Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) guitars

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tri7/5

Posts: 570
Joined: May 5 2012

Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) guitars

Wanted to get some feedback on these from anyone who has been able to sit down and play one through for a while. This specifically referring to the newer guitars handmade by him under the RSC name, not his shop under the older psuedo-production models 1F, 1Fextra etc.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 21 2012 13:18:57

Ricardo

Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

Played a few of his hand made models. THey were very nice, nice quality etc. In the 4-5K range, I felt they were a bit too high priced. For several K less the son's guitar is more bang for the buck. Of course I am talking sound wise, as the detailing of Ricardo's handmade personal guitars was really superb. In general, comparing Carpio to other makers such as conde reyes ramirez flamencos, Carpio tends to have a bassier sound all other things equal. I prefer a stronger mid voice to bass, but many buyers are impressed by full deep bass response.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 21 2012 14:13:24

tri7/5

Posts: 570
Joined: May 5 2012

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

Thanks for the reply Ricardo. Having a more bass driven sound did it still sound flamenco in it's voice?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 22 2012 12:46:39

Ricardo

Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dyingsea

Thanks for the reply Ricardo. Having a more bass driven sound did it still sound flamenco in it's voice?

Oh yeah, very much. Negra, Maple, Cypress, all very flamenco sounding.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 22 2012 14:02:38

bursche

Posts: 1182
Joined: Jul. 19 2007
From: Frankfurt, Germany

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to Ricardo)

Personally I can't stand the sound of his Negras. Most of them are too bassy in my opinion. His blancas are nice instruments but I'd never buy one without trying as they vary a lot in their tonal qualities.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 22 2012 16:49:33

sartorius

Posts: 206
Joined: Mar. 7 2017

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

What do you think of this guitar? Seems to be a sister of Paco's 1975 Conde before it was redone: Pauferro back and sides, orange spruce top. Only the roses rosette, typical of RSC is different from the Conde. Seller says it sounds better than most Condes on the market...

https://www.milanuncios.com/guitarras-clasicas/guitarra-flamenca-rsc-del-2009-241000032.htm

Paco's 1975 Conde::

This guitar was revarnished by Vicente Carrillo in 2006 with a natural looking cellulose varnish and later on it got new machine heads by Mundo-Flamenco. Surprising to see that even if he is a specialist, the manager of Mundo-Flamenco cannot distinguish Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia Nigra) from Pauferro (Libidibia Ferrea or Brazilian Ironwood, of which the guitar was made) in his description of the guitar. It looks pretty much the same but the colour is darker for Dalbergia Nigra.

http://www.mundo-flamenco.com/nc/en/box-special.html

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 2 2017 11:54:43

Ricardo

Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to sartorius)

I don't think PDL guitar was pau ferro. Looks too straight and tight grained like Indian rosewood. Sounds more like that too IMO, having played tons of Indian rosewood condes.

I did play those pau ferro sanchis guitars, very bassy not bright and strong mid range like condes.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 2 2017 20:12:41

jalalkun

Posts: 276
Joined: May 3 2017
From: Iraq, living in Cologne, Germany

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

if that's the guitar that has been at mundo flamenco then that's the pau ferro one. the wood seems to have a yellowish tone under the red finish, kind of like pau ferro

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 3 2017 22:04:18

Jeff H

Posts: 39
Joined: Jan. 21 2004

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

I owned a Ricardo Sanchis Carpio 1 A ... bought it new from
Nicholson Music east of Sacramento.

I had very little experience with nylon/classical/flamenco guitars when I bought this.
It was recommended by my new classical guitar teacher.

A few points.
Nicholson was a horses ass and a con and an arrogant jerk. He reperesented
himself as the sole distributor/sales outlet for RSC. BS as I later discovered.
The Carpio never played well to my ear , but my teacher urged me to buy it.
I later found out the teacher got a kick back from Nicholson.
I finally decided to take this into a professional shop to see why it did not play well.
Action way too high and there was not enough saddle to lower the action to
reasonable playability. Bad neck angle. No way to fix it. The shop was Guitar Solo
in San Francisco. They did not try to sell me a guitar. They simply felt sorry for me
and suggested I contact Nicholson. I did, and as a consequence would never do
business with him again.

I lost my ass on the sale.

I bought a 1961 Ramirez IA F from the original owner. Unplayed. Made by Contereas.
Same price as the Carpio.

Would I ever buy another Carpio, Sr or Hijos.. never.

Later I saw a couple of his 1A F models with wildly figured brazilian backs and sides
and imploding. You guessed it, offered by Nicholson.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 6 2017 0:52:13

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

On Nicholson:
I understand the bad feeling as s**t like this, happens.
I too bought a (pre-owned) Sanchis Carpio guitar with a wrong neck angle. In my case the seller gave me wrong infos about the action and I discover the problem just after having paid the guitar.
Nevertheless my guitar played otherwise wonderfully and it's fair to say that Sanchis are generally very good guitars but you have to check the neck relief because sometimes this can be unvonortable.
As Anders once pointed out, this is a common problem of the Spanish method of assembling (face down on a solera) when you have a massive production.
Also is worthy to know that by having the fretboard replaced, you generally can have a wrong neck relief completely fixed.
I can say that my case the guitar was worth the new fretboard.
Know nothing about Nicholson but if what you say is true, he took advantage of your inexperience to get rid of bad guitars he had in stock.

Re: Paco's Conde
It's pau ferro for definite as said by many.
Pau ferro is a kind of a light braz. rosewood (even though it's not a dalbergia it looks like a non porous rosewood) with more dampening than the true rosewood: generally speaking I find it kind sounds midway between rosewood and maple.
Sanchis Carpio Bulerias and Conde A28 caviuna are guitars made with Pauferro.
In '76 the top of the Condes was still on the thick side and the bracing should be the old Conde with 5 struts + 2 closing bars.

Re: Sanchis

quote:

In general, comparing Carpio to other makers such as conde reyes ramirez flamencos, Carpio tends to have a bassier sound all other things equal. I prefer a stronger mid voice to bass, but many buyers are impressed by full deep bass response.

I agree: the Sanchis Carpios give more or less the same pressure of a Conde but with more depth on the basses.
The good news is that a good SC can project very well in spite of being bass oriented, which is quite exceptional for a flamenco guitar.
For the player it seems like the note has less focus than a Conde, but the listener get instead a powerful note, quite sparkling and not loosing focus on overtones.
My belief is that this is the ultimate reason why many pro- players like it.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 6 2017 6:44:15

sartorius

Posts: 206
Joined: Mar. 7 2017

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

Looking at this guitar (especially the back) you can see why Pauferro is often confused with Indian Rosewood:

http://www.flamencoguitarsforsale.net/es/guitarras-flamencas/galeria-vendidas-2/rsc-antonio-sanchez-2012.html

The description of Mundo Flamenco is not wrong finally as Pauferro is another Brazilian kind of Rosewood...

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 23 2017 15:59:18

benros

Posts: 144
Joined: Aug. 27 2016

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to sartorius)

as far as i know, pau ferro is not a rosewood (dalbergia), but
looks sometimes similar. the pieces ive had in my hands were much heavier than indian rosewood and had another porestructure. also a different smell.

edit: sorry, ive just seen that echi already mentioned, what ive said.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 23 2017 19:17:35

sartorius

Posts: 206
Joined: Mar. 7 2017

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

You're right: from the botanical point of view it cannot be considered as a true rosewood as it is a member of the leguminosae and not from the dalbergia family.

So the description on Mundo flamenco IS wrong.

What is surprising is that Pau Ferro's visual appearance can come close to Brazilian Rosewood but sometimes it looks quite different. Pau ferro has a color range from cream to brownish and even purple.

Now I have a 2005 Brazilian Rosewood Jeronimo Peña Fernandez that has a chocolate brownish color that is far away from the usual dark Brazilian Rosewood. Tricky.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 24 2017 6:36:59

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

Often in a Spain you find it called caviuna or even under the general: csa rosewood.
I like this wood and prefer it over many proper rosewoods as it’s often lighter.
The pauferro I had in my hands was generally less brittle and with more dampening than a typical Brazilian rosewood set (not as nice taptone), which probably concurs to make it sound a little softer than you would expect from a Brazilian set and with less overtones.
The big plus are the nice colour, the availability of good quality stuff for a relatively low price, the nice tonal palette, that it’s not prone to cracking and you are exempted from Cites restrictions.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 24 2017 16:26:10

RobJe

Posts: 731
Joined: Dec. 16 2006
From: UK

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

quote:

newer guitars handmade by him under the RSC name

We can dream all we like about Ricardo Sanchis Carpio meticulously crafting fine guitars for us but the guy is 80 this year – give him a break! To be fair to Hermanos Scanchis Lopez, they no longer claim that the RSC models are made by him. There appears to be a “luthier” guitar with a waiting list but no indication of who makes it.

Rob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 6 2017 14:39:42

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

In the last years the Sanchis offered a couple of models signed by Ricardo which were way more expensive than the RSC.
3 years ago Ricardo himself told a really good common friend (which is in the business with Ricardo) that he was retired, but my friend told me also his active contribution started shading from 2007 forth. The first years his sons took the business (I don’t remember when) he helped them actively but then he let them do and in fact the Sanchis Lopez changed many things in the factory.
If I can say it, the best Sanchis Carpio which passed through my hands were always those signed by Ricardo and generally those made from ’97 to ‘03. Just my 2 cents.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2017 10:28:03

RobJe

Posts: 731
Joined: Dec. 16 2006
From: UK

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to Echi)

The RSC model is a "tribute" model - full marks to HSL for their honesty in the current advertising material.

"In this model, we want to give a tribute to our father Ricardo Sanchis Carpio. In it we have put all our inherited wisdom during this time, the best selected material for many years and an extra feeling to honor the name of the Master, Ricardo Sanchis Carpio."

Rob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2017 11:27:35

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

I mean, today it’s clearly said to be a tribute model, but for many years these guitars were commonly considered entirely made by Ricardo. It’s not a mistery and btw Ricardo used to sign the labels. Just as an instance Mundo~flamenco or Solera flamenca, to quote the most known shops here in Europe, report Ricardo as the maker of the RSC series.
Look, I don’t care too much as a good guitar is a good guitar whoever the maker, and I’m not that fussy on these things but It would be nice to know when Ricardo stopped making this model or if Ricardo ever used to make These guitar.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2017 14:02:45

RobJe

Posts: 731
Joined: Dec. 16 2006
From: UK

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to Echi)

quote:

btw Ricardo used to sign the labels

He still does but the position about who currently makes them has been clarified.

I agree with you that guitars should speak for themselves.

Rob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2017 19:53:33

sartorius

Posts: 206
Joined: Mar. 7 2017

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to Echi)

Vicente Carrillo also signs all his labels though none of his guitars are entirely made by him. The building of these two guitars follow the same guidelines: a factory (becoming bigger and bigger) that employs several people who are each responsible of the building of each guitar at one stage only. The final touch and adjustments are made by the luthier himself (Carrillo or HSL) before the guitar is up for sale.

Carrillo and HSL are far from the traditional way of building guitars (one man - one guitar) except of course for the time when RSC built his own guitars. Both Carrillo and RSC are followers of the Madrid school of building (although they live quite far from the capital). Carrillo received training and tips from legendary Madrid builder José Romero whereas RSC had contacts with Esteso at the time.

A definite sign of the non-traditional way of building is that none of the Carrillo or HSL are numbered, which would mean they are entirely made by one man. The RSC models are numbered from year to year. In the Ramirez times the guitars were globally numbered but each builder put his initials inside the guitar.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 10 2017 17:42:50

Plazoleño

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Joined: Oct. 16 2017

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

There are sanchis With very Good sound.
Sobre todo muy comodas para mi.

The paco's guitar is indian.
Mariano in his website write is indian. So..

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 23 2017 12:45:49

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

Paco played more than a Conde during his career but the ‘76 Conde he used for the last 20 years is made with pauferro as declared by many and also by Felipe Conde.
You can see some pictures of the guitar I refer to on the website of Mundo- flamenco.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 23 2017 22:45:49

Plazoleño

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Joined: Oct. 16 2017

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

So i dont find the article where mariano say this 75 is indian.
But i had reading that. On the mundo flamenco pictures it seem to me it's indian, i have an indian and it's exactly like that.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 24 2017 6:56:42

zavaletas

Posts: 30
Joined: Dec. 25 2004

RE: Richardo Sanchis Carpio (RSC) gu... (in reply to tri7/5)

I had Ricardo build a Barbero model (price equivalent to his RSC). They certainly meet my expectations and sold almost immediately.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 2 2019 21:27:40