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RE: soundportparty in my patio
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Tom Blackshear
Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008
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 RE: soundportparty in my patio (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JasonMcGuire
TomB,
Reyes is indeed a living legend and I have played quite a number of his guitars and even sold one 1987 Blanca for a dear friend of mine who needed to get a fair price for the guitar after being offered half the going rate for one of that vintage by a well known guitar dealer...............rrrrrrrrrip. 
There was no offense meant to Manuel Reyes. I have nothing but respect for his work and your work for that matter. My comments and "raking over the coals" has way more to do with your personality than anything else. I think most people around here understand that pretty well.
If what is necessary is a public apology, then so be it...... I offer here my sincerest apologies to the legendary master luthier Manuel Reyes for linking his name to Tom Blackshear in such a silly discussion about sound ports and bizarre shirt designs worn by our favorite professor.
Of course I realize that we in fact are standing on shoulders of giants but that doesn't mean that we have to stand by and listen to someone insult our friend's work without defense. That just wouldn't be very good behavior for Texas boy now would it?
Can we get back to discussing sound ports now?
Perhaps we can start a new thread dedicated to you insulting nice people who just want to express themselves. Whenever they are feeling too high and mighty or things in their personal lives have been too easy, they could just check in and say hello and you could tell them all that is wrong with them in the various degradory ways that seem natural to you and that way we can keep it contained in one space instead of hijaking other people's threads like Anders' discussion of sound ports. I promise to be the first to post in that thread......... WHAAACK, "Yes Sir, may I have another?"
We ALL get the point that you don't like sound ports. We get it.
Peace
One thing and I'll let it go; I understand that you take offense at my disagreement with sound ports.
And anyone who promotes sounds ports to sell guitars is fine with me. But I draw the line with character assassination if I don’t agree with someone about a technical facility regarding sound. I try never to go there.
When I tune a guitar just right it gives certain vibrations that a player would feel with his senses without extra volume needed for support, imo.
I've let you pick on my character a little since I'm a pretty forgiving guy but rest assured that my experiments show me that sound ports are for the very few as a sub-culture, not in the main stream of guitar tradition.
I'm a strict traditionalist and I supply guitars to those who are traditionalists. Sound ports are not new but the basis for the new port craze came from Roger Thurman who patented his ports and advertised them through professional players, and some makers, etc.
I believe Brune may have used Roger's port design a few times. But ports aren't new, they could be about 10 years old or more concerning this new port design. So I've been there before and discussed these things with Roger about his patented ports.
I chose not to use them, not because they don't work but because I'm of the opinion that ports get in the way of my aesthetic designs and provoke negative qualities rather than add a better sound. I think I've expressed that on this list.
But I've also added that ports are for those who care to experiment with them, and this allows you or anyone else on this list to understand my sentiments for experimentation. There will always be room for this.
enough said.........
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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker
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Date Jul. 20 2009 18:45:53
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Tom Blackshear
Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008
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RE: soundportparty in my patio (in reply to JasonMcGuire)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JasonMcGuire
TomB,
Once again, I only take offense at the way in which you choose to express your opinions. Not the opinions themselves.
I care much less about when and who invented ports. I just know that I really like the way they sound in my guitars.
Tradition is a wonderful thing. One thing I have noticed about tradition is that those that have a hand in creating tradition are usually very receptive to change, are generally very easy to get a long with and posess a certain security about their place in the scheme of things...... those that merely protect tradition from the inevitable march of time, tying it to the ground in an attempt to fight the natural evolution of things tend to be the opposite.
I understand what you mean but I think it's fair to say that not all people agree with certain facets of building principle or new ideas that some builders are curious about.
In the 40 years of my search for the unique voice in this instrument, I have come to the conclusion that the Spanish guitar builders appear to have reached a balance between tradition and design and are moving no further with it. Their understanding is that the traditional guitar is a completed work, and they deal with it in an appropriate manner, contenting themselves with making small adjustments on the inside to find ways to improve its tonal quality.
But I have corresonded with Amalia Ramirez about the double top with Nomex and she said that she would check it out to see how it works as an experiment for her guitars. I have yet to check back with her on this project but she should have some idea about it by now.
One thing about guitar builders in general is that if some new technical facility shows promise to improve their sales, then it's a normal response to try it out to see if there is truly a point for better sales trends.
Brune said that there is some indication that the double top may last long enough to gain a player's moneys worth. I think this could mean that builders may not see it as a lasting value for say, 50 years, but that it would have enough time to pay for itself in value toward the owner's life span.
But I have yet to figure how a double top would stand up under the pressure of a flamenco player :-)
I've talked with some of the builders of these trends and some of them have told me they had to go back to traditional guitar styles because their customers demanded it. So, while I think these new trends are showing promise to some extent, I believe that the normal flow of things will remain, for the greater percentage, traditional.
You may think this is negative talk but I believe it is reasonable to understand that we are experiencing new innovations in a time frame that has not determined a place in history, yet :-)
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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker
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Date Jul. 21 2009 5:05:43
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Tom Blackshear
Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008
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RE: soundportparty in my patio (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Anders Eliasson
quote:
I have come to the conclusion that the Spanish guitar builders appear to have reached a balance between tradition and design and are moving no further with it. Their understanding is that the traditional guitar is a completed work, and they deal with it in an appropriate manner, contenting themselves with making small adjustments on the inside to find ways to improve its tonal quality.
Have you ever been to Spain? Because what you are saying is as always extremely far away from reality. I´ve been here for many years, I know a lot of Spanish builders and they are all trying to find new ways.
As always, you are living inside a little bubble, and the images you think you get of the world are just reflexions from the inside of that bubble. I think thats why you think the rest of the world is like you. Fortunately you are very wrong.
I was in Madrid in 1965 for 3 months which was mainly taking lessons from Paco Del Gastor; actually gleaning new music material. But I understand that makers in Spain look for different approaches to modify their instruments to be better.
You failed to consider my association/correspondance with Amalia Ramirez about this in the same post so I think you are just looking for an argument, which I'll not give you anymore on this list. Nice try though :-)
And as I've already said, the majority of makers seem to be in traditional mode for the greater percentage of the market.
And I've already agreed that if you want to promote the sound ports for your guitars, feel free to do it, as there are a significant percentage of makers that will be motivated to look into these modifications to see if they can improve their work.
As for me, I chose to try and improve my guitar's sound from the inside, relating to how the fan brace patterns formulate tone and projection.
But I also see makers like Amalia, and Contreras who are tinkering with some of these systems, especially the sandwich tops.
But I think the majority of players world wide will not feel the need, as they are mainly amatures and not that motivated to need these new innovations. I believe that tradition plays a very strong part of what players will accept, over the long run.
I've had some success with my own experiments which I have incorporated into my work, so I always encourage experiments to find a better way.
Please feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong.
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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker
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Date Jul. 21 2009 8:50:31
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Tom Blackshear
Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008
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RE: soundportparty in my patio (in reply to GuitarVlog)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GuitarVlog
quote:
ORIGINAL: Tom Blackshear
Sound ports are not new but the basis for the new port craze came from Roger Thurman who patented his ports and advertised them through professional players, and some makers, etc.
I believe Brune may have used Roger's port design a few times. But ports aren't new, they could be about 10 years old or more concerning this new port design. So I've been there before and discussed these things with Roger about his patented ports.
Thurman? The guy who came up with these?
I had seen LoPrinzi experiment with them for a while. He doesn't offer the "Nova Futura" anymore. Not that ever considered buying one.
Yes, this is Roger's original port design that he had patented. As it was, the ports were too out of place concerning my aesthetics; even though they created a lot of volume. And it wasn't too much later that Bob Ruck came up with his ports; considerably smaller, that were of interest to Kenny Hill and other builders who were wanting to improve their work or offer something new and exciting for the discriminating player.
Yet, to my understanding, not all of their customers wanted the ports. I realize that this is personal taste, so I believe these builders do supply guitars with or without the ports. In any case the ports seem to be a benefit to the player and for this reason alone, I'm in favor of them. I don't care for the aesthetics but this is not the point.
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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker
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Date Jul. 21 2009 11:15:31
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