Tom Blackshear -> RE: fine tuning a top (Oct. 30 2012 14:06:18)
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If someone is on the receiving end of a guitar that they have spent all their savings on, and after a while feel unhappy with the guitar, and have trouble selling it, and have a maker that says, "well that's the way i wanted the guitar to be" then if a re tuning is an option, I believe it may be worth considering. Not to be disrespectful to the maker, but to bring some sort of resolve to the owner. There are stories about this issue and I'll share one: But first there is a question of ethics regarding a violin, a very expensive violin. I saw this technique used on a major name violin; how a repairman adjusted the tonal response on TV. He scraped the inside to alter the tone and it was very noticeable, even while listening to the TV. The violin definitely improved and the owner was very happy with it. So, this brings into the picture, how do we feel about this obvious trend among those who feel its OK to adjust very expensive violins? This short movie was taken at a well known violin house in New York, many years ago but I can't remember the name; some French person owned it. Another story was about a flamenco guitarist, years ago, who visited my home, and during the visit I asked him if I could examine his Reyes guitar. He said that Reyes probably wouldn't like that, so I asked him to call Sr. Reyes on my nickle to see if it would be OK. In other words I confronted him with the possibility that Reyes would agree with me, that its the player's guitar and he should be able to do with it what he chooses. Well, he called Sr. Reyes and Reyes told him almost the exact words that I used. So, what does this mean about guitars? For one....I think it means that Reyes doesn't get attached to his guitars after they are sold. And this is the same with me, I don't hang on to the guitar after it leaves the shop. The player owns it and if he decides to re-sell or do whatever to it then that is his property and he can do what he wants. And I reason that this might happen some time in the future, just don't tell me about it:-) But if collectors are buying my guitars, which they are doing, then they will want a guitar to be as original as possible. And if per chance some one does alter the sound, then I hope they know what they are doing and can actually make it better. But I don't see how this would happen, due to the already finely-tuned guitars that I make. All they could accomplish is to potentially pull the tone off center. And this is one reason that I recommend that the buyer stay with the string brand I tune the guitar with. The guitar is so finely tuned that it's imperative, if they don't want to pull the tone off center.
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