Cedar Hinoki Stephen Faulk - 2017 Blanca (Full Version)

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estebanana -> Cedar Hinoki Stephen Faulk - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 21 2017 1:35:10)

*I just updated this to include the whole dropbox gallery of photos:



2017 Stephen Faulk Cedar top - Hinoki back & sides flamenca.
Silver mounted ebony pegs. Cuban cedar neck. Cocobolo headplate, French polish finish, ebony binding.
And my signature original Green Moth motif rosette.

The friction pegs work like a dream. Up front trebles and seductive bass. Even throughout the range and growly voice like a flamenco singers eco.
A fantastic guitar, set up with 7.5 mm high at the bass string, 7 at treble side - 2.5mm high at 12th fret treble 3mm on bass.
Plays quite clean, and can go lower.

It has a really nice release of notes with ligado and a string tension that enables alzapua and rasgueado to work for the player.

The person who photographed it said this guitar reminded him of the very light Ramirez blancas that were made in the late 1950's . It weighs 1.2 kilo and has excellent balance on the thigh, perfect for playing in old style position or cross leg position.

Thank you Blane Ebersold for once again making great photos of the work.
This instrument is available. Inquire via private message.

The whole dropbox gallery: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nonbndilktaali9/AAC1kGVN3neHvhbQg7tcoprQa?dl=0





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estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy (Jul. 21 2017 1:39:34)

Mothy





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estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy (Jul. 21 2017 1:49:02)

Tail feathers and pointy things.





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estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy (Jul. 21 2017 1:51:10)

Peggies-

These pegs are set with super care. Inside the headstock under the headplate veneer there are six maple plugs that are oriented so the peg shaft passes though the end grain of the maple. The peg shaft addresses only long grain creating the smoothest most even bed for the peg.

The pegs are shaved very carefully to conform to the taper of the reamer and then the grips are sanded and oil finished. The grips feel good in the fingers and don't have uncomfortable edges.

The only maintenance these pegs will need is for the player to occasionally apply a good violin peg compound, like Hill or Pirastro, costing less then ten dollars for a stick that will last years.

I've carefully worked with these pegs to make them function easily and dependably in the hopes that even those not interested in peg head blancas would consider buying one.

It does not hurt to have one peg head in your quiver.










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jalalkun -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 21 2017 8:20:51)

that peg slotting thing with the maple plugs is high tech stuff man. beautiful guitar, great work.




Piwin -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy (Jul. 21 2017 10:42:30)

Beautiful guitar. Do you accept payment in buttered goats or are you one of those cash only kind of guys?




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 21 2017 17:01:40)

I have goats actually. And butter. What I want is a couple of cases of single malt scotch and a jet pack.




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 21 2017 17:03:44)

quote:

that peg slotting thing with the maple plugs is high tech stuff man. beautiful guitar, great work


High tech, straight outta the 16th century......




Ricardo -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 21 2017 17:21:02)

Nice. New head design?




jalalkun -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 21 2017 19:08:02)

quote:

ORIGINAL: estebanana

High tech, straight outta the 16th century......


yeah, that's quite hi tech if you ask me [&:]




Dave K -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy (Jul. 21 2017 20:00:14)

"These pegs are set with super care. Inside the headstock under the headplate veneer there are six maple plugs that are oriented so the peg shaft passes though the end grain of the maple. The peg shaft addresses only long grain creating the smoothest most even bed for the peg

Looks like Aaron Green's method, I always thought it was overkill but maybe not?


American Lutherie #82
Summer 2005

Aaron Green has a way of hiding maple bushings inside a flamenco peghead, giving the pegs a nice hard bearing surface. He details the process in this issue.




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 22 2017 0:52:52)

I picked up the technique from Chris Berkov, CA guys were doing this quite some time before the GAL article. Mark Silber also told me about it a long time ago.

Aaron does two things that are important, I adopted one of them. That is to set the peg deeper on the shaft. The idea is that it reduces torque and puts less stress on the peg. Instead of leaving 26 mm of shaft behind the headstock, I'm setting the pegs at 23 mm and then using the peg compound, the pegs bed in another mm or two.

Berkov also told me he used Teak pegs with good result, so I used to use teak plugs, they work great as teak is hard and slippery. The other thing Aaron does is 'pin' the plug with a counter dowel set halfway into the plugs outer edge. It keeps the plug from ever getting loose and spinning inside the headstock. My solution, the chances of that happening are remote, is to set the plug in off center to the peg hole. Violin makers bush pegs by setting the bushing off center then drill the hole close to the outside of the bushing. It uses the peg itself to create the dowel pin that Aaron adds.

I think the extra hour of cutting and setting the plugs is more than worth it. For one thing if you set them Aaron's way with the dowel pin, the Forstner bit you use to cut the plug hole on the head will make a pin hole in the center of the plug on the outside of the headstock and give you a ready made center for drilling the peg holes. If you do it my way, you just measure down 5 milli from the center hole and drill, thus offsetting the peg in the plug. The part that is overkill is probably pinning the plug, as it's glued in on all surfaces.

The most important part of setting pegs is shaving the peg, and reaming the hole with skill. I use a double bevel angle plane iron set into a block of wood with a hole reamed into it. It's 16th century work, but if you massage the plane iron around and set it just right the pegs fit the reamed hole like a mechanic fit them. It's mechanic work with wood parts.

The important advantage the internal plug gives you in reaming the hole is that the reamer never passes between long grain and end grain and has a chance to chatter or change pressure against the different grain orientations. That is why reamer holes can get ovoid, even with a good reamer. The constant application of the reamer blades on the hard long grain running one direction make possible the creation of a more accurate tapered hole that is as perfectly round as you can get with hand tools.

More than anyone wanted to know, but anyone wishing to try this could read Aaron's essay.




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 22 2017 1:14:05)

quote:

Nice. New head design?



Since 2014 - I switched from the Santos model to the pointed look. If you use a center strip on a pointed head design it looks better than on the 'inny' design. Headstocks are like belly buttons, there are 'innys' and 'outties'.

Next I might add another leaf shape on either side for 'classicals' making it look remotely like a fat Gerundino. Then put stippling on the headstock face. But flamencos will stay with three elements and no stippling.




Piwin -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 22 2017 16:56:22)

I can meet you half way and supply single malt scotch. Jet pack might be a few tens of thousand dollars over my budget though. [&:]
I can draw a picture of a flying canoe and if you use your imagination it'll feel just like the real thing. I guess now I know what's left for me to do. Draw a picture of your guitar and imagine.[8D]




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 23 2017 0:37:40)

This is the new Cedar - Hinoki blanca recorded by the photographer. He's a jazzy composer who uses flamenco guitars and a Hauser copy I made for him. This cut might be a little light on thumb work as hes recovering from a thumb injury. These again show how versatile flamenco guitars are for other styles of playing. I like listening to Bach, Weiss, Kapsberger and Scarlatti et. al. on flamenco guitars, and for jazz work.

Hinoki-Cedar Blane Ebersold - sound clip #1- https://soundcloud.com/seablayne/faulk-hinoki-cedar-blanca-test-blane/s-pfAmk


He tried another with a little more thumb - Clip #2 https://soundcloud.com/seablayne/jazzyjazzz-for-stephen-1/s-LHuGG



Here's the Hauser model cutaway I made for him. He uses it as is main composing recording guitar:

https://soundcloud.com/seablayne/faulk-madagascar-cutaway-recording-test



-----------------

I'm going have some top end flamenco players record longer samples on this and two other flamenco guitars I made, in about two weeks, stay tuned.




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 23 2017 0:46:20)

quote:

I can meet you half way and supply single malt scotch. Jet pack might be a few tens of thousand dollars over my budget though.
I can draw a picture of a flying canoe and if you use your imagination it'll feel just like the real thing. I guess now I know what's left for me to do. Draw a picture of your guitar and imagine.


I'll just build a glider, if you bring the case of scotch we can fly it together off some local cliffs.




heyjamesguesswhat -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 23 2017 9:35:48)

great looking guitar. I like the look of the Hinoki with the simple black binding. Nice work with the 4 piece back too!




RobJe -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 23 2017 14:25:01)

This guitar “speaks” more than any other you have posted – the subtle references to guitars of another age (separated pieces in the back and the hint of silver), the use of locally available timber, the beautiful and personal rosette, the elegant carving on the head, the restraint in the minor cosmetic details, the attention paid to the functioning and potential longevity of the tuning pegs and much more. It deserves an appreciative owner.

The 1.2 kg peghead blanca was common when I started playing – as was holding the guitar in the traditional flamenco position. Now I wonder how many guitarists get to experience the sheer joy of holding such a beautifully balanced guitar. Playing guitars with heavier necks and machines makes me feel (or imagine?) that the tail is wagging the dog a bit – maybe adding unwanted sustain. I know that in crude theoretical terms there is an argument that heavier neck and head gives more of the sustain that disqualifies a guitar from being a flamenco guitar. But guitars are not crude and theoretical. In practical terms one luthier (can’t remember who now) suggested that if a classical guitarist wanted more sustain all he needed to do was stick an` iron g-clamp on the head.

Rob




eccullen -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 23 2017 23:01:14)

Truly, this is wonderful Stephen...
I share Rob's response.

Does the four piece back serve a function beyond the aesthetic?




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 24 2017 1:03:45)

RobJe and Sr. Cullen,

Thank you both for the comments on restraint and style. I know you both to have good judgment and taste, compliments from true aficionados of the guitar. Rather moral lifting to read.

The four piece back is due to working with choice lumber that is not wide enough for a two piece back. And three piece backs are good too, but the four panel back gives you three spacers between the panels, and three bold spacers look better than two thin spacers. It's a more complete statement.

If you have a three panel back and each panel has a drift in the grain direction, well then two panels will drift the same direction and one will be opposite. Four panels ensures bilateral symmetry the three spacers is very interesting to the eye.

Intricate line work is pretty, but simple line work with a restrained over all design is more profound. I leave the pretty line work to the guys who want to make museum pieces for collectors to gawk at. I want to make beautiful monsters.

Drawing your attention to the headstock, the transition to the neck is also carefully planned. The end of the scarf joint on the back is almost under the nut as it is on most older guitars, like Madrid school 1920-30's. And the headstock is thinner than a more modern guitar with mechanical tuners. That is also in keeping with that time period for peg head blancas. I've measured many of them from that time which are 5/8 " thick. So I'm hitting it slightly thicker, but under 3/4" - There's a little trick to planing the piece you use for the headstock in order to get the scarf joint to end closer to the nut, otherwise if you plane the headstock that thin before you glue on the head plate veneer the scarf joint retreats up the back of the headstock to an unseemly place, because you plane material off the top of the headstock which pushes the nut towards the bridge. Some makers who understand the period guitars will get what I mean. It's an insignificant detail to most lookers, but for the ones to know old guitars very well it will be a delightful discovery.




pundi64 -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 24 2017 4:47:33)

Beautiful piece of art, and at 1.2 kilos, lite as a feather.

May I ask the going price for this beauty?




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 24 2017 8:42:28)

$4000.00 with a little bit of wiggle room in terms of payments and shipping.

Thanks for kind words. I think it a fair deal, I still make guitars for players. [:D]




SephardRick -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 24 2017 13:49:31)

Outstanding in the looks department and reasonably priced for a genuine Faulk. I bet it sounds good too.




HemeolaMan -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 25 2017 16:31:43)

That is the most perfect of all of your guitars I have seen.

I think you did it man. reduced the non essentials, worked in the subtle decorations, and made those lines speak like BB King uses a single note.




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 26 2017 1:23:32)

Heems! Thanks. Sound sample coming up in a couple weeks. I have a film maker buddy who might be able to pull a short video together with his pro sound and a special guitarist. Keep your fingers crossed.

For a more contemporary style of blanca with mechanical tuners see this 2016 Cypress Blanca:

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=297667&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=&tmode=1&smode=1&s=#305990




estebanana -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Jul. 29 2017 4:09:55)

One of the Nagoya fellows made another sample recording for me. His name is Sugi, he's going to order a 7 string, he plays Brazilian stuff. Here he takes the blanca for a sensitive run through.

For flamenco people I know these are not as satisfying, but a reminder to players, dealers and other makers that blancas make excellent guitars for many kinds of music.

https://soundcloud.com/seablayne/lotus-flower-played-by-sugi/s-wCHbx




Joan Maher -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Aug. 7 2017 11:31:42)

Nice looking guitar Stephen.




Stu -> RE: Hinoki Eye Candy - 2017 Blanca (Aug. 8 2017 9:11:32)

This is amazing. I love it. The photography is great too. Fantastic luthier porn!! Thankyou




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