new neck "break in" period?

[appar111]

Just wondering here if anyone here who assembles partscasters has noticed any “break-in” period with their guitar necks.

Aside from the initial string tension on a neck (and the appropriate truss rod adjustment) I’ve noticed that after the application of the finish (be it tru-oil, nitro, wipe-on poly) my necks seem to be a little more stable, adjustment & tuning wise, after having the guitars they’re on go through various environmental changes for a few weeks.

This usually involves the occasional night in the trunk of a cold car, then brought in to the living room, or left in a car on a warm day then brought into the a/c, etc. I.e. temperature and humidity fluctuations.

I could swear they seem a little more “road ready” and stable after a few weeks of this type of treatment. Anyone else notice the same?

[piece of ash]

Cold cars... AC... all these factors are moving the neck around. It is not the neck getting used to you... it is you getting used to the neck...

[appar111]

perhaps, but if it's moving the neck around, doesn't that mean the neck is changing a little bit?

[piece of ash]

Sure... and you are following it. No esoteric mythology in physics... save that for the music...

[appar111]

Well, whatever it is, it seems to make for a more enjoyable neck to play on than one that hasn't been through this treatment. The ones I had that hadn't seem to feel just a little stiffer, or harder, or something. Not sure. Whatever this seasoning is, I think it's for the better.

At first I was thinking it's the strings that are settling in with the temp/humidity changes, which may also be the case. But I slap a new set of strings on one of my guitars that's been "treated" like this, and it retains that more broken in feel. Could be a part of it is psychological too, I don't doubt that.

Whatever it is, I've put 3 new guitar necks through this and they all feel better for it. One of them I had for a good 8 months before I did this, and it felt better after a few weeks of "tough love" in the trunk/garage in winter.

[garrett]

Originally Posted by piece of ash

Cold cars... AC... all these factors are moving the neck around. It is not the neck getting used to you... it is you getting used to the neck...

+1

The neck will always be changing.

[appar111]

It seems to reach a point though where it's pretty well stable, though. Perhaps it's just that noticeable change period that I'm picking up on, and if it's still changing later, by that point my hands have gotten used to it enough, and the changes are so small, that I don't notice it?

[fezz parka]

Originally Posted by piece of ash

It is not the neck getting used to you... it is you getting used to the neck...

Bingo. Sometimes when you make a change, like adjusting the TR, it needs to settle in. But...as PoA sez, it's always changing.

This "break in" stuff drives me batty. Another thing that I never heard before the internot.

[appar111]

Originally Posted by piece of ash

Cold cars... AC... all these factors are moving the neck around. It is not the neck getting used to you... it is you getting used to the neck...

technically, me getting used to the neck getting used to it's surroundings

[appar111]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

Bingo. Sometimes when you make a change, like adjusting the TR, it needs to settle in. But...as PoA sez, it's always changing.

This "break in" stuff drives me batty. Another thing that I never heard before the internot.

Yeah, we probably never noticed this stuff before, or never had a forum to discuss such crazy ideas-- we were too busy just playin' the durned things!

[spauldingrules]

Well, your action was probably raised slightly by the cool, dry air, which makes it sound better, and therefore more enjoyable. Assuming you had low to medium low action before. If not, disregard above comment.

Originally Posted by appar111

Well, whatever it is, it seems to make for a more enjoyable neck to play on than one that hasn't been through this treatment. The ones I had that hadn't seem to feel just a little stiffer, or harder, or something. Not sure. Whatever this seasoning is, I think it's for the better.

At first I was thinking it's the strings that are settling in with the temp/humidity changes, which may also be the case. But I slap a new set of strings on one of my guitars that's been "treated" like this, and it retains that more broken in feel. Could be a part of it is psychological too, I don't doubt that.

Whatever it is, I've put 3 new guitar necks through this and they all feel better for it. One of them I had for a good 8 months before I did this, and it felt better after a few weeks of "tough love" in the trunk/garage in winter.

[piece of ash]

You should never store your guitar anyplace that you yourself would not feel comfortable. This is paraphrased from the manual that comes with Martin guitars.

During a time here in Phoenix when I was dousing my lips with Chapstick to keep them from cracking (cold weather, no humidity, and heated house); I neglected the humidifiers in my acoustics. I now have a Martin with a cracked soundboard to show for it. Some very astute advice from Martin... eh?

And on the track of astute advice... don't leave your guitars in your trunk; unless you care to be there with them. Solidbodies are fairly tough beasts... but this break-in thing is not in the guitar...

[howardlo]

I agree with Fezz on the TR. I had one guitar that it seemed need the TR adjusted constantly for over a year. Often I would adjust it twice a week, changes in humidity, temperature, etc. Who knows? But, it had never left the house in that time, so conditions didn't change to extremes.

Then that all seemed to change suddenly and I haven't had to adjust it in the past year. Maybe I just finally found the right spot with my adjustments, or the TR stabilized or settled in a little more. But, happy days now.

[appar111]

Originally Posted by piece of ash

You should never store your guitar anyplace that you yourself would not feel comfortable. This is paraphrased from the manual that comes with Martin guitars.

During a time here in Phoenix when I was dousing my lips with Chapstick to keep them from cracking (cold weather, no humidity, and heated house); I neglected the humidifiers in my acoustics. I now have a Martin with a cracked soundboard to show for it. Some very astute advice from Martin... eh?

And on the track of astute advice... don't leave your guitars in your trunk; unless you care to be there with them. Solidbodies are fairly tough beasts... but this break-in thing is not in the guitar...

Well, luckily I'm talking about solidbodies (teles) and not acoustics. I'd definitely never do this treatment with an acoustic, much less a nice Martin!

So you think that the break-in phenomenon I'm experiencing has nothing to do with the guitar neck itself, i.e. it's all just me? (i.e. hands getting used to the neck)? It hasn't negatively affected the necks so that's a good thing. I figure, it's a tele, it's tough and can handle it. Everything has it's limits of toughness, and I appear to be within the boundaries for my teles :)

Maybe it's the truss rod finally settling in, resulting in the neck finally settling into it's stiffness, relief, etc. Maybe the temp changes were just helping the wood and truss rod settle in?

[piece of ash]

There is certainly the possibility that the thermal cycles are speeding a process of "stress relief"... annealing so to speak. In my line of work, we use thermal cycling to destroy things... -100C to +150C... we guage the quality of our designs by how many cycles they withstand. And we spend huge amounts of money on the electricity and the machines to do that with.

That said, I would make my best guess that you are growing accustomed to the necks... more so than the necks are settling in.

Now if we start talking about breaking-in wire... I'm outta here.

[rolling56]

Break in period is up when it needs a refret.

[fezz parka]

Originally Posted by rolling56

Break in period is up when it needs a refret.

[WaylonFan76]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

Bingo. Sometimes when you make a change, like adjusting the TR, it needs to settle in. But...as PoA sez, it's always changing.

This "break in" stuff drives me batty. Another thing that I never heard before the internot.:lol:

Do I smell a new Uncle Fezz video coming ???

[appar111]

Originally Posted by rolling56

Break in period is up when it needs a refret.

I hope so!

[appar111]

Originally Posted by piece of ash

There is certainly the possibility that the thermal cycles are speeding a process of "stress relief"... annealing so to speak. In my line of work, we use thermal cycling to destroy things... -100C to +150C... we guage the quality of our designs by how many cycles they withstand. And we spend huge amounts of money on the electricity and the machines to do that with.

That said, I would make my best guess that you are growing accustomed to the necks... more so than the necks are settling in.

Now if we start talking about breaking-in wire... I'm outta here.

Luckily my thermal cycling isn't near that extreme (the trunk of my car doesn't approach anywhere near those extreme temps!), so I'm hopefully not destroying my necks by my treatment of them.

I still think there may be a bit of actual physical change going on w/ the necks (this "stress relief" you speak of) but probably much less so thatn I think.

Perhaps subconsciously I'm getting the idea that this is what's causing them to feel more broken in. That they're somehow getting tougher... like a tele needs any percieved increase in toughness!