RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe V (Guitar Salon) + other guitars

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Tom Blackshear

Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Guest)

quote:

ORIGINAL: nealf

Tom Blackshear - What do you mean by "staying power"? Are you referring to sustain?

Yes, the sustaining power is like a good Reyes but the notes have a little rounder sound effect that incorporates good distinctive quality for a crossover.

The middle register is a little more open and bell-like but the sound maintains its stability, as it does not move very much in its articulation toward a classical guitar.

The strings have a little more snap without much rajo, and the guitar supports very fast rasgeado and picado. It is generally more open and full but not too much. It still maintains good thumb work.

The last guitar of this model sold in 2 days at Brune's shop but this one has a spruce top with a very nice Ramirez style rose rosette that you can find on the rosette page of my website. http://tguitars.home.texas.net/index.htm

I've pretty much promised this one to Ricardo Brune.

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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 16 2009 11:49:44

Grisha

Posts: 1263
Joined: Mar. 17 2005

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)

Hello, friends! Merry Christmas!

I see you've found the videos. These were shot during my brief visit to LA a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine offered to take me to GSI to try guitars and meet the staff. When I got there I found a few guitars lined up for me to try. The stuff was very nice and had a very good knowledge of flamenco repertoire. I just sat there trying the guitars, sometimes stopping to tune and make comments. I think these guys spliced the videos to make them more concert-like. But it was not intended to be a concert. These vids represent my "off-season" playing shape.

About the harsh sound... My nails were super short and re-glued three times. They were not smooth because pieces of dried glue were stuck underneath my nails. They were still okay for flamenco, but were not suitable for classical at all. Because of this I refused to play classical repertoire. To me, as a player of both classical and flamenco styles, nail size and shape is very much like what gearing, aerodynamics and and tires is for a car racer. You wouldn't have the same setup for a slow, curvy track and an oval high-speed track. My nails were shaped for speed and clarity, rather than cantilena. They sounded too aggressive for classical music.

I view playing different guitars to be similar to driving different cars. You need to feel the car, drive it, test its limits before you can really extract all the performance out of it. Each guitar you see in the videos was in my hands for about 15 minutes tops. It was not enough for me to feel comfortable with them and discover each one's individual strengths.

To me Reyes was the best of the bunch. It sounded sweet when I played super soft, and with the slightest modulation gave me that dry punch, "sandy" sound that Vicente has when he accompanies Jose Merce on the "Del amanecer" album. Most flamenco of the bunch, I thought.

Excellent thoughts on "pulsation". Here's what happened to me. After I finished my DMA classes I started to really practice the guitar again. I played about 8 hours a day, all-out. My Connor is a classical guitar, with a very high action and hard tension strings. It never buzzes under normal hard playing, and you have to punch with all your power to make the sound break. I was frequently criticized for playing soft... No, it sounded soft because I was using a heavy guitar. Because I like to have that punchy sound sometimes, I taught myself to over press to produce it. My new plastic nails can take all the power, so I was not handicapped by anything. So I thought... By last August I started to miss a lot of notes in concerts, discovering that somehow I was not able to control all that muscle power that I developed. In September it got a lot worse. Clearly, lack of practice was not an issue here - on the contrary, I overplayed and hurt my hands. That's when I met Lester DeVoe, just a few days after realizing the problem. He offered to lend me the guitar I play now. It sounds amazing in my opinion, but for 2 months I could not play it well, as every note buzzed. My muscle memory didn't let me go softer than certain level, and I was losing control. The strings were feeling mushy, and I couldn't play scales. Now I am back in the game, as my fingers finally adjusted to the much softer instrument. I just tried to put my old high tension strings on it and discovered that they are too tough, although my scales sound faster and cleaner. I changed back within an hour.

Now that I have 2 different guitars I don't have to compromise any more. Having a softer, low action instrument for flamenco makes a lot of sense.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 11:50:30

Tom Blackshear

Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Grisha)

Grisha,

I like all of your playing with the various guitars but I think the Perez was very conclusive with your technique. It had a certain sound that just came out of its inner voice with your playing; a certain character that penetrated but didn't sound harsh.

And of course I like the Reyes for sweetness and also an aggressive flavor but the Perez brought me back to some older styles that I really liked in the past.

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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 12:16:54

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Grisha)

Great post, Grisha!

It's through posts like that, amateur guitarists get inspiration and hope too, as well as watching your fantastic videos.

Sometimes it's easy to give up after watching the pros who seem to do stuff "easy" and just assume one is just just talentless and are just tempted to pack it in as a lost cause.

So, it is very welcome to hear the top players confess to their problems too and their strategies they use in overcoming them.

Probably more valuable and encouraging than anything else IMO.

And doesn't undermine or take away at all from their incredible performances, like a magician showing how a magic trick is done.

Not at all.

In fact, just the opposite, as it makes you appreciate that the guitar just IS a difficult instrument to play at a higher level, and thus you end up having even MORE respect for the performer IMO.

So thanks Grisha!

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 12:20:06

Grisha

Posts: 1263
Joined: Mar. 17 2005

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)

Thank you, Ron! What amazes me, is I got this DeVoe guitar just when I realized what kind of problem I was against. It was just as if God heard me and decided to help. I never knew it would happen. It does make me think about how this world works.

Tom, I think I see what you mean. Yes, at that time Perez probably felt most comfortable to me. But I didn't have the time to adjust well, so it must have been a match with my nails. I am just saying I saw a lot of potential in Reyes.

P.S. That was my first time to try these big names guitars. Was like a candy store...

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 12:31:29

RTC

Posts: 667
Joined: Aug. 20 2008
From: DFW Area, Texas

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Grisha)

Grisha:

I have enjoyed this forum so much, and treads like this one are so educational.

I enjoyed your playing and reading your comments, encourage me to keep on practicing and learning the art of the flamenco guitar.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
RTC

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 13:31:47

Tom Blackshear

Posts: 2304
Joined: Apr. 15 2008

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Grisha)

I like the Lester DeVoe guitar style, and you are right, it is very forgiving with good technique. I think there is a compromise with guitars and that it comes from the top torgue and shapes its way into good articulation for the right and left hand; softer feel but not too weak under heavy pressure to where it would have too much rajo. It has a very distinct snap back of the strings, not a bouncing up and down like some guitars I've played. Lester is a good guy; congratulations.

It obvious that you are aware of the differences. I like to build mine a little loose with snap back in the middle register and a little tighter edge on the first and 6th string. This allows the player to dig in with rasgeado and picado but with a distinct cutting edge.

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Tom Blackshear Guitar maker

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 13:36:13

Ramon Amira

Posts: 1025
Joined: Oct. 14 2009
From: New York City

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Grisha)

Grisha –

If you get a moment, I have a question that I have been wondering about. I have been recommending Cordoba guitars to my students, because I find them to be better at every level than others. I especially have been recommending the Cordoba 45 FM. I was very surprised to see you playing a Cordoba 45FP along with those other guitars all of which were fine luthier guitars. These other guitars are in an entirely different category from a factory guitar like the 45 FP/M. So I didn't understand why you were playing that one along with those others. But – even though no factory guitar could possibly measure up to a fine luthier guitar, I and others on this forum were impressed in general by the sound of that Cordoba. After all, it's only an $800 factory guitar. Could you give us your thoughts on the Cordoba.

Thanks –
Ramon

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Classical and flamenco guitars from Spain Ramon Amira Guitars

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 25 2009 18:12:13

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)

Thanks for your post Grisha. It goes very well along with my ideas of a good flamenco guitar. and also with the feedback I get here in Spain from pro players. Especially the ones accompanyaing as well.
Here on the foro there are so many posts about "macho" guitars. Very trebly, no boom out, a lot of growl etc....
Thats not the tone, feeling, voice that I find to be important in a good flamenco guitar. It has to be there, of course, but it should never be overpowering anything else. Balance, seperation, playability and most of all musicality is what I find that most players look for. The growl, the treblyness etc. is in the part called musicallity. Its what makes you express yourself. But you cant express yourself if the guitar is not suited to your playing style.

Remember that a good flamenco guitar should work on a solo Granaina as well as on a bulerias played in a noisy peña with palmas, jaleos and singing. Its two very different circumstances, but it is possible to build a guitar that suits both, but it might end up being less "macho" than some forum members think they need.

So in order to end this, I will plant another little thing.... What about a guitar which you can make sound strongly with very little effort, but still accepts hard playing?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 26 2009 0:38:02

jg7238

Posts: 2869
Joined: May 11 2009

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Grisha)

Happy Holidays everyone! Grisha, I thought you never missed a note in your lifetime.

. Nice post. I totally agree with Ron that the guitar is a Pain in the *ss of an instrument to play at a certain level. I feel better now.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 26 2009 14:20:45

Elisabeth

Posts: 1
Joined: Feb. 1 2010

RE: Grisha tries out a Conde Felipe ... (in reply to Arash)

I just love the Conde sound. I tried to learn flamenco years ago, but well ... still love it though. I still have my Conde Hermanos Guitar which I bought about fourty years ago. It is a 1967 Gravina 7 Atocho 53 model. Can anybody tell me what this means?

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Elisabeth Andel

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 1 2010 20:22:14