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A friend of mine was on Lesters waitlist and has just been informed that his guitar will not be built as Lester has stopped building due to some health reasons.
Now the only way to get a guitar of Lester is through the used market so expect prices to go way up as all those on the waitlist start looking.
I played a few Lesters guitars and they were always incredible, so another great Flamenco luthier has retired.
The Golden era of flamenco guitar builders is coming to an end and I don't really see which of the new ones are going to take over the throne.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
Whoa, that’s a bummer—Lester’s stopped building and is canceling orders on his waitlist. I got super lucky, though. I’ve owned several of his guitars, some I’ve kept, others I’ve sold, but the best ones are still in my collection. If you’ve got one (or more), consider yourselves lucky!
Posts: 2006
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
I play mine almost every day. I had hoped to get a negra, but that opportunity has passed. I asked him if he could convert one of his guitars for a left handed player and he said no, it isn't possible. Some guitars can be converted and others have relief carved in the neck and those really can't. A friend of mine managed to buy a negra he had already finished maybe a year ago. He has three Devoes. Lucky man.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
I have a feeling Lester will be joining the ranks of legends like Manuel Reyes, Arcangel Fernandez, and Manuel de la Chica, especially now that he’s stopped building guitars. He was always known for his consistent craftsmanship, quality, and sound. That said, there are still some amazing luthiers around, like Andrés Marvi and Francisco Barba—I just hope they don’t stop building anytime soon. There are also plenty of talented younger and not-so-young builders on the rise, such as Pedro Muriel, Jerónimo Pérez, Francisco Sánchez, José A. Villalba, and José Marín Plazuelo. The list goes on and on!
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
Really sad development. I have known about it for some months now and am planning to visit Lester soon. I have a blanca (blue back and sides), a Brazilian negra and a satinwood that is my current concert guitar. All 3 are excellent with their individual sets of strengths and personalities.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
quote:
ORIGINAL: sol512
quote:
Baloney! Lester was a great builder, but there are still plenty of luthiers out there building fantastic flamenco guitars.
such an insightful reply. your foro name is very apt.
"baloney" is that the name of whoever built your guitar?
Sorry, I don't have a Baloney, but I do have one of Lester's guitars. It's a really great guitar, but as you've acknowledged yourself in other posts, there are other current builders making great guitars, too, so your comment about there being no new ones who are "going to take over the thrown" is utter nonsense.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
When I was first getting into flamenco I remember reading that devoe was the first non-spanish guitar Paco de Lucía ever used, and that certainly put the maker on the map. In fact there was a statement that he only ever used Condes before this. Later I learned that was an exaggeration however, around the same time appeared the Saura movie where we all got to see the guitar in action.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to Morante)
quote:
I have only played 3: 2 were excellent, the other ordinary. But he is a great luthier without doubt.
I remember the opinion of José Ramirez 111: a great guitar is half luthier and half player. He recounts that he made 2 identical guitars:one was sold to a professional player, the other to an aficionado who hardly played. 2 Years later he had the chance to see both guitars. He says that one had grown into a great guitar, the other had gone down badly.
The 2 great Devoes I played belonged to Juan Martín (perhaps not highly regarded here, but at least a professional) and to Joaquín Amador, which he told me previosly belonged to Sabicas.
The ordinary one belonged to a rich aficionado, who had a collection of all the best luthiers but hardly plays
Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to Morante)
Sorry for my ignorance. But I want to know what will happen if a good guitar is not played well for some time？ And will the condition be better when a good player play a not played guitar for some time?
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
The next flamenco guitar maker in the U.S. who will develop into a very top maker is Jason McGuire, get on his list.
Jason is seriously onto something with his guitars... The one I got from him a couple of weeks ago is already opening up and sounding stellar. The guitar "moves" like probably no other that I've played. His guitars are going to rise exponentially in quality. Stephen is right in saying that you get on his list, quickly!
Posts: 3487
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
ORIGINAL: hxwhf72752003
Sorry for my ignorance. But I want to know what will happen if a good guitar is not played well for some time？ And will the condition be better when a good player play a not played guitar for some time?
In the year 2000 I bought two guitars.
British luthier/dealer Brian Cohen said the 1982 Arcangel Fernandez spruce/cypress blanca had belonged to a collector. It spent almost all of its time in a display case. Before I bought it I had it approaised by Richard Brune. He said he went over it with a magnifying glass, and could find no sign that it had ever even been handled, much less played. He did say he liked the guitar and hoped I didn't mind that he had played it for a couple of hours before sending it on to me.
When I took the Arcangel out of its case, tuned it up and strummed an E-major chord, it blew me away, and has continued to do so ever since.
The 1973 spruce/Indian Jose Romanillos was shipped to me by the dealer for a one-week trial period. He said the instrument had sat unplayed for several years. When I first played it I thought there was something wrong with it. It was quiet and sounded "tinny"--very weak bass. The week's trial ended on a holiday weekend. I had begun to suspect there was something developing in the guitar. I asked if I could keep it for another three days. Permission was granted.
I bought the Romanillos, aware that if it didn't pan out I could sell it at a profit to ready buyers in Japan.
I played the Romanillos at least two hours per day for a month. Then I got out the 1991 Manuel Contreras spruce/Brazilian "doble tapa" I had played for years, to see how much louder it was than the Romanillos.
Surprise number one: the Romanillos was louder and had a fuller tone. Apparently my regular playing for a month had resurrected it.
Surprise numer two: Having played only the Romanillos for a month, I sounded better on the Contreras than I had before.
So two different guitars responded very differently to an almost total lack of playing for several years. The Arcangel was loud and lively. The Romanillos seemed to have gone to sleep, but was awakened by regular playing for a month.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
ORIGINAL: hxwhf72752003
It seems that I can buy guitars with impunity, because I can optimize them by playing them for a long time
If it's any consolation, I agree with you, but separating mythos and reality on Internet forums is a Sisyphean endeavour which is best left to madmen and saints. Better to hold one's own council and say nothing, IMO.
Hopefully your guitar returns from your luthier friend with a clean bill of health. None of this stuff is rocket science.
P.S. which is not to imply that good guitars won't warm up or benefit from being played. Of course they will. But, I also have had the experience of seeing two identically made guitars (both currently in my possession) one which sounded far superior twenty years ago at the point of purchase while the other was basically stored away in a closet (in part because it didn't sound as good). Twenty years later the unplayed example is clearly the superior instrument. It's mint but sonically it has aged better. So, hard to take a stand, either way.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
ORIGINAL: hxwhf72752003
It seems that I can buy guitars with impunity, because I can optimize them by playing them for a long time
I have seen cheapest factory guitars come alive if they are heavily played. Maybe the best is pounding out some Rumba on them. So I think the reason the stored in glass guitars are not good is because they sit there drinking humidity for years. Guitars that get played necessarily dry out. That is all it is really, is what I believe these days. A climatizing the instrument. The other thing is there tends to be an over arching quality to any one guy's guitar collection...again I feel that is humidity and environment causing that. All my guitars sound the same pretty much, and I notice that when I try other peoples collections.
Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to RobF)
It is necessary to look at the problem dialectically.
My friend checked my guitar, and he told me that there is no problem of the wood. The only thing I need to do is adjusting the humidity and changing a lower saddle. I noticed that there is a small wooden strip under the saddle. I think that's what Jesus de Jimenez did for the change of seasons.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to sol512)
I sold a guitar to a friend in San Francisco in 2016, a really good guitar, perfect action. It never develop because it was kept in a damp below ground level concrete walked basement. I said, hey, put that in dry room on the second floor in a window where it will get indirect sunlight, they live near the beach which means 6 months of fog per year.
My gut instinct is the top is a couple 10ths of a mm too thick, and it’s not developed as it should had it it been pounded by Ricardo and dried out by being left out of the case. If that guitar lived in Sevilla or Arizona it would dry out and het meaner sounding.
By contrast, 2014 I sent a guitar to a player in NYC who hated the guitar on sight. He trashed it verbally, allowed his students to trash it verbally. I told him I wasn’t taking it back because he was nasty. Eventually it was sold on eBay and bought by a foro member most of you know and he emailed me he had it. So traded that guitar back to me plus some cash for a new guitar. We were both happy.
With the guitar I received back in trade I learned a lot of lessons, but what I learned is don’t let the customer tell you to lower the action beyond your better judgment. I made a new saddle and nut for that guitar and brought the action up a bit. Then I played it for 5 years. I still have it and it’s the guitar I use daily. It’s not one of my best and it’s not particularly powerful, but it’s got a beautiful voice to those to play it with a light touch and don’t over play it. It’s loud enough, it’s not a guitar you can force. It has gotten better since 2017 when I got it back it’s become more open and mature.
The first guitar I mentioned, I don’t know happened to it, it will turn up someday, but it’s going to become a better guitar eventually I am certain. Thanks to the nature of wood cellulose tissue degrades over time, it naturally dries, shrinks and becomes less dense over time. The top of that guitar will eventually over several decades and maybe a hundred years will become lighter as the cell walls of the wood fiber naturally shrink and lose mass. Some lucky person in far distant future will get a guitar with a slightly too thick top, that has lost enough mass to make it lighter weight and seasoned. Less mass means the same amount of string energy driving the bridge when it was one week old will drive a bridge that’s say 80 years old and a top to match that has lost some weight, but is still slightly thicker than it should be.
I think all new guitars dry a bit and get better, especially if kept under string tension, because when a piece of spruce is thinned out to under 2.5 mm thick it exponentially increases in the ability of air molecules to move into the wood and cause the processes and oxidation that speeds up the cellulose decay, what we call seasoning.
The other process that happens under tension is that the top allows or is pushed, to let the bridge rotate towards the sound hole. Even if thus movement is subtle it’s compressing the system and taking up any ‘slack’ that is non intrinsic to the distribution of string energy to the bridge. Think about new strings stretching before they really sound good and stay in tune. That takes two days? Guitars are the same, they have to sit under tension until all the parts agree that they are ‘stretched’ into place and they are not going to move anywhere. The neck moves forward a little bit, the bridge rotates towards the nut, this causes the top to slightly deform. All these micro adjustments happen and until all that stuff settles the guitar is still changing.
Some of this ‘tensegrity’ change happens in the first 30 minutes after you first string up a guitar and it goes on for a couple weeks ( I think) and over time and through seasonal change the guitar eventually settles into a more rigid position. When thats achieved there’s less energy loss in the total structure because everything is ‘stretched and compressed’ no slack. So the guitars that are under the bed or in the closet for 20 years fall asleep and wake back up due to simply being under tension again. Then playing them wakes them up even more because they are being vibrated.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
ORIGINAL: hxwhf72752003
It is necessary to look at the problem dialectically.
My friend checked my guitar, and he told me that there is no problem of the wood. The only thing I need to do is adjusting the humidity and changing a lower saddle. I noticed that there is a small wooden strip under the saddle. I think that's what Jesus de Jimenez did for the change of seasons.
Take the wood shim out of the saddle slot and have your repair guy fit two saddles, one low and one higher. And make sure the saddle slot is squared up and flat on the bottom. Crucial point, the saddle should fit tight and make full contact with the bottom of the saddle slot.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
I think all new guitars dry a bit and get better...
What you're saying in this reply, which also lines up with what Ricardo said, makes sense to me. So, the guitar I have that sat in the closet for twenty years has adjusted from being a tad overbuilt into being "just right", while its companion aged from being "just right" to, while still pretty stellar, not quite as right.
For completeness, the guitar I mentioned which was born a star is a Martin OM41 Special that I acquired for a friend. When it arrived I was so blown away by it that I immediately searched for one for myself (these were a limited run of this model with traditional soft "V" style necks). I had found his in Los Angeles, and found mine in Chicago. When mine arrived I was disappointed because it didn't sound quite as nice as the other. Later, maybe ten years, the original owner of the first found they preferred playing flamenco and classical so he traded me his OM41 Special for a nice Brazilian RW classical made by me. Torres style braced, if I recall correctly. I should visit him and see how it's doing. I really liked that guitar.
As for the Martins, funnily enough they were produced on the same line and have serial numbers that are, while not quite consecutive, I believe only two digits apart. I'm not certain about the backs but I have a strong suspicion that the sides are from the same tree. Kind of cool. That run of guitars had something special going on, best sounding OM's I've ever played, actually.
RE: Lester Devoe has Stopped Building (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
ORIGINAL: hxwhf72752003
It is necessary to look at the problem dialectically.
My friend checked my guitar, and he told me that there is no problem of the wood. The only thing I need to do is adjusting the humidity and changing a lower saddle. I noticed that there is a small wooden strip under the saddle. I think that's what Jesus de Jimenez did for the change of seasons.
We should move this to the original thread for closure. Glad everything worked out and that your friend has confirmed the conclusions we had reached on that other thread. Good news!
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