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Count Dracula plays a blanca and a negra that he built!
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srshea
Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest
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 RE: Count Dracula plays a blanca and... (in reply to estebanana)
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Nice! The cedar top sounds so cedary. You could put a blindfold on and still know what kind of wood that is.
Would you mind explaining a bit about how you define "voice"? I asked this question of Gene Clark a few years back and he went into great detail about it, delving into all sorts of esoterica, at one point hooking up some weird little oscillator and making sci-fi noises to illustrate the difference between tone and voice. I just nodded my head and pretended to understand what he was talking about, but really, the whole thing went waaaay over my head. I guess the gist that I took from the conversation was that voice is a defining characteristic of a builder's work, in toto. A sort of sonic signature that carries over from guitar to guitar (assuming the builder is seeking to build guitars with that same signature), rather than a discrete quality that each individual guitar might have. Or maybe that's not it at all, and I just took away an unnecessarily spooky (semi)understanding of something that's really much more simple, like "voice is how a guitar sounds, dummy." I'm curious to hear you thoughts.
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Date Feb. 1 2012 3:57:54
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estebanana
Posts: 9352
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
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RE: Count Dracula plays a blanca and... (in reply to estebanana)
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Thank you for the compliments on my playing and the guitars. I will practice before I make another video and probably play shorter passages with explaining.
The first one the blanca with the Cedar top sounds slightly different in person now, although I'm not unhappy with the sound quality for a video. After the video I played with the action and frets and made it less buzzy, although it was asked of me to set the action really low even if it did buzz.
I used Bouchet bar on that top, it's a light bar that is near the back of the bridge and goes from one side to the other perpendicular to the fan braces. Most of the time flamenco guitars do not have these bars. Builders use a flat strap under the bridge most of the time. The Bouchet bar was the invention, I guess, of Robert Bouchet the French guitar maker. It is about a 1/4" to 3/16" wide and 3/8 inch tall and is tapered from the center of the bridge down to nothing where it hits the bouts.
I wanted the top to have more cross grain strength, but still be able to change my mind in process. After the bridge was glued on and the guitar was strung up few days I made the video. The next day I removed a bit of wood making the Bouchet bar and cross grain of the top more flexible, and then the sound came together more. I would not say it made trebles or basses any better, but sort of blended them into each other and made the whole thing more cohesive which was what concerned me. Kind of a risk, but it worked.
The negra, well it sounds big and warm and in the last two weeks playing it it really opened up. It is available for $4000.00, but I think the person who has it on approval right now will buy it.
But I'll make more. Well if there are not other questions.....I'm curious what people want to hear about most when guitar makers do demonstration videos?
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https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com
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Date Feb. 1 2012 23:54:36
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KMMI77
Posts: 1821
Joined: Jul. 26 2009
From: The land down under
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RE: Count Dracula plays a blanca and... (in reply to estebanana)
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quote:
I'm curious what people want to hear about most when guitar makers do demonstration videos?
Hey Stephen,
Please don't take any of this in a negative way. I will be honest with my opinion.
As a guitarist, i am often frustrated by the way makers demonstrate guitars. Especially if the maker fails to show me the guitars full potential. Either through playing with poor technique and choking the guitars sound, or failing to demonstrate what is potentially really good about the guitar.
When i watch a guitar demonstration video, I am hoping to hear the guitars full potential. The tonal qualities it possesses, and see the ease, or lack of, in which the guitar is responding. Often poor technique or poor selection of material, can make the demonstration unclear, and leave me feeling unable to make a judgement. It's best when the person demonstrating is able to clearly and confidently exemplify a range of the guitars qualities. Especially those sounds and responses considered important in relation to flamenco.
I think the aim in demonstrating a guitars should be to give the potential customer an honest overview, and hopefully an enjoyable experience via the demonstration. Info about the construction method and timbers used is always of interest. Also seeing what the guitar looks like is nice. But most important to me is the sound and playability. I become more interested in the other aspects when i can hear that the guitar sounds and plays well. But that's just me personally.
Giving me as a listener, a chance to experience the guitars sound is so important. When i say experience the sound, I mean for a decent uninterrupted amount of time. And when i say uninterrupted, i mean clean and aware musical playing, covering and exemplifying the guitars response to a variety of techniques. I believe that the better you can exemplify this with your videos, the better the results will be in terms of customer interest. If the demo contains to many mistakes, choked sounds, lack of varied examples, I have trouble being able to fully realize the guitars potential.
My ways of testing guitars have continued to change and develop as i've progressed as a player. So have my abilities and awareness to listen for and test things. When it comes to listening to guitars from makers in other countries, I would prefer an experienced player to demonstrate a guitar I'm considering. When I'm unable to have a go myself that is.
I also like the idea of you personally demonstrating the guitars as well. It adds something to be able to make a connection between instrument and maker. Having Fred demonstrate your guitars also makes a good combo. I think if you continue to combine the two. You will be on a winner!
I believe that after all the work you put in to these instruments, they deserve a really professional showing. Anything less is like putting a heap of time and effort into recording a great sounding CD, and then marketing it with a video that shows someone practicing half heartedly.
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Date Feb. 2 2012 5:57:24
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Shawn Brock
Posts: 271
Joined: Sep. 19 2011
From: Louisville KY
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RE: Count Dracula plays a blanca and... (in reply to estebanana)
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Stephen,
The only thing I would have changed about the video is the length of the passages which you played. I don't think you can make everyone happy. MR. 77 likes a video of length, and here I thought the playing got a little long. Not much, but a little.
I also value a hotrod player firing up a guitar and showing how it sounds balls to the wall, but this gives me more to consider... I for one feel that Jason could make most any guitar sound good. He will bring out the best of what it has for sure. Then I have to wonder... I'm not the player Jason is, I'm not some guy who can't play the guitar, but I couldn't showcase a guitar like Jason could. So what will this guitar sound like with average clean playing?
I thought the video had a good clean sound as videos go and the sound quality was a notch above a lot of maker's demonstrations.
Also, don't be shy about talking on the video! Your the man who made this and I for one want to hear anything you have to say about your instruments.
As MR. 77 said, having both you and Jason cutting videos each has a great benefit. I was also glad that you demoed the blanca with and without a cejilla. We all have seen guitars which are their strongest on one part of the scale. When a guitar is just demoed in one position I have to wonder, hmm, did he pick the 2nd fret because that's where the guitar sounds the best? Or did he just want to make a quick video and never thought about this possible perception? So thanks for putting in the extra thought.
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Date Feb. 2 2012 17:09:58
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JuanDaBomb
Posts: 189
Joined: May 18 2011
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RE: Count Dracula plays a blanca and... (in reply to Shawn Brock)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Shawn Brock
So what will this guitar sound like with average clean playing?
I totally agree with this.  Professionally executed falsetas are helpful to the listener/potential client, without a doubt. But I would also like to hear real simple stuff where I can focus on the quality and the intricacies of the note(s) and chords. If you keep in mind that it's a video and not a real-life sound, I think the listener can still gain much useful information. I'd like to see things like varying picking angles, picking strengths, playing at different distances from the sound hole, those sorts of things, even if a video such as that can be rather mundane. I personally don't mind if these things are demonstrated in a systematic, though boring way. I want information, and the more the better. It's definitely the voice of the guitar that I am listening for, and for qualities that just pop out at me. Sometimes it's that one note that reaches your ears in just the right way and says to you "Hey, I ain't no Yamaha, buddy! Check me out!" And sometimes with general playing, I end up having to work to find examples of these things in a guitar demo video. And that's discouraging sometimes to the viewer.
Having said that, I think these are pretty damn good videos, Stephen. The audio quality is superb. I do like the "dark room" type of feel, though it would have been nice to see more detail on the guitars. But I guess that's what my photos are for 
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Date Feb. 2 2012 19:59:24
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