Do acoustic guitars sound better with age, or will a new guitar have improved sound quality?
Of course what sounds better is subjective to everyone’s ears, and everyone has different preferences.
However, as acoustic guitars age, the fibers of the wood also age.
This aging oftens results in the tone of the guitar becoming warmer over time, and is often seen (or heard) as a pleasant quality for your guitar to have.
So if you’re looking for those wonderfully warm tones, then yes, acoustic guitars will sound better with age.
If you’re looking for other tonal qualities, then you might want to stick to newer models of guitars, avoiding vintage selections.
Do older acoustic guitars sound better?
If you enjoy warmer acoustic guitars, then you will almost certainly find older vintage acoustic guitars sound better to your ear.
Acoustic guitars warm with age and many people enjoy getting this quality out of their guitar.
There’s also one other point I want to make about listening to older guitars.
You don’t see too many cheap, old guitars. Cheap guitars don’t last, but people take good care of their high-end guitars.
So if someone brings you an old guitar, and says “Listen to this vintage guitar sound.”, the impressive qualities you’re hearing could just be the fact that it’s a really nice guitar.
A high end guitar is going to sound awesome for 50+ years provided it’s maintained.
That’s not to say age doesn’t improve some guitars, you might have a guitar that you don’t quite enjoy because it plays a little too bright.
After 5 years of playing you might find that it plays a little warmer and it’s taken the edge off the brightness.
Age can certainly improve the sound of an older acoustic guitar.
Do acoustic guitars get louder with age?
Whether your guitar gets louder with age will depend on what type of wood your guitar is made from.
As the guitar is played the wood stabilizes and can dry out.
Different woods produce different qualities of tone, but also volume.
Harder wood such as maple will be louder than a spruce top guitar.
When maple dries it’s still hard, however, relative to maple, spruce will be more porous.
A soundboard that’s porous can actually produce a muting quality, rather than getting louder.
So yes, age can make a guitar louder, and it likely will, however, it depends on the type of wood used to make the guitar.
Some guitars may become quieter with age.
Do old acoustic guitars wear out with age?
A decent quality guitar should last a lifetime of play, but will likely need some minor replacements and tune ups over the years.
With heavy playing yes, an acoustic guitar may become so worn that it will not function properly and will need to be replaced.
Check out the video above again, He has a 20 year old guitar with some of the wood fairly worn and some pieces falling off.
Even though the guitar is showing some wear, it still probably has another 20 years left in it.
However, things like the frets, nut, saddle and tuners will likely need to be replaced to last another 20 years.
What makes an older acoustic guitar sound better?
If you enjoy warm tones from an acoustic guitar, you’ll love the type of warmth an old guitar provides.
Acoustic guitars can already produce great warm tones, brand new, but the vintage warmth is something special and many people enjoy it!
If you don’t like warm sounding guitars you probably won’t like the way old guitars sound, but to each their own.
Acoustic guitars sound better with age if you enjoy warm tones!
