estebanana -> RE: what do you all think of this 1965 Juan Pimentel (Sep. 5 2023 15:25:55)
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ORIGINAL: Richard Jernigan All the mid range classicals I bought from Pimentel were finished in sprayed lacquer--I don't know what kind. The lacquer was polished off with automobile rubbing compound, applied by Pimentel's assistants, all of whom were relatives, as far as I know. The predominant businesses around Pimentel's shop in the Calle Dr. Martinez del Rio were auto body repair shops. It's been a very long time, but I don't remember the finish being thick on the top, back or sides of my friend's spruce/cypress blanca. My friend Pat Henry (RIP) and I were looking over cheap guitars in one of the big music stores in downtown Mexico City. A store clerk approached and asked whether we were interested in high end instruments. We said we were. He gave us Pimentel's business card. We went to his shop right away. At the shop there were no instruments strung up ready to play, but there were a couple whose bridges we thumped, verifying their responsiveness. Also there was a young American, Richard Schneider, who tended to dominate the conversation. He was apprenticing with Pimentel, but spoke extensively about his plans to revolutionize guitar design. Behind Schneider's back Pimentel manifested his usual taciturnity, but occasionally rolled his eyes. We were told to return in the evening when there would be a couple of instruments strung up to play. When we returned at dusk there was a crowd on the sidewalk. A large unglazed window opening onto the sidewalk gave a view over Pimentel's workbench, into the interior of the shop. Inside were three men in expensive suits, lounging around while Pimentel worked on the guitar of one of them. After observing for a while, I muttered to Pat, "Those are Los Tres Reyes," a very famous trio romantico, who included the world's greatest requinto player, Gilberto Puente. I passed a five-peso coin to a kid in the crowd, instructing him to slip into the shop and ask the musicians to play. When Pimentel finished with the guitar he handed it to its owner, Hernando Avilés, the lead singer. Avilés turned to his companions and suggested they should perform for the crowd. They complied with a few of their most popular pieces. After Los Tres Reyes left we played a couple of instruments. Without hesitation I ordered one for a friend who had asked me to buy her a guitar in Mexico. RNJ This is funny, Richard Schneider did revolutionize the guitar industry, for about six months. After that the revolution was over and Torres became king, again. He had a lot of ideas, but none of it really stuck. The main problem is that he didn’t understand the bridge, and he teamed up with a physics guy named Dr. Kasha, together they bungled the guitar so badly. The Kasha / Schneider design is a royal F-up. Old Juan was right to roll his eyes. One of the reasons I’m aggressively skeptical about tone generation and in general physics applications to guitar making is because the Kasha ideas are so bad and aesthetically unappealing I am not a ‘try to see it from all sides guy’. If you muck with the Spanish design for the guitar you’re going to lose.
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