Richard Jernigan -> RE: Guitar making today better than ever? (Mar. 23 2020 20:22:27)
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A couple of years ago I spent an afternoon at Richard and Marshall Brune's workshop is Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. They have now moved further north. That afternoon we played many, if not most of the instruments in Brune's collection. There were a number of really wonderful guitars, some of them famous like Ramon Montoya's. But one stood out as distinctive. I believe it was a Barbero, but I didn't take notes. It was easily the most used looking instrument of the group. It wasn't badly beaten up, and had no visible cracks, but the French polish was very worn, and the instrument had a dirty look. I'm sure that if it could have been cleaned up better, Bruné would have done it. He said that as far as thousands of hours of playing, it was clearly the champion. I would describe its distinctive character as "controlled looseness." Loose because it was easy to play. The initial movement of the strings by the right hand was easy to cause. But it wasn't too loose, hence "controlled." I have played guitars that I thought were too loose. Spaniards would say their pulsacion was soft. Some were very good guitars. I think of a '73 Reyes that belonged to a friend. He loved it and could play it well. I preferred my '67 Ramirez. Its stiffer (but not too stiff) pulsacion better suited my right hand. Its a matter of one's personal taste, and physical characteristics. I have strong nails and big hands. Back to Brune's guitar. Its pulsacion was unique in my experience. The strings moved easily under the right hand, but they weren't too loose. If you wanted to play fast, the string was always back in place when you wanted to pluck it again. The sound of the guitar was magnificent. It wasn't shrill but it had plenty of treble edge and percussion in rasgueados. The tone was rich and full with a "gutty" midrange on each note. I loved the instrument right off, and Bruné seemed to think it was one of the best in his collection. Not only has Bruné made a lot of guitars, he's seen a lot of them, and he played professionally at Manolo Caracol's tablao in Mexico City. For this instrument age was certainly a factor, but the amount it had been played figured strongly in Brune's diagnosis. Whatever the reason was, it stood out in a collection of outstanding instruments. RNJ
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