Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
I had a friend of a professor at the Superior Conservatory of Music, he went to Granada to order a guitar from Antonio Marin Montero, but he wanted something special and simple, no ornaments, no fillets, nothing ... he wanted a simple instrument but to the Professional time, with a good sound to play classical. He paid for the guitar 6000 euros, Antonio Marin warned him that not placing a rosette could cause a fracture in the top ....... even so, he did not change the model. He brought me the guitar to see it and try it, it was made of rosewood, it had no decorations but it sounded very good, but after six months the guitar cracked, two cracks on the top, but not on the rosette, alarmed he went again to Granada and ....... what do you think happened?
He told him that it was not his fault and that he did not give him a new guitar !!! with six months !!!!! 6000 euros ...... he said that he repaired the cracks and that he could not do more ......... he was very disappointed with the guitar and with this man .......
Finally he kept the guitar and bought another from another manufacturer here in Córdoba, different, spray-painted ....... sounding less but at 1700 euros .......
I explained many things to him and personally I liked his idea, if you look at all guitars they look alike, some rosettes in one way others in another ... but that guitar had something, seriousness, sobriety, nudity and it made a difference ... ..not like any. I built that one and I liked it so much that I did not sell it, then I did one and another and another and another and I still have two others running here, they are not seen, they do not look like any ...... they are different, some of them like others no ........
Pali, Up here in Alaska we have a saying: living the dream.
You are a fortunate man that's for sure but I am sure you have paid your dues as well.
I've been collecting woods for a cello cause. I'll start building her some day, who knows perhaps this winter, when I have all the wood so I know I can compleat it without waiting for this or that.
My building season starts any day, just as soon as the first flakes of snow hit the ground.
HR
_____________________________
I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
Yes sorry, I think I should've chosen a different term to 'mass produce' that implies the wrong meaning.
But yes I was referring to the many violin heads lined up. I think it just looks this way to me, a mere novice.
Thanks for the little bit of background. It sounds like a really wonderful setup situation, with friends coming and going and playing guitars etc! And the have the luxury of sitting in your workshop just playing various guitars and studying paco, sabicas music etc it sounds fantastic.... But this is from my point of view of having 2 young children! 😄 so any time alone with a guitar or in my workshop is paradise!!
Hi Ernandez, the fees to pay were very high. To learn so many things you have to give up your social life, your friends and almost your family ... honestly it was not easy.
I encourage you to start building your cello, I also have wood here and I haven't made any for a long time, I really like it worse, its sound is incomparable, I like it more than that of the violin.
It sounds like a really wonderful setup situation, with friends coming and going and playing guitars etc! And the have the luxury of sitting in your workshop just playing various guitars and studying paco, sabicas music etc it sounds fantastic.... But this is from my point of view of having 2 young children! 😄 so any time alone with a guitar or in my workshop is paradise!!
Do not worry, I understand you perfectly, ahahahahah, don´t forget that I also have two children, now they are men but I know what that means
Well, I called my friend to get a photo of the guitar without a rosette and he sent it to me so I want to share it with you.
The guitar sounded very good, the top was excessively thin, I could see it when he brought it to me, I told him I had to take it to its maker and he repaired it. He is not very happy with her anyway.
I also want to tell you that in this Instagram highlight you have more than 400 photographs of many things that you like.
Soon, also on Facebook, I will take you to Cordoba, my city, to your homes, its corners, flamenco, my workshop, my instruments, my touch, my tools ...... I also leave the link.
Hi Pali, Thin cedar top with no rosette to protect it? It makes me wonder why Antonio Marin allowed himself to be convinced to do that. The plantilla of the guitar is gorgeous, though, and there is a lot of beauty in the simplicity of the execution.
I checked out your Instagram page. Wow! The shoes! I love the shoes. Really, you have to keep doing that, I don’t want to say it’s a dying art, but how many people are there out there who can claim to be actual practicing cordwainers? Very few, I suspect.
I’m in Granada right now, I’ve delivered one guitar already and will be delivering another today, so I hope to get videos of them (for a different thread). I also want to review the competition coming up later this week, but I don’t know if they’ll let me in after some of the critical remarks I made about the last one. Either way, it doesn’t matter and all is fine by me. I just arrived yesterday, the flight was brutal, I was up for over 36 hours without sleep but my friends picked me up in Malaga and took good care of me, so now I have a hangover, lol.
I see in your Instagram you also bake cakes. Is there anything you don’t do, haha? At any rate, it is great. I’m really happy you joined the Foro to share your passions with us. It’s very entertaining and enjoyable to read about your work!
Best, Rob
P.S. Some of my friends are talking about taking a short a road trip, but we’re still not decided if it will be Cadiz/Jerez or Sevilla/Córdoba. I’ll call you if it’s Córdoba, but that might have to wait until the spring. I’m here for the month, but actually that’s not very much time and it’ll pass too quickly, I suspect...
Rob, You made it! Glad you got out to Spain at last.
Know you are going to be busy but perhaps you could start a new thread, share some of your experiences so those of us not able to travel can experience, albeit vicariously, some of Spain's Flamenco treats.
And for Dogs sake, if you don't come home with a pair of Pali's wonderful boots...
HR
_____________________________
I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
Is it posable to have you make a pair of custom boots from a few thousand miles away?
If you recall my left foot was crushed over a year ago, lots of titanium holding my metatarsals together, I would post a Xray but we have some sensative vegetarians on the Foro who I would rather not upset ;)
HR
Oh, almost forgot, while watching you work on that guitar neck I noticed your movements are vary much like those of my father, a fairior as we say in the US, means he made shoes for horses and other hand forged metal items. In my youth I would turn the handle that added air to his coal forge bolted to the back of his baby blue Datsun pickup truck. After when I have a file or rasp in my hand, more so a hammer though, I find a make the same motions as if his muscles were mine.
_____________________________
I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
Is it posable to have you make a pair of custom boots from a few thousand miles away?
If you recall my left foot was crushed over a year ago, lots of titanium holding my metatarsals together, I would post a Xray but we have some sensative vegetarians on the Foro who I would rather not upset ;)
HR
Oh, almost forgot, while watching you work on that guitar neck I noticed your movements are vary much like those of my father, a fairior as we say in the US, means he made shoes for horses and other hand forged metal items. In my youth I would turn the handle that added air to his coal forge bolted to the back of his baby blue Datsun pickup truck. After when I have a file or rasp in my hand, more so a hammer though, I find a make the same motions as if his muscles were mine.
Ahahahahah ......I guess so, you can send me the X-ray in a private message or to my email, do you support your foot well? Do you need orthopedic insoles for support?
I have made a video for you, I made these beautiful shoes for a Chinese neurosurgeon, 14000 km away. I told him how he had to measure his feet, I had him take pictures from different angles, side, front, from behind, from in front, after I scan the measurement and send it to me, I printed it 1/1 scale and had his measurements here .......
This job is very very very difficult, there are no more professionals and the few that remain need help from other professionals to finish the job. You need knowledge of cutting, dressing, mounting, sewing, finishing and knowledge about the different pathologies of the foot ....... I liked it a lot but it is also very hard to see the suffering of people ......
Here you have this beautiful rosewood guitar varnished with shellac, only shellac, nothing to use car polish, or white from Spain ...... you have the video of its sound uploaded here too, look for it on the page. I also upload the beginning of the varnishing on video.
I am uploading a series of videos for those who want to make their own mini wood plane and I will do more about construction, tuning, fret placement, scales.....
"Well, I called my friend to get a photo of the guitar without a rosette and he sent it to me so I want to share it with you."
It looks like the cracks were repaired expertly--as I would expect!--so I don't understand how one could complain. Wood is unpredictable and many great instruments develop cracks. Cracks should not be thought of as detracting from the instrument, unless of course they cause actual problems. And once they're expertly repaired, they're gone!
It looks like the cracks were repaired expertly--as I would expect!--so I don't understand how one could complain. Wood is unpredictable and many great instruments develop cracks. Cracks should not be thought of as detracting from the instrument, unless of course they cause actual problems. And once they're expertly repaired, they're gone!
Of course, a well repaired crack does not mean anything, in wood it is normal. I have already said that I liked the guitar and his sound, the client is the one who is not happy with his instrument, I do not understand why either. I suppose it will be because it was not expected that with such a short time of use it would have cracked ...... I am playing with a guitar that has a crack and I have not repaired it in years, it would take very little to repair it, however it has not moved or I notice anything strange in the sound ...
To prevent cracking, perhaps a plain rosette can be placed on the inside of the guitar?
Of course, look, I place a rosette of cedar or pine inside with the grain a little crossed, with that I make sure that it will never open, I have never had a problem with that.....
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
This is an exclusive preview for the flamenco forum, it is the final result of the work done, there is still a video, the assembly and the proof of its operation on wood, just for you ......
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
Here you have the 5 and last part of the tutorial on the construction of the mini wood luhtier planes and now after I upload some close-up photographs, I hope you liked it.
I leave you the first video testing the tuning of one of my guitars with a digital tuner, as you will see the margin of error is minimal and negligible in all frets, in the next video I will show you how you can achieve this tuning. It is in Spanish and in my English of "Córdoba" 😄😄😄 If you have any questions, go ahead .......
I have just uploaded a video tutorial on the calculation of frets on the fretboard of the guitar or of any string instrument that carries frets, in a perfect way and without using rules, bars ... if you have any questions about something that does not You understand, you tell me and I will explain it to you, I hope you like it. If you like it and you don't understand something I will be happy to explain it again and in English.
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread