avimuno -> RE: Arcangel (Dec. 17 2011 13:35:50)
|
Hi Aaron, How difficult is it for a luthier to copy or clone a guitar? I know that a few of the great Spanish builders not only have their very own way of making their plantilla, but they also fine tune the top by making it thinner at certain places. From what I have gathered, this fine-tuning is dependent on the specificities of the wood itself, so the same guitar maker will fine-tune his design differently depending on the wood. I guess that it is for that reason that we can speak of an Archangel sound, a Barbero sound or a Reyes sound to name only those three. Not all Archangel, Barbero and Reyes sound the same but they all have the same DNA... in consequence they vary like the different members of the same family vary. In consequence, I can imagine that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to literally clone a guitar because it's not just a question of copying and pasting so to speak... it involves a process of learning how to think like the original builder. To give you an example, a friend of mine ordered a Reyes clone from a luthier (who shall not be named) and to be honest that guitar does not really sound or play like a Reyes... I've owned a few Reyes copies myself and I have lucky to try a few Reyes from different eras when I was in Seville this past summer. I would describe a Reyes as having a very balanced sound, with a very sweet top end (Postigo always used the word 'dulce' to describe them)... they are also very expressive guitars and give out what you put in.... they can go from raspy to really dreamy depending on your toque. There's also a sort of hollowness in the mids, this is really hard to explain it has to be experienced, as well as a sort of natural reverb. All this contribute to the expressiveness and the lyrical nature of that design. My friend's guitar on the other hand, although supposedly being a Reyes plantilla, has very predominant piercing highs, a thick Conde-like mid-range and is not expressive at all. The consequence of that I thought was that although it was a nice guitar, it was missing those characters that make a Reyes IMHO... those characters that make a set of experienced ears go 'This is a Reyes!' when they hear one... it's missing the Reyes DNA. I have always wondered what would be an experienced luthier's take on this question... because it does not involve just replicating measurements and woods etc, but it's a question of recreating a very specific DNA. This reminds me of a theory in the philosophy of language that states that a language is a way of seeing and living in the world... as a consequence, learning a new language implies as much a process of learning to see the world as the speakers of that language do, as it is learning the rules of grammar and syntax. I have exchanged a fair amount of emails with Tom Blackshear concerning his Reyes copies, which I think are absolutely ace, but your views would very much interest me. Thank you. Saludos, Avi
|
|
|
|