BUT WHO WANTS TO WAIT THAT LONG ?
What if we could also speed up the actual chemical processes in the wood that otherwise only occur with the passage of time ?
Ordinarily , even after seasoning , tonewoods are further kiln-dried to a moisture content of 6-8 %. Good to go for building purposes , but absent that vintage tone . But what if we could also speed up the actual chemical processes in the wood that otherwise only occur with the passage of time ? Could that yield a new instrument that also exhibits the lighter , stiffer , resonant qualities of vintage guitars ?
Yes , through a process called torrefaction — accelerated aging via thermal modification ( actually altering the wood at the molecular level ). Torrefaction involves “ baking ” the wood quickly in a special oven free of oxygen at temperatures roughly twice that of a typical kiln drying process . The result is a tremendous acceleration of chemical changes that otherwise happen naturally over time , removing vibration-damping volatiles as it redistributes lignin , the “ glue ” that bonds cellulose fibers . In the end , torrefied wood looks much like that cured naturally over many decades . And Martin has its own proprietary torrefaction process ( branded as the Vintage Tone System — or VTS ), the parameters of which it can precisely dial in for any targeted era .
“ The best bang for the buck ,” Teel says , “ is on soundboards and bracing . There has been some experimentation with other parts of the guitar , but the benefit is less compelling . Both our Authentic line and the Modern Deluxe series are built with torrefied tops , yielding that magical vintage tone . As for aging the lacquer and other components , well , we still need to wait on time and nature to do its thing .” Teel recalls the first time they strung up a guitar built with a torrefied soundboard . “ We are always experimenting and always looking at new things . There ’ s no shortage of that here — there ’ s always something new or different we ’ re experimenting with . Torrefaction is one of them . Immediately upon stringing up a test guitar in a D-28 platform , we were stunned . It really had that ringing sound of the guitars I was just listening to that very day in the Martin Museum as we were working on new the Authentic products . It was quite striking .”
It ’ s the next best thing to a time machine — inverted though it may be : Martin ’ s Authentic and Modern Deluxe lines may take us back to the time of company ’ s pre-war “ Golden Era ” guitars , but they also move us forward with decades of aging baked into instruments built today — truly a new Golden Era .
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