m not sure, or perhaps I’d say that I don’t know how much it works. 0.1%? 1% 10%?? Maybe it accelerates a natural process, maybe it does absolutely nothing, or maybe it’s mostly a placebo trigger. Until there’s any data available, it’s anyone’s guess.
So back to the original impatient question: Why play a stiff & lifeless guitar when instead you could accelerate through the maybe-beneficial break-in period? With free options now available, at least you’re not getting hosed for $100 if you try a long-shot physics hack…
How to Vibrate Your Guitar: The Tools
For Natural Vibration, the simple option is to just pick it up and play it. The tools are your hands.
There have been several vendors for Mechanical Vibration devices over the years, including Instant Vintage and a few current options. Do an online search for new or older guitar vibrators and see what you can find in your area. Check the safety record before strapping an electric motor to your guitar!
For Acoustic Vibration, the only one I’m aware of at scale is at GuitarVibrator.com. This is similar to the “Speaker Method” of breaking in guitars where you just keep your instruments in a room with music playing, letting them vibrate along to whatever’s on. Unlike using normal music with its broad set of frequencies, using targeted audio like Guitar Vibrator may be a more efficient way to trigger resonance in a guitar that actually gets its strings wiggling.
Pros & Cons of Each Guitar Break-in Method
Each method comes with pros & cons…
- Normal Vibration
- Pros: fun, free & harmless
- Cons: slow
- Mechanical Vibration
- Pros: some positive comments online, several devices available
- Cons: owning another device
- Acoustic Vibration
- Pros: easy, free & harmless
- Cons: admitting to your family that you’re vibrating a guitar downstairs
Go Forth and Vibrate
The best way to break in a guitar is still Natural Vibration, but for someone who wants a quicker route, maybe a hybrid approach makes sense using Acoustic Vibration: you run your stereo overnight for free while also playing as much real music with your hands as possible.
I’m gonna go shake some strings and mull this all over…