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JuanDaBomb -> My new Shelton-Farretta Blanca (May 19 2011 21:03:54)
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Hello,
Long time forum lurker, first time poster :-) Anyway I thought the time was right to create my account and share some photos of my new Shelton-Farretta Blanca!
Some specs:
- premium grade Caucasian spruce top,
- premium grade Mediterranean cypress back and sides,
- Spanish Cedar neck,
- Gabon ebony fingerboard,
- Rosewood bindings, overlay, and bridge,
- 52mm nut, 60mm saddle spacing, 660mm scale.
The sound of the guitar is absolutely wonderful. The notes have a strong, loud attack that quickly decay into an excellent sustain. It's very pleasing to the ear. I once read their flamenco guitars described as "having that old, classic flamenco sound", and I think I have to agree. The guitar is loud, of course, and rich in harmonics, with deep authoritative basses and trebles that react nicely depending on how you pick at them. The sound is well balanced. The guitar is very "energetic"; it vibrates more enthusiastically than other guitars I've played. Overall, I'm really impressed with its acoustics. It's also very light.
The setup of the guitar is spot-on and the result is a flamenco guitar that is very satisfying to play. The action is nice and low, but not too buzzy. It'll buzz quite nicely when played hard, though :) . The neck is super comfy in my medium-to-large sized hands; it feels just right in terms of profile and thickness. The strings sit close to the soundboard. The intonation is on the money; the guitar is quite easy to tune and plays in tune nicely everywhere along the fret board (which is much more than I can say about my Ramirez R4....).
Visually, the guitar is beautiful. The woods used are of excellent quality, in particular the top, which has a remarkably uniform color and pattern to it. I like the contrast of the colorful rosette and the dark rosewood bindings against the pale spruce and cypress; the finish is clear which I prefer since I like the natural wood colors.
When I contacted Mr. Shelton about purchasing a guitar, it so happened that they were just completing a pair of Blancas at a new price level of $2,000 US, and that these 2 guitars represented the basic end of a new price structure for their Blanca guitar, the difference between the basic and higher end versions lying in the ornamentation (purfling, decorative line beneath the overlay, so on). So I eventually decided to purchase this one (the other one is very similar except for the rosette). The price included a nice Gator hard case.
My expectations were exceeded with this guitar. There really isn't anything about it that I don't like. I'm very happy with it and would wholeheartedly recommend this model to anyone in the market for a Blanca in this price range. They are also very nice people to deal with, and respond quickly and thoroughly to emails.
-Juan
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2675/5732657045_1575265248_b.jpg[/img]
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The complete photo set can be found here
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