old label in new guitar

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flybynight

Posts: 121
Joined: Aug. 14 2009

old label in new guitar

This year I visited a well known luthier, and noticed that one their 'new' guitars had a label (inside the guitar) on from 2008. My spanish isn't that good, but I think he said the label was put on 2008, but the guitar was only finished this year.

Is it common to do this.. to leave a guitar a couple of years before finishing it - would there be advantages to doing this.. eg. a better sound because the wood has already aged slightly, and the glue dried ? Or is it possible that they needed to wait to find matching woods ? Or finishing is better/more successful if left for a while ?

I know it's not good to read too much into this, since the trees they came from were 10's or 100's of years old, and so there is no such thing as 'new' guitar.

Only one that hasn't been owned/played before. And so it might have been sitting around in their workshop for a couple of years, waiting for a buyer. That could be another explanation.

Just interested from a luthier perspective as to good reasons why an old date might be in there, and what advantages it might give a buyer over a fresh one made and finished this year.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 16 2010 17:59:53

Armando

Posts: 302
Joined: May 27 2005
From: Zürich, Switzerland

RE: old label in new guitar (in reply to flybynight)

quote:

My spanish isn't that good, but I think he said the label was put on 2008, but the guitar was only finished this year.

Is it common to do this.. to leave a guitar a couple of years before finishing it - would there be advantages to doing this.. eg. a better sound because the wood has already aged slightly, and the glue dried ? Or is it possible that they needed to wait to find matching woods ? Or finishing is better/more successful if left for a while ?

Hy flybynight

Yes it is possible. There is absolutely nothing strange about that. We should not forget that french polishing is a very labourous task. Therefore i can very well imagine that a luthier doesn't finish some of his guitars until he has somebody interested to buy it from him. Especially the negras are a hassle to french polish. Probably the best guitar i ever built is still hanging on the wall, waiting for it's finish too. So i'm not surprised. Forget about the other reasons that you have mentioned.

best regards

Armando

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 16 2010 18:16:57

Peter Tsiorba

Posts: 130
Joined: Oct. 27 2009
From: Portland, Oregon Pacific Northwest

RE: old label in new guitar (in reply to flybynight)

Flybynight,

I'd say it is very possible. I smell nothing suspicious.

If the guitar exhibits signs of repeated and significant use, followed by re-finishing, then, I would say it is going beyond reasonable. On the other hand, if the instrument is in new condition, I see no problem.

Many luthiers attach a label before gluing the back to the rest of the body. I'm assuming this is what this luthier did, and had delays, for whatever reason, completing his instruments until two years later.

_____________________________

Peter Tsiorba
Classical-Flamenco-Guitars
tsiorba.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 16 2010 19:24:03

flybynight

Posts: 121
Joined: Aug. 14 2009

RE: old label in new guitar (in reply to flybynight)

Thanks Peter and Armando for replying, appreciate it.

It's such such a great art..re-purposing and breathing life back to wood that was once alive, in the form of accoustic guitars. And then that single guitar can bring a lifetime's pleasure for it's owner and those that hear the music.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 17 2010 7:26:18