a_arnold -> RE: TRUSS RODS... (Aug. 3 2006 17:19:18)
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Many flamenco guitarists hold their guitar with the lower bout balanced on the right thigh and the upper bout unsupported, neck at about 45 degrees. (I tend to do this when playing accompanyment w/ dancers or singers, less so when solo. Mainly so I can watch the action to time the end of a passage.) The extra weight of a truss -- especially a steel one -- makes this position difficult. I've been told this is also the reason for the (lighter) pegs. Of course, none of this applies to classicals. I've been told that graphite trusses are actually lighter than wood. Dunno if this is true. I own a 1967 Manuel de la Chica blanca that was custom made for me, and a 1973 Chica classical. Neither has a truss. At the time Chica built the blanca, I think trusses were regarded as something "new" that might be necessary for steel strings, but Chica saw them as something a classical/flamenco luthier would use only if properly cured neck wood were unavailable, and even then he didn't think they were a sign of a good builder. Maybe he was too much of a purist. His necks were all mahogany -- honduras, I believe. Tony Arnold
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