Imagine being able to transform your instrument today to the way it will play ten years from now.  Everyone who has purchased a “new” instrument or had extensive work done on a older instrument knows the frustration of waiting while their instrument develops during the “Playing-in”/”Settling”  period. This period can last years with many factors contributing to the aging of the instrument.  Aside from the actual age of the instrument itself,  the most important factor in the developing sound of an instrument is simply the amount of hours the instrument must be played in order to dedampen its vibrations. Playing-in an instrument gives the instrument time to vibrate in the instrument's complex patterns and shapes(named Chladni patterns).

Our proprietary process plays an actual pitch on your instrument for 24 hours a day 7 days a week at a fortissimo volume for as many weeks as you like, in one week increments. The pitch is changed every 8-12 hours in a progression of notes and overtones that will achieve maximum results. Unlike other far more rudimentary technologies, we vibrate the actual strings of the instrument at their highest amplitude/volume for the entire time during the process. Other methods attach large heavy things to the bridge of the instrument like vibrating practice mutes or heavy motors spinning unbalanced weights.  These devices do not have enough frequency modulation to cause the instrument to go through more than its simplest Chladni patterns.  Our process plays the strings of your instrument with a real strings' many harmonics and complexities and it does so loudly.  We have the entire device in a sound-proof booth.  The process is completely safe and will not cause damage to any instrument although we need to replace strings regularly.  We use our own strings at our own cost.  (How long does it take for you to break a string, simply from use?).

Instrument Settling

In the first few years in the life of all string instruments it is expected that an instrument will do what is known as “Settling”. As the instrument is “Played-in”, the plates of the instrument becoming more flexible and the inside of the instrument will often expand loosening the sound post.  This is a natural and expected development in the life of an instrument and that during or after this time a bridge or post adjustment may be necessary.  After a week or two of being on the Krentzer, most instruments have done much of this settling and may need the expected necessary adjustments.  We are proud to return your instrument after one week playing as though it was two years in the future! From then on, you can look forward to fewer adjustments and a more stable instrument.

How Many Weeks?
Though it is difficult to quantify something as complex as the “average” play in time of a string instrument we have arrived at several general ideas after speaking with players and makers and having played in two brand new instruments the hard, old-fashioned way of playing it for years.

One week:
Playing in an instrument will generally fast forward an instrument the approximate equivalent of 2-3 years of regular playing. The low register can be expected to deepen and the upper register of each string tend to become much clearer and focused. Instruments generally get louder and much more even over their entire range.

Two weeks:
In the second week, the instrument generally fast forwards the equivalent of 4-6 years. After two weeks, most instruments are really far enough along that they tend to have no signs of being new. The tone is clear and focused, even and rich. Because the low registers of instruments open faster than the highest registers, the low register will be approaching its best.

Three weeks:
The third week allows the owner to fast forward approximately 8+ years. In the third week, more and more of the "woody" and "brilliant" components of an old instruments’ sound are in evidence. The highest frequency components of an instruments’ sound develop through the third week and beyond.

What the Krentz play-in process will NOT do:
It seems obvious, but an instrument is only made better in certain ways as it ages. A poorly conceived or constructed instrument or one made of inferior materials will always be limited in the scope of what it can achieve. The play-in service will not make poor instruments into good ones.

Finally, the higher the quality the instrument and the greater its potential, the larger the change in its sound through the process. Poor instruments change less than great instruments, which often have stunning changes. We have seen instruments we were not initially impressed with, though by quality makers, turn into amazing instruments. In the end though, poor instruments will only end up sounding like a played-in poor instrument and great instruments will sound like the same great instrument however many years in the future.

Concerns Q and A:
Is it possible to over play an instrument?
We have seen no detrimental effects on any instrument yet. The Krentzer plays its instruments very loudly, however, if viewed against the literally hundreds of years of playing and other abuse that some of our older instruments have been through without any reports of being over-played, your instrument is perfectly safe.

How long does the play-in last?
The effects are permanent. It is a well known phenomenon that instruments that have not been played for a period of time, need to be “woken up” afterwards. However, traditionally played-in instruments do not go back to sounding new after even years of rest and instruments that we have played in and have let rest for even months only revert a small amount and come back to themselves within a few days of regular use.

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