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 Do Sticks age well? 
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Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:10 am
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Post Do Sticks age well?
I'm in the market for a Stick, and I'm wondering what sort of effects age and use has on Chapman sticks.

For example, I'm looking at two different sticks. One is ten years old, and has been played a fair bit. The other is only five years old, and hasn't been played much. Will one play or sound any better/worse than the other, or go out of tune more easily?

I realise that the condition of a stick mightn't have much to do with age at all, and more to do with how well kept it has been. Is this the case?

Thanks in advance,
Angus


Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:30 am
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Post Re: Do Sticks age well?
Angus wrote:
I'm in the market for a Stick, and I'm wondering what sort of effects age and use has on Chapman sticks.

For example, I'm looking at two different sticks. One is ten years old, and has been played a fair bit. The other is only five years old, and hasn't been played much. Will one play or sound any better/worse than the other, or go out of tune more easily?

I realise that the condition of a stick mightn't have much to do with age at all, and more to do with how well kept it has been. Is this the case?

Thanks in advance,
Angus


I believe they do stand up well to age. Necks can be adjusted and pickups can be changed and upgraded. One difference is very old Sticks don't have adjustable trussrods or adjustable bridges so the instruments sometimes need to be retrofitted with an adjustable trussrod and instruments with set bridges aren't as flexable in regard to changing tunings. That said a well adjusted old Stick often pays as good as a brand new one. Especially if it's sent back to Stick Enterprises for the set up!

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Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:14 am
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Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:12 am
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Post Re: Do Sticks age well?
Mine's an '83 (several owners) and I don't believe it's ever been back to S.E.

It's in great shape, sounds amazing and I was able to get the action very low and keep it there with no problem despite having no truss rod (I'm in "classic" tuning). I "Watco-ed" it when I got it (like Emmett used in the shop) with a lot of elbow grease and the ironwood looks and feels great. The original frets are possibly due for some fine tuning at Stick Headquarters but then again they've been played hard for close to 30 years!

I just love the growl on these older Sticks!

Eric

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Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:15 pm
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Post Re: Do Sticks age well?
As far as staying in tune, my '83 Ironwood and '08 Bamboo sat in unheated storage for a NJ winter and summer and THEY WERE STILL IN TUNE.
PEACE, MARTY

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Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:15 pm
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