Aging of guitars and wooden instruments

[romanclay]

I recently heard that quality violins that masters use are generally 40-80 years old before they really get that peak, quality sound. This I can understand, as a lot of things get better with age. But I was wondering, does this apply to guitars too? If i were to keep my strat around for about 20 or so years and take care of it, or even find an older guitar, would I find the tone getting better as it gets older, or is this just a violin thing?

 

[markb]

Solid wood acoustics certainly age as do solid topped guitars to a lesser extent. Laminates tend to stay pretty much as they were in the shop although the resonances in a guitar will have some effect on the way the bracing settles over time.
A solid body won't really change much unless the finish is thin and permeable. You won't see much change in the wood in a modern strat with a thick poly finish. Most of the colour change you see on older natural and sunburst guitars is due to yellowing in the lacquer.
As an example, the early blonde MIM Classic Telecasters were very white in colour. I've heard of people taking them to a tanning parlour to darken them up a bit . It works because the uv light darkens the clear coats.