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Extended exploration of my little gem find
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Ruphus
Posts: 3782
Joined: Nov. 18 2010
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 Extended exploration of my little ge...
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Some years ago me ebayed an 1968 estudio with a famous name on it, receiving malice for that from the guitar community. As the master guitars from that shop go for tens of thousands of bucks, folks were going wild at the thought that there could be found anything howsoever connected to that aura for just little cash.
They were passionatelly pointing out how neither shape nor decoration (not to mention the neck reinforcement strip which can only be indicating garbage!) had anything to do with the makers style and how I had been fooled by a fake label.
My motivation in the same time was not a seek of prestigious attributes, but the hope for a minimal instrument quality released from a shop that I assumed would have cared for its reputation. (Knowing that the founder was indeed very picky about products leaving his store.)
While the guitar been in for restauration I talked to informed people who suggested that this specimen had been consigned to a builder in Valencia. When it arrived in my hands I found it to have quite the plain yet very balanced characteristics that I knew typical for this brand (which made me specualte that the master may have personally fine tuned it, which got me another sh!t storm from online members who just knew that it could not have been that way), only that it was not as pristine as concert level instruments. Coming through a bit muffled like from under a cloth.
Its sound was enchanting enough though for me to play it until the initial set of strings were worn out, before putting it in storage.
Now years later, with a guitar student needing a decent guitar (with prices here for even just complete trash already through the roof) I digged out the case and found that the action had gone north. Seeing how humidification wouldn´t help, the thing was in for a setup.
Even though surprised already by a remarkable intonation (indicating some care with production) I was certain that fingerboard and fretting wouldn´t allow for too much lowering. However, they turned out straight enough for bringing down saddle and nut to an action of slightly under 3 mm now, with yet some headroom at the nut for further reduction.
And when setup, exchange of tuners and tune up to pitch was done, there was a big surprise. The "cloth" has completely gone and concert level brilliance set in.
We have discussed the relevance of saddle contact in bridge slots just lately. I don´t know concretely to which degree it actually effects the sound, but as I found the saddle sanded with a tilted bottom and touching the slot bottom only on the dorsal edge, I guess transmission to have been hampered.
The main cause for the new clarity however I asssume to be that the wood might have been soaked from the refinishing procedure and been drying over the years in storage. This would also fit to the feather weight that it has now and which I don´t remember this way from the handling back then.
Last night, delighted of its actual properties I thought to feel its former owner(s). Seeing its heavy abuse, a candles burn mark under the neck and nail hollows along the fretboard I had been originally thinking of bozzers performing one-trick pony over the decades, but yesterday it felt as if the old war horse was telling me of pretty advanced use that helped it develop broadly across the spectrum.
I compared it back and forth to my beautiful Devoe and it is right up there sonically in terms of immediacy and depth, taking into consideration the differences of larger plantilla, long scale and typical blanca attributes in contrast to a negra. The basic difference being that it appears a tad softer, which might be due to the quite lowered saddle and likely to really worn out strings of which even the torn D was temporarily replaced through a shattered old one.
It can only be getting better with fresh ones.
Also its buttery but fast pulsation feels great. Better than with my Ramirez or DeVoe.
Yet, with new strings it will probably return to storage, for I should not have asked the restaurator to remove the finish at the neck and wax it. He used a scraper and ruined the smoothness of the round, while at given local low humidity values I don´t dare to sand it without wax at hand. They way it is it just doesn´t feel good to the thumb.
Having turned out a true concert level it is too good to lend it to a beginner. The student will be lend a good factory guitar instead.
Blown away last night I just needed to tell about the positive exploration to someone who knows about these matters. From there thanks for reading!
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Today:
Ruphus
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 5 2015 11:30:44
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Ruphus
Posts: 3782
Joined: Nov. 18 2010
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RE: Extended exploration of my littl... (in reply to Ruphus)
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Hi Ricardo,
It´s from
With its sound stage so typical for what I heard from the maker´s master instruments, I was back then speculating that he may have fine tuned the thing, for which I was ridiculed the most.
The entry of the year has faded out, but while working on it I took a magnifiying glass under which the print of the ballpoint with some remains of ink can still be seen.
It is the same handwriting like seen above, including the dropped and enlarged cipher at the end, as you see with the "5" of the "65". An indicator for the maestro having had it in hands, and as I said, knowing about his meticulousness with released instruments, it should be no surprise if he touched this thing up, to a degree explaining a quality I have not experienced with any estudio (and a number of upper shelve guitars as well) to date.
Ruphus
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 5 2015 13:27:52
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