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'Attack' in building a flamenco...   You are logged in as Guest
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Ramón

Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca

'Attack' in building a flamenco... 
A very esoteric quality, but it can be felt by many players, so the question is, how is it 'built' into a guitar???

I've seen low-action setups with hard tension strings that did not have it, and others you would think not, that do...

Someone told me they thought that head-angle played a part in it, but????

Any thoughts? I can feel it more in some guitars than others, but as I'm building 2 more blancas, I want so try to put as much into these as I can.

Thanks
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 27 2007 17:10:46
 
Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006
 

RE: 'Attack' in building a flamenco... (in reply to Ramón) 
You´ll probably hate this answer:
To get it all balanced out.....

First what is attack. It has something to do with the tones jumping out of the guitar and prefereably even with a light hand.

How to get it. Well use a good bracing system (There´s no one and only) and build light, but be carefull not to build to light because what happens is that the guitar get to bassy and is not capable of handling a hard hand. It kinds of implodes.
The balance must be stiff enough to make the guitar sound flamenco when playing Bulerias without capo and it must be loose enough to sound earthy when playing Soleares with a capo on the 6th fret.

It takes time to find the balance and sometimes its better than other times. But so is life.

_____________________________

Blog: http://news-from-the-workshop.blogspot.com/
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Oct. 27 2007 17:55:58
 
Marcus Dominelli

 

Posts: 6
Joined: Oct. 14 2007
 

RE: 'Attack' in building a flamenco... (in reply to Ramón) 
Hi Ramon,
I don't think that head angle is one of those factors that will make a difference here. Granted, I don't change the head angle on my guitars any more than a couple of degrees ever.
By attack, you're referring to a quick response or "bite" as some call it. A guitar can have a good attack and also posess sustain. So do not think of a guitar as doing either one well exclusive of the other.
How to do it?
The top (total soundboard weight plus the bridge) must jump into action very fast. The top must be very light weight. Choose your spruce carefully, go for light weight spruce. Don't worry if it's not super stiff; bracing can make up for a slight lack in stiffness. Keep the bridge light weight. Compare a bunch of bridges of similar size - try different woods, but avoid heavy stuff like ebony.

But I did play a great flamenco once that had an ebony bridge. The luthier was very good at his game, with over thirty years experience, so he knew what he was after.
Good luck,
Marcus Dominelli
Dominelli Guitars
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Nov. 4 2007 5:34:47
 
Ramón

Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca

RE: 'Attack' in building a flamenco... (in reply to Ramón) 
Thank you, both.....

Interesting... So I DID do pretty good on #1....but want to improve. Paying closer attention to thicknesses this time, and I was curious about the 'bridge discussion' in Luthiery:

If a very light wood would be ideal - but the strings can pull through, what about using bone or glueing a strip of ebony to the contact/tie surfaces to reinforce those areas only, while keeping the bridge superlight?

Any thoughts on a wood that could be an interesting choice?
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Nov. 7 2007 14:23:51
 
Marcus Dominelli

 

Posts: 6
Joined: Oct. 14 2007
 

RE: 'Attack' in building a flamenco... (in reply to Ramón) 
Hi Ramon,
I don't think that the kind of wood you choose is as important as its weight and stiffness, based on your experience. The weight variation within a given species, such as Indian or Brazilian rosewood is too great to say that one is preferable over the other.
Rather, just keep track of the weights and stiffnesses of each bridge you use, and see how it effects the sound.
If you have a guitar that does'nt sound quite right, you might consider changing the bridge on it. You'll get a feel for how important the bridge is in shaping the sound of each guitar.

Marcus Dominelli
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Nov. 8 2007 1:33:46
 
Ramón

Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca

RE: 'Attack' in building a flamenco... (in reply to Ramón) 
Thank you, Marcus. I will add to my notes. I just got an old drug dealer's triple beam scale and donated it to the workshop, so it will get some legit-use, now....!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Nov. 9 2007 6:27:54
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