detuning in storage?

[brian gummer]

Hi,
I have a number of great acoustics i.e. 4 Martins and a Taylor and my question is this. If I detune these guitars (as I can only gig one at a time and I don't play that often) will this
A) Lengthen the period before a neck reset is required i.e. because of the reduced pressure and pull on the birdge and therefore guitars lower body?
B) Will such reduced tension damage or warp the neck in anyway?

Cheers,
Brian

[Rick Gentry]

This a great question I have been wanting to ask too.

As a multi-instrumentalist, there are wires and wood contraptions spilling out of my office. I generally detune a little, because I may not need that particular instrument for a while. I never slack the strings completely, but keep a little tension on. I have never had any problems in getting them ready to play when its their turn. I have an old French fiddle that seemed to be all tuned up tight and the top split at the edge of the soundpost. Maybe that wouldn't have happened if the owner loosened it up a bit. Bows also have a way of warping under "closet" pressure.

rg

[brian gummer]

Cheers Rick. I'll get lossening.
Hopefully I can get longer out of my precious guitars before they need er... "work"
B

[Ned Knepp]

I certainly can't see that it would hurt anything as long as you are not concerned about bring them out of mothball, so to speak. Like Rick, I don't turn down my string until they are floppy. I like to keeps a bit of tension on them but I've done this because they seem to tune out much faster this way when I get the guitar out again.

Actually, I almost never do this anymore, at least not with my players. I suppose I would on some of them if they didn't get used regularly but I have one, an Alvarez Yairi that I purchased new about 30 years ago, that's been strung and tuned to pitch the whole time and has never need any adjustments. For the last several years, it only gets used a few time a year but it is always ready when I open the case. Maybe it's a freak of nature.

Ned

[brian gummer]

Cheers Ned
This info is reassuring. As I mentioned toRick, I guess I'l detune the strings but not too much so theer is no pull on them.

[Frank Ford]

Brian -

You bet - if you slack all the tension off the strings, you halt the progress toward the eventual need for resetting. In fact, if you only tightened the strings when you play, you probably would never need to reset. That said, I personally keep my instruments tuned even though I hardly play at all these days - I just hate tuning that much.

As to the neck, it would be impossible to cause it to warp by unstringing it. While most necks can take the load of string tension, they would all be happier without it. . .

[Ned Knepp]

Here's a thought!

Who does Frank Ford take his beloved guitar to for a neck reset???

With all you appear to be doing; Would you ever get time to completed it if you were to do it yourself?
My father was a cabinet maker but it took my mom 25 years to get a new kitchen when she need one... then they moved.

Ned

[Frank Ford]

I found a way. Twice a year I go to the Roberto-Venn guitar making school and do a two-day lecture/demo on guitar repair. So, about three years ago I took my only flat top guitar (1983 Martin D) along for the ride and did the job there. Otherwise, I'm sure it would be on that long list. . .

[Ned Knepp]

That sounds like what my Mother used to call a "Postman's Vacation" but it's a pretty good way to get it done.

I know about the "long list"... Lately, I've started using the defense that these lists are never actually supposed to be completed, by their very nature, "to do" list cannot be complete. Completing a "to do" list removes the need for such a list and would create a paradox, therefore, attempting to complete a "to do" list violates the laws of nature and should never be attempted since completing such a list would cause the universe to implode and collapse into a new, alternate realty which would again contained nothing but incomplete "to do" lists. My wife doesn't buy it.

Ned

[brian gummer]

Thanks so much Frank.
On you advice, I guess I'll keep only my regular gigging guitars strings brought up to full tension and the others be left with their strings loose.
It was also reassuring what you felt re: the guitars necks not being in danger of either warping or becoming damaged without string tension.
I guess I was just concerned whether the pull of the truss rod against the "now" nil resistance (via slackened strings) could have a negative effect. Clearly not though huh?

I really wish we had an expert like you down here in New Zealand, I'll tell ya...

Bria