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a_arnold -> Guitar lifespans -- good news! (Apr. 2 2007 21:13:41)
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I just read (in The Development of the Modern Guitar" by John Huber) that the idea that guitars have a limited lifespan is mythology.
You all probably already know this, but apparently, the advent of nylon strings put 10%+ more tension on older guitars designed for gut. This began to happen in 1938 when WW2 was ramping up and Segovia was unable to get his favorite (German) gut strings for his Hauser, and appealed to duPont for help.
The transition to nylon, which really got going after WW2, didn't cause outright failure in most guitars, but the older gut-strung ones sounded relatively dead compared to the new ones being designed to withstand nylon, and a mythology developed that old guitars go "dead" due to age. Apparently, this isn't so. It was just the result of an unfair comparison of older (gut-strung) guitars with their more modern counterparts when both were strung with nylon.
During all this, guitar design changed to accommodate the greater tension of nylon, and because greater volume was now possible, new designs emphasized that aspect -- which was when (and why) Segovia switched from his beloved Hauser to the legendary Ramirez they built especially for his (larger) hands. His (previously gut-strung) Hauser could no longer compete in the concert hall.
Which means that the new nylon-strung designs haven't been around long enough yet to show their age. Maybe they'll improve, like the Strads. The older gut-strung ones will only sound right when gut-strung (and they can't be as loud with the lower tension) so a comparison of old (pre-WW2) with new is unfair.
Interesting. I guess it's true. The author is a professor of guitar and researched it.
Anyway -- has anybody ever heard an old (or for that matter, new) recording of flamenco on a gut-strung guitar? I have Ramon Montoya's first LP, and some older recordings from the 50's, and the guitars seem to have less sustain and less volume, but I don't know if they were nylon strung, and the record jacket doesn't say. It could also be the quality of the recording.
The singers also have less sustain ...8-)
And has anybody got any comments (reviews, etc) on Huber's book? For example, is he expressing fact or opinion when he says that the 65cm guitar is the instrument preferred by amateurs and that the "real" pros play on 66cm? I know PDL plays a 66cm negra, but surely there are some pros with small hands . . . ?
Tony Arnold
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