Subject: RE: A Surfeit of Martins?
From:
Don Firth
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 03:18 PM
Interesting to note that there have been a number of "blind tests" of guitars, in which various makes of guitars are played behind a curtain, and the people out front (usually passionate advocates of one brand or another) are asked to rate the guitars in terms of sound, volume, balance between bass and treble, carrying power, sustain, etc. It's amusing and amazing the number of times the expensive, well-known, brand-name guitars wind up down the list and some fairly inexpensive "sushi-board" tops the vote. Takamine's seem to do quite well in these contests. They don't have the pizzazz of the "elite" brands like Martin, Gibson, Taylor, et al, but they do seem to have the mojo. Or so keen, knowledgeable ears, unprejudiced by labels, seem to indicate.
Greetings, Anonny. Here's more than anyone could possibly want to know about flamenco guitars:—
Up until recently, the main difference between a classic guitar and a flamenco guitar was in the woods used. Both classics and flamencos usually have a spruce soundboard, although within recent years, red cedar has been used a lot. Red cedar is an excellent tone wood, especially for classics. The back and sides of a top-quality classic guitar are usually made of rosewood. The back and sides of a traditional flamenco guitar are made of Spanish cypress (sort of yellow or light orange).
Flamenco pretty much originated with the Andalusian gypsies. They were not particularly flush and generally couldn't afford expensive guitars. They bought instruments made of fairly cheap, easily accessible woods, such as Spanish cypress (locally available rather than imported, like Brazilian or Indian rosewood). Also, traditional flamenco guitars didn't have geared tuning machines; they had straight one-to-one ration push-pegs (a real bitch to tune!). Cheaper.
With classic guitars, the luthier is trying for a rich, full, warm sound, with all of the characteristics mentioned in the first paragraph above: volume, balance between bass and treble, carrying power, sustain, etc., suitable for Bach, Sor, Tàrrega, Aquado, Villa-Lobos, all those guys. All these things are important to a flamenco guitarist as well, but the main traditional use of the flamenco guitar was to provide a strong rhythmic accompaniment for dancers. A percussive sound with lots of bite to it. Also, flamenco guitarists like a very low action—strings close to the fingerboard. So close, in fact, that they sometimes buzz against the frets. But this needs to be controllable. Buzz when you want it, not when you don't. Also flamenco guitarists almost always use a capo, or çejilla, at around the third, fourth, or fifth fret, to move the action up to where the frets are closer together, facilitating fast scales and other single note passages (picado). A good flamenco guitar has a real "Spanish accent."
Using a flamenco guitar as a solo instrument in concerts, like Carlos Montoya, Sabicas, Mario Escudero, and others did is relatively recent. Also, luthiers who normally made only classic guitars, turning to making high-quality flamenco guitars to supply such people as Montoya, et al is also fairly recent (maybe the last seventy-five years or so). Within recent years, instead of a flamenco guitar being just a classic guitar made of cheap woods with the action adjusted low, luthiers have been refining certain aspects of making flamenco guitars. The soundboard is sanded a little thinner that on a classic, and oftentimes the body of a flamenco guitar is not quite as deep as that of a classic (distance between soundboard and back). Also, sometimes they set the neck at a minutely different angle in relation to the soundboard.
Very recently (last thirty years or so) some luthiers have been making flamenco guitars in two flavors: flamenco blanca, made with cypress back and sides (sometimes maple or other light woods—is cypress no longer inexpensive?), and flamenco negro, made with rosewood or other dark colored, denser woods, generally giving the guitar a somewhat richer, less "bitey" tone. Other than low action and a few barely noticeable details of construction, there is very little difference between a classic and a flamenco negro guitar.
Arcangel Fernandez, who made my flamenco guitar, turned out to be one of the top young luthiers in Madrid, which I didn't know at the time. He makes both classics and flamencos. Montoya and others were starting to use his flamenco guitars, which I also didn't know at the time. So I was just damned lucky to get my name in the pot before he became more famous and the price went up! My guitar has a spruce soundboard and a cypress back and sides. Fernandez gave me the option of geared tuning pegs or push-pegs. Flamenco "purists" insist on push-pegs, claiming that any metal, other than the frets, pollutes the pure flamenco tone, but that's a load of dingo's kidneys. I had another flamenco guitar with push-pegs, and it was a monster to keep in tune, so I wasn't going to mess with that. Geared tuning pegs for me.
When I first got it (made to order and shipped air-freight from Madrid) in 1961, I was somewhat disappointed. It was absolutely gorgeous, but the tone sounded a bit mushy. But within a couple of weeks of playing, its voice opened up amazingly! And over the past forty-five years, it's just got better and better. Even though it has a real bite to it, it has a very warm tone, and it's loud! It can easily fill a concert hall. And has.
Fernandez is still busy "makin' sawdust," but he's no longer taking orders. He figures it will take him ten years to fill the orders that he has now. That's why guitars like mine are worth as much as they are. Many of the current crop of flamenco guitarists lust after an "Arcangel," and are willing to shell out mucho bucks for an older one in good condition, which mine is.
This guitar is an identical twin to mine. Clicky. Headstock, rosette, everything. This one is #156. Mine is a bit earlier: #135.
I was one lucky sucker to get that guitar when I did!
Don Firth
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