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Richard Jernigan -> RE: What makes a guitar "open up"? (Jun. 28 2013 14:27:58)
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quote:
How much the guitar is played. An old guitar that hasn't been played is still going to sound "green" allbeit the woods may have matured for the better over time. Best method is to just play it.
In 2000 I bought the Arcangel Fernandez blanca that is still my all-time favorite flamenca. It came through the English luthier and dealer Brian Cohen, who said it had belonged to a collector who preferred anonymity. I had it appraised by Richard Brune.
Brune said he had been over the instrument with a magnifying glass, and could find no sign that the guitar had ever even been handled, much less played. No microscopic nail marks on the golpeador, no microwear on any of the frets. He said it appeared to have spent 18 years in a collector's case somewhere. He added that he "really liked this guitar."
When I received it, I took it out of the case, tuned it up and played an E-major chord. It knocked my socks off. It began its career with me, and continues to be, the loudest flamenca I have ever owned. The tone has been solid and brilliant from the get-go.
I have witnessed the "opening up" of several guitars. A friend bought a new '73 Conde media luna blanca that was as dead as a stick of lumber when it was new. Over the course of three years it opened up into a really great instrument.
But the Arcangel was brilliant, loud and solid from the first chord I struck.
RNJ
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