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I bought my first flamenco as a two year old. A 1971 Cedar top, Cypress back and sides built by William Lewis (who also owned the most beautiful guitar store in Vancouver at that time). Very light weight, extremely brilliant very flamenco. Suffered repairs a couple of times to a damaged side and also to have a bowing top flattened. Was never the same after. Thin sounding with annoying "off frequencies" for lack of a better word. I no longer liked the sound and it just hung on the wall and was seldom played. Had nothing to lose. So... Took off the strings, cleaned it and rubbed virgin coconut oil very thoroughly all over it with my bare hands. Very sensual! The fret board looks like new, the finish no longer dull and some of the tiny fractures in the finish have disappeared. The off frequencies are gone. The tone is solid and pure. Two months later I did this again except using a high tension string as recommended by a professional player who tried and liked this guitar. Now it's even better. Perhaps not the high stung thoroughbred it once was but I have a good sounding guitar again. Maybe not the first one to save from a burning building but not the last either. This is not a recommendation but it worked well for me. Anyone have thoughts as to why? I am sure other products could produce similar results but this was very easy. I tried this on a heavy, slow guitar without any positive (or negative) results. Btw. I sometimes rub coconut oil on the strings a few days before I change them. Gives a sound with a short sustain I find quite acceptable for some pallos and actually helpful when practicing rhythm.
Posts: 3487
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Luthiers please don't cringe in... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
Coconut oil smells good, too.
When I first moved to the Marshall Islands I dated a nineteen-year old Marshallese/American girl who put on coconut oil whenever she wore her bikini to the beach--which was almost every day--and when we went sailing and diving on weekends.
She used coconut soap and shampoo made in her uncle's little factory in Majuro. There was always at least a faint aura of coconut around her.
Twenty years later, the scent of coconut still brings back fond memories.
RE: Luthiers please don't cringe in... (in reply to eg.czerny)
I like lang-alang, but coconut is ok too.
Bill Lewis, if it it the same Bill Lewis that drew the Barbero Plan for LMI, the company which he founded ~ if it is that same Bill Lewis he used an oil finish in his guitars. Not sure if he id it that early, but he developed a method to use Tung oil as a finish.
If you have opan cracks of loose braces they might be difficult to glue in the future, but at least now they are well lubricated.
RE: Luthiers please don't cringe in... (in reply to estebanana)
Stephen I don't know if this is the same Bill Lewis but I know he had just come back from setting up a guitar factory in Spain. I asked him what he could possibly show Spaniards about guitar making. Quite a bit it seemed.
RE: Luthiers please don't cringe in... (in reply to eg.czerny)
Years ago I built a copy of the Lewis/Barbero and it was a, what I would call, a nice guitar but not of the caliber of some the other Barbero designs I have built.
However the balance was good and the articulation nice. In other words a good instrument but not my cup of tea.
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