Richard Jernigan -> RE: What constitutes 'playability'? (Nov. 22 2011 23:10:22)
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What Anders said. Of the four classical and two flamenco guitars I have, the two most comfortable are the best sounding classical and the best sounding flamenco. In 2000 I bought a '73 Romanillos spruce/indian. It hadn't been played in years, so it took a while to wake up. I had been playing classical on a spruce/Brazilian Contreras doble tapa. After the Romanillos woke up, it was so much more comfortable to play then the Contreras that I got out my precision calipers to measure the Romanillos action--to see how much lower it was than the Contreras. They were the same. Same action height at the first and twelfth frets, same nut width, same spacing at the bridge, Same neck relief, same strings. But the Romanillos was easier on the left hand. I think the Romanillos top is thicker, at least in the center, than the Contreras, but I haven't measured them. One significant difference is the larger plantilla of the Contreras. Why is the Romanillos more playable? Beats me. My best blanca is an '82 Arcangel Fernandez spruce/cypress, which I bought in 2001. It had belonged to a collector and showed no sign of handling or playing when I got it. I had it appraised by Richard Brune. When I talked to him, he told me how low the action was. I was playing at least two hours a day, alternating classical and flamenco. I asked Brune to make me a higher saddle. The Arcangel knocked my socks off the first time I took it out ot the case. Brune let me know he had played it for a few hours while he had it to appraise, so if it had ever gone to sleep in the collector's display cabinet, Brune woke it up for me. As far as playability, the Arcangel was about the same as my '67 cedar/cypress Ramirez, but louder, more brilliant with crisper rasgueados. I've laid off playing for three or four years, due to a bit of numbness in 3 and 4 of the left hand--an old injury to the spine from a motorcycle wreck. But they're getting better now, so I'm starting back gradually to play. I put back in the saddle Arcangel had originally made, lowering the action to around 2.5 mm 1st string, 3mm 6th string at the 12th fret. That's a guess, I haven't measured it precisely. The left hand is easier now, the right a little more difficult. It's a lot easier to get too much fret buzz, and the brilliance of tone dies off quicker as you get toward the sound hole. I suspect that when I get the strength back in my left hand, I'll go back to the higher action so I can blaze away with the right. Playability seems complex to me, after many years of playing. Some of it is setup, much of it is built into the guitar. RNJ
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