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I had/have a similar Castillo negra quest as yours. I found this video a few weeks ago.
The poster does not specify if the guitar was of Indian Rosewood or Palo Escrito, or if it is the old/new bracing pattern. A Youtube member could probably ask him.
I am anticipating a_arnold will post a vid of his new negra made from Palo Escrito soon also. Maybe if we ask, 'pretty please?'
The youtube clip is Indian Rosewood. He posted pictures and talked about the guitars on this forum some years ago. The guitar was from before the new bracing pattern which started with 248.
Honestly I have never heard a recording or video that represents the sound of a castillo. The explosiveness of it is something that needs to be experienced personally. I am not a big fan of negras but I have tried an Indian and Brazilian Negra and they are quite phenomenal. We have compared this to an af25r Conde and its similiar but the conde has more sweetness and dynamic range. But thats 5-10 grand more! The castillos have a very specific sound.
But the question is, is expolosiveness/boominess of a guitar attributed to the larger scale length?
I´ve tried 3 Castillo negras (2 - 3000,€) They were all heavy, dull and covered with a thick polyurethane finish. Very typical factory guitars. My teacher has one and its sooo boring to play.
what surprises me, many people sing very nice songs about Castillo guitars, so I don't know.
There is really nothing to be surprised imo. Let say we have 300 pro. flamenco guitar builders worldwide. I have always read from SOMEONE that one of these guitars was the best he ever played. The point is: i don't know how that person plays guitar, i don't know which type of sound he prefers, i don't know how soft or hard he plays, i don't know the anatomy of his hand/fingers, i don't know his technique, i don't know ANYTHING, i just read a 100% subjective opinion from someone.
Even if Anders says here that the Castillos he played were dull, it could be just his way of playing and his preferation is something different. Maybe those guitars would be GREAT in my hands. Maybe not. Who knows.
I hope you get my point.
As Deniz always says: try before buy.
Also be prepared that let say in 5 years you might hate your current Guitar, because YOU changed.
I am not saying that these discussions like here in this thread are completely useless, but never rely on somebody elses opinion when it comes to buying a Guitar. Even if Paco would want to sell to you one of his Condes for 1000$, try it out and see if thats what YOU want.
Yeah, the Paco example was a bit exaggerating, but you know what i mean. Anyway, i know that some people prefer guitars which start to growl and yell as soon as touched by a finger tip. Others want guitars which don't do much, until you beat the hell out of them. But then they show their real characteristics. Some of these guitars were/are considered to be "dull", which imo is (SOMETIMES) a mistake. Then again some want guitars in between. Well basically all the different concepts in guitar building.
I don't wanne say that this is the case here , maybe those Negras were really dull (no matter how you play them) and Anders knows what he talks about for sure.
Just want to say (IF possible of course) try the guitar yourself. Of course, sometimes there is no possibility and you have order something without ever played it. But imo try to avoid this.
I always appreciate guitars made by people who play guitars too. Anders for example plays good flamenco, and so he knows what sound he wants to achieve and working the wood and the guitar a certain way. Seeing the smileys after Anders post makes me think that It was meant with humor. (Thick polyurethane factory finish :) )
But theres something I notice... and something I kind of slightly verified through a friend. All the hype on his guitars are making him increase his prices, and even more. I know someone going to paracho and Salvador sure has raised and will raise prices. Good for him.
But now at the price range he aims at there's more competition. If you heard or seen some of Anders' videos, especially the fandangos, he plays one of the most beautiful sounding guitar I have heard.
There is a fine line between a flamenca negra and a classical guitar. To be mean in general, just about all the negras I have played were like classical guitars to me. Conde Hermanos is an exception, they some how take out much of that sicking sweetness and super bass that classicals have and most other flamenco negras. But after all I prefer Conde blancas any day. I like a drier percussive sound. Like Amontillado is the negra, and manzanilla or fino is a good blanca.
So Castillo negras were all classicals to me. Same goes for all others except for maybe 3 I have tried.
2 Robert Ruck negras were VERY flamenco, and oddly better sounding then his blancas to me personally. This is assuming you plug the sound ports! . And Sanchis pau Ferro, ONE that I tried was very flamenco sounding for a negra. But the rosewood guitars of sanchis are also like classicals to me.
And Conde hermanos. That's about it for me that I have tried. The rest are classicals with a low bridge and a tap plate. Deep loud, sweet, tons of overtones.
Castillo blancas are fantastic however, and I would say any of the ones I have tried would impress anders. I have tried a couple of Anders guitars too so I think I am right about this. I understand why he did not like the negras.
IF you ask Salvador Castillo to build you a classical guitar he will send you his flamenca negra with a higher bone or vice versa. Truth be told for classical I prefer to put that higher bone on one of his blancas instead. Yes I prefer blancas in general.
I don't know about the thick lacquer that Anders mentioned on his guitars as i have never seen any like that and I have seen quite a few, but if he is building 3 guitars every month and churning out more than 30 guitars a year now, he must be getting help (factory)? He says he does not do a student model lesser quality guitar cheaper guitar in terms of construction and the price variable is only based on the woods you select, but maybe when you request a Negra especially if you are from Europe he sends it to the factory, and only builds the blancas himself, because they are great, and he like me wants to work on a flamenco guitar.
Anybody come across to quote Anders "dull, boring to play, thick polyurethane factory" like Blancas from Castillo?
What I wrote was about Vicente Carillo and not Castillo. I need to buy some new glasses!!!!!!
It was still good to hear your comments about Carillo's guitars. I was wondering who he was because there's a vendor who's been selling his guitars on eBay for rather high prices.
There is a fine line between a flamenca negra and a classical guitar. To be mean in general, just about all the negras I have played were like classical guitars to me. Conde Hermanos is an exception, they some how take out much of that sicking sweetness and super bass that classicals have and most other flamenco negras. But after all I prefer Conde blancas any day. I like a drier percussive sound. Like Amontillado is the negra, and manzanilla or fino is a good blanca.
So Castillo negras were all classicals to me. Same goes for all others except for maybe 3 I have tried.
2 Robert Ruck negras were VERY flamenco, and oddly better sounding then his blancas to me personally. This is assuming you plug the sound ports! . And Sanchis pau Ferro, ONE that I tried was very flamenco sounding for a negra. But the rosewood guitars of sanchis are also like classicals to me.
And Conde hermanos. That's about it for me that I have tried. The rest are classicals with a low bridge and a tap plate. Deep loud, sweet, tons of overtones.
Castillo blancas are fantastic however, and I would say any of the ones I have tried would impress anders. I have tried a couple of Anders guitars too so I think I am right about this. I understand why he did not like the negras.
Ricardo
HI Ricardo,
I'm trying to finish up a Reyes style flamenco negra with Brazilian rosewood for the GFA festival in June 2010. This one will have his head and rosette style, which I've never done with the rosette before, but this time I wanted to honor his name with this special build. The rosewood feels very light in its weight and I think the guitar will be on the lighter side of most flamenco negras. But I have to agree that many negras today don't have that certain flavor of the Blanca guitars, and this will be my experiment to try and equal certain aspects of sound that originate with the Blanca guitar. In any case, I'm looking forwad to this particular instrument being finished :-)
I´ve tried 3 Castillo negras (2 - 3000,€) They were all heavy, dull and covered with a thick polyurethane finish. Very typical factory guitars.
I have also played 2 Carillos from a local dealer. I can say they were very expensive for how they played. And the blanca was a VERY bad guitar - it was also more expensive!
But the negra was, if not so good as an instrument, at least very flamenco sounding. I also notice that negras are quite like classicals, but this one was muy flamenco, but also not such a good guitar. At the begining it did not impress me, but after playing some time, it seemed to be quite right in the way it sounded and easy to play imo.
But I have to agree that many negras today don't have that certain flavor of the Blanca guitars, and this will be my experiment to try and equal certain aspects of sound that originate with the Blanca guitar.
I think most would agree with Ricardo that there is a fine line between negras and classical. But I have to ask: if you want the crisp sound of a blanca, why get a negra?
When I am called upon to play a solo during a costume change for the dancers, I sometimes play something classical (usually one of the romantics like Tarrega, Granados, Barrios or Villa Lobos). For that I pull out my Brazilian RW Castillo negra. It is a classical guitar with a flamenco action, basically. Maybe a little more crisp than most classicals, but it is good for classical and Sabicas' old set pieces that have a strong classical feel to them.
But I NEED the blanca to cut through the dancers' footwork. I don't WANT sweetness and mellowness at times like that. Different animals. Don't ask for too much mellowness from a blanca, or too much crispness from a negra.
However, I have to say that the palo escrito flamenco that I just got from Castillo does have a very flamenco sound. Palo escrito, however, is lighter than Brazilian rosewood. Also a prettier, more highly figured wood.
There is a spectrum of sound from the best classical to the best blanca. Negras are between, and rightly so.
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"Flamenco is so emotionally direct that a trained classical musician would require many years of highly disciplined formal study to fail to understand it."