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rombsix -> Home-made Golpeadores (Mar. 19 2007 12:38:05)
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Hey everyone,
Let me start out by apologizing for not being active in replying to messages lately. I am currently taking a very heavy course in school, and have had very little free time. I've mostly been a lurker ! (when I find the time to lurk in the first place!) I have a question for you:
My friend got a guitar and he wants to learn flamenco. In Lebanon, we don't have good flamenco guitars (if any to start with). So I had him go with the alternative I went with - a relatively cheap (110 US dollar) Hohner classical guitar (he's still a beginner, so why make him buy an expensive one?) that I'll have him modify: lower the action (my ex-teacher will do that for him; I don't know how to file down the saddle ... if anyone can give me some advice on that, I'd be grateful) and put in golpeadores. However, we don't have golpeadores either (obviously, since there are not many flamenco guitars). My teacher used to have some, but he hasn't been getting any, so I guess I used up the last pair for my guitar. Thus, my teacher said that I can maybe get away with some layers of plastic lamination (the stuff you use to laminate school books) put on top of each other (to thicken them a bit), and then stick them on the soundboard where the golpeadores usually go. I am not very convinced about this method. So please, let me know if you think this home-made golpeadore would work, or if it would ruin the guitar. And if you advise me to use it, then how should I put it on? Any tips? If you think this method is crap, then what other alternatives do I have? What happens if I keep his guitar without golpeadores? Will the right hand golpes severely damage the guitar? Please advise. Thanks in advance.
Ramzi
PS: He hasn't gotten used to the whole "long nails" concept. So I remember reading somewhere that Tarrega and his contemporaries used to play with NO NAILS WHATSOEVER (i.e. pure flesh). Does that work with flamenco guitar? Just wondering (and I'm not referring to the people who naturally have nails that protrude outside the flesh that can thus keep them really short, but have them be really effective --- I am talking about ZERO nails ... no nails at all ... does that work? Will calluses eventually develop on the right hand finger tips and eventually work like nails? I really have no clue, I just use my nails, and they are quite usable).
THANKS.
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