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estebanana -> RE: CATEGORIES OF FLAMENCO GUITARS (Jan. 12 2015 1:10:20)
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Well there are Conde's and everything else.
( "That's joke son!" Foghorn Leghorn)
There are Cypress and there are Rosewood guitars- up until recent times there were more interchangable, now the perception is that they are two distinct categories. Blanca and Negra. Most everything else falls into those two main headings.
Then there are guitars that are somewhat more suited to group work because they have a way of cutting through that allows them to punctuate accents and compete sonically with dancers, and singers and percussion. Both Negras and Blancas will do this on a guitar by guitar basis.
It's really dependent on what your musical goal or use is. And at the end of the day even a guitar not totally suited to accompaniment will accompany, but having a tool that can cut through when needed just makes the work easier. Any guitar that reasonably allows you to do smooth alza pua, and has a good rasgueado sound, and a reasonable saddle height will play flamenco.
Other than that, are there really categories?
I read that scale length thread. Scale in the market place is subject to trends. Long and short scales go in and out of fashion. Shorter scales work on flamenco guitars, but for me longer scales work consistently better and offer some advantages, but if you put three or four guitar makers together they won't agree on any of that. I say who cares, it's again really a guitar by guitar subject. Some have short scales and work great others have long scales and work great.
Arguments, disagreements and opinions between luthiers about scale, bracing, and dark vs. light wood are difficult discussions to evaluate. Each maker has personal experience and bias, and a preferred way of building. And what they defend one day they will often recant the next day or next year if it means winning a customer away from another guy! Makers will also take one guys explanation that they disagree with one day, and re-present the same argument later in their own words, but it will be the same basic viewpoint. Which indicates there are universal basics that all the good makers recognize, but begrudge the other guys from having. That's just guitar makers venting spleen. The lamest is when someone starts building and all of a sudden after two guitars they have all the answers, it's not because they know, it's because they regurgitate what someone else has written. Take the long view, average it out; most guitar makers agree on certain fundamentals and you have to look at posts about categorical things with an eye towards the things they talk about that are agreements. They might not say it the same way.
Some makers swear that rosewood and cypress don't make that big a difference and that back& sides wood is not a big factor in sound. Others will say it is a profound difference. That particular argument gives me a headache so I never enter that one. Really any structurally appropriate wood will make a good flamenco guitar if thinned properly. What it will sound like is largely dependent on the other choices the maker includes in the work. One could make a nice flamenco guitar with White Oak or Pine, but almost invariably the dialog will begin centered around the wood being a strange choice, and not the sound of the guitar.
It's the same in the classical scene, I just showed a Port Orford Cedar back & sides guitar to a dealer, *BLANK STARE* no recognition of that wood on their classical horizon. Which makes me think that categories are largely elaborate mental constructs that each person creates, and only limit what is and is not suitable for actual play.
But in general you got blancas and negras, but it's not that easy. It's really like "50 Shades of Rosewood".
A good starting point is R. E. Brune's article, it should answer many questions and bring up a few more. When I said the blanca and the negra used to be more inter-changeble I had this in mind:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/107878546/The-Cultural-Origins-Of-The-Modern-Guitar-by-R-E-Brune#scribd
It's also been posted on Foro, but it easier to download form the above source: http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=168269&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=&tmode=&smode=&s=#168269
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