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No smell of Wood?   You are logged in as Guest
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Paschi

 

Posts: 9
Joined: Apr. 3 2010
 

No smell of Wood? 
Hello maybe one of you fine members can help me with some questions!?

I have a 30 year old Bellido Guitar (signed etc.) but there´s no smell of Wood coming out the soundhole. The pre-owner told me the Guitar was like 20 years in the guitarcase.
is it possible thats it is because of the 20 years in the case and not being played that there is no smell of wood?

1. how come theres no smell of wood?

The Wood of the Neck seems to be very soft I can´t use normal Capo´s because when i tried it makes marks in the Neck. is it because of the age!?

2. Why´s the Neck built so soft?

I mean it is a signed Bellido Guitar so i would think of best materials and Handcraft...

another thing is that the Bass is almost lost (very little/silent) and the Guitar is not french polished. i was told the guitar is in Original state...

3. have you ever seen a Bellido thats not french polished?

any Ideas ???
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 15 2013 16:03:04

C. Vega

 

Posts: 379
Joined: Jan. 16 2004
 

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to Paschi) 
Did you buy the guitar to play it or to smell it?

The guitar may have a soft finish which may account for the marks but it could be the wood. Some cedrella is rather soft. I doubt that the age of the wood is the reason. If anything, woods tend to harden with age.
Some finishes, including French polished shellac and oil varnishes, can be somewhat delicate.
If the capo is causing dents, try another style of capo and/or use less tension on the one you have. It really doesn't take much to hold the strings down.

There are lots of "signed" guitars out there, both old and new, that were made in factories.

If this guitar has such a bad bass response then why did you buy it?

On a visit to Jose Lopez Bellido's shop in 1999 I saw one of Jose's helpers stringing up a batch of six or eight blancas that had just come back from the finisher's shop. If I recall correctly they had tops finished with shellac (probably sprayed, sanded and buffed out) and a sprayed urethane or polyester finish on the back, sides and neck.
Most Granada makers outsource most if not all of their finishing work whether it's "French polish" (not actually a finish but rather a method of applying a finish, usually shellac) or sprayed synthetic.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 15 2013 17:48:50
 
TANúñez

Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to Paschi) 
Probably because it's so old. It also may be French polished which is more delicate than lacquer and your capo may be too tight.

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Tom Núñez
www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 16 2013 13:09:07
 
estebanana

Posts: 9358
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
 

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to Paschi) 
That is a sharp avatar you have there Tomas.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 16 2013 13:52:18
 
tele

Posts: 1464
Joined: Aug. 17 2012
 

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to estebanana) 
Let it lay for 24 hours in the open in a luthiers shop and it will start to smell

French polish necks can get marks from capo, do you get them even with leather backed traditional capo or dunlop capo? New french polish to the neck would cost about 100 euros if you need it.

Usually guitars should smell for very long time but it could have something to do with the climate and how long it was aged before building the guitar

Another question of course is, what wood is it made of, the sides and bottom? And lastly, could it be a cheap copy(I doubt it though)?

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 16 2013 13:55:53
 
z6

 

Posts: 225
Joined: Mar. 1 2011
 

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to C. Vega) 
quote:

Did you buy the guitar to play it or to smell it?


That cracked me up, in public. Cheers.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 16 2013 14:42:16
 
z6

 

Posts: 225
Joined: Mar. 1 2011
 

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to Paschi) 
It's interesting that I never noticed that I do smell guitars (like kicking a car's tyres in lieu of knowledge).

But Arash' horror story about the kackee guitar (and Pink's spooky follow-up) has mended my ways.

Ask yer dog if it smells like wood and if he shakes his head get rid of it.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 16 2013 14:50:57
 
Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006
 

RE: No smell of Wood? (in reply to Paschi) 
just a few thoughts about the initial post

First, what Bellido is it?

1) The smell is most probably gone because of age. Old violins can smell really strange

2)Back then, all flamenco guitars were built to be what we now call old school guitars. In order to get the trebly sound with very Little sustain and a very short bass, necks were build light, and that means lower density cedar and therefor softer cedar. If it gets dented, dont use a dunlop or a peg cejilla. Use something like the Planet waves capo.
You talk about Wood quality. But what is that? if the original client wanted a ligt neck, then quelity was light Wood. If it was high density and heavy, the client would not have bought the guitar.

3)C. Vega is right when he says that Granada builders normally dont finish themselves. At least they havent done it for the last 2 decades. Back in the 60th and 70th, I dont know, but the Granada guitars are historically and normally French polished. There was/is a culture of pro polishers finisheing all the citys guitars. When I lived in Granada 2001 - 7 I used the same French polisher as José Lopez and I´ve seen many of his guitars hanging there. His brother Manuel used another French polisher for his guitars.

I hope this helps you. But photos of the guitar and label could help us.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 17 2013 16:59:12
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