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Early birthday present
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Jamey
Posts: 187
Joined: Jul. 7 2004
From: Winnipeg, Canada
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RE: Early birthday present (in reply to Patrick)
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I keep telling everybody that Jeff builds an excellent flamenco guitar. NOW will people believe me??? Patrick, give it time, the trebles will really brighten up in a few months. It took my blanca about 6 months or more of regular playing to truly open up. Once it did, it DEFINITELY did!!! Everything became louder and the tone changed a bit, everything had more punch to it. Mine became really bright and the basses acquired more punch along with the increased volume. The end result was a very cool sounding guitar. I mentioned previously in another post that one of Jeff's guitars, a "blangra" (combination of blanca and negra) had the best tone of any guitar I've heard and played (and I played that one along side a '71 Faustino Conde, Reyes Sr. and Hijo, Conde A26....no joke). Jeff has figured out something special. I too had my set up changed (lowered). So, everybody, at least consider Jeff Sigurdson when you're looking at getting a new guitar, he really does make a fantastic guitar.
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Date Sep. 28 2004 22:19:35
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Patrick
Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon
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RE: Early birthday present (in reply to Patrick)
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Mike, Hard call to make. I think a lot of people are enamored by the mystic of a "Spanish" build guitar and can’t accept that good guitars can come from anywhere else. We have all heard of the issues in the Spanish guitar community. I was talking to John Shelton (Shelton-Ferreta Guitars) a while back about this. He stopped and thought a moment and said, “you know, I’ve been building flamencos for almost forty years”. His point was that the non-Spanish builders have been at this for a long time and could likely teach them a bunch. In fact, most Spanish builders are so entrenched in tradition they don’t want to experiment. Trust me on this, I have played a bunch of Spanish guitars from the top names and most don’t hold a candle to Jeff’s at almost any price. My Tezanos sells for over seven grand in the US. Without all the dealer markup, duty and shipping, I bet I could buy the same guitar out of the Tezanos workshop for less than $4,000. Is it better than Jeff’s? At this point, yeah a bit, but for five grand more! I can guarantee you that a Sanchis 1AF Extra that sells for $3,000 US ships out of the Spanish factory for around $1,500. And what do you get? A pretty decent factory built guitar. For not much more than $1,500, Jeff will custom build a guitar that will blow the 1AF out the door. I can’t answer about Aaron yet as I have not received it yet, but we have all been reading rave reviews about his work. Dennis Koster and Eliot Fisk don’t play Aaron’s guitars because they have to. And then of course we have Lester DeVoe that is likely one of the top ten builders (maybe top five) in the world from the US. The downside is it will take about nine months to a year from Jeff and Aaron and about three from Lester. To me, it’s worth the wait. Pat
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Date Sep. 29 2004 21:08:00
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Patrick
Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon
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RE: Early birthday present (in reply to Patrick)
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quote:
for you guys that have multiple guitars (I only have one!), do you play them all or do you default to a certain one and not use it? Or do you use some for certain situations and others for other situations? Miguel, Right now I have three guitars: a Shelton blanca, a Sigurdson negra and a Tezanos Perez negra and soon the Green blanca. I do have a bit of method to my madness! I look at the Tezanos negra and the Green blanca as two world-class (expensive) guitars. Personally, I hate to set around plunking away on this level of instrument. It may sound crazy, but I look at the Shelton blanca and the Sigurdson negra as every day guitars that if I get a ding on them, I won't go through the roof. It's not likely the Green or the Tezanos will be out of the house much. They will stay nice and cozy in the music room. In a year or so, when I get my DeVoe negra the Tezanos will likely go by by (at least that's the plan). For me, I see no need to amass a huge collection. I know, most of you think I'm crazy to have more than one, but what the hell, my wife hasn't tossed me out of the house yet and I'm having fun. The important thing to realize is collecting guitars has nothing to do with being a better guitarist. To me, it's a whole different aspect of the hobby. Why do some guys own twenty collector cars? After all they only need one to go to the grocery store. Heck, Felix Manzanero has over one hundred instruments. BTW, his collection is up for sale. He wants to sell the whole lot together so he can retire. I would guess it to be worth between a half a million and a million or more. Pat
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Date Sep. 29 2004 23:56:22
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Patrick
Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon
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RE: Early birthday present (in reply to Patrick)
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quote:
So is a negra supposed to sound like a classical? How does classical repertoire go on it? Mike, Therein lies the problem. I’m opinion, most negra’s are nothing more then classicals with lower action and tap plates on them. It must be a major challenge for builders to get that flamenco edge in a negra. A friend of mine in Hong Kong has spent a small fortune trying to get that illusive sound in a negra. To answer your question, I will actually turn your statement around. IMO, a good negra should sound like a blanca with classical tone and sustain. Now, the simple fact that a negra is built from rosewood will limit the blanca qualities to a point. So to quantify it, I believe a good negra should be something like 30% less raspy as a blanca, but have nice classical overtones. My two negra’s are very dissimilar. My Tezanos Perez being built by protégés of the Ramirez shop is much closer to a classical than my Sigurdson. My Sigurdson is built much shallower and has more of a blanca tone with less sustain. I don’t play classical, but I would believe my Tezanos would sound gorgeous in the hands of a good classical player. My Sigurdson is a great crossover guitar that would fit for both styles, but I believe best for flamenco. For the kind of work you do, I think my Sigurdson negra would be a killer. I would venture that it is close to your Carrillo for edge, but is going to have better overtones a more sustain for your classical pieces IMO. Pat
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Date Sep. 30 2004 19:07:43
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Guest
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RE: Early birthday present (in reply to Patrick)
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Well, I have two guitars. Cypress and spruce, the other rosewood and cedar. Both sound flamenco and not that different. ( I have just had a juerga with the negra, 3 cantaores, 2 tocaores.) This guitar is flamenca, not quite as good as the other, but clear, no dominant basses. I use it all the time and it is highly regarded. Do not confuse wood with sound. Sean
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Date Sep. 30 2004 23:45:44
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Guest
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RE: Early birthday present (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
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quote:
And it seems when someone is looking for a blanca there is a sound there that he wants. Right? And it seems when someone is looking for a blanca there is a sound there that he wants. Right? Wrong (in my opinion). Most people don´t know enough: they want a Conde because Paco plays one or they want a negra because they are in fashion. This is a bit like looking at the label before playing the guitar. I prefer cypress and pine. My friend Rafael made me one. I played it for a while and felt it did not help me when I had to play in public, so I ended up leaving it at home and taking the Gerundino, which made me very nervous, because in a juerga, a guitar can easily be damaged. I loved the sound of a rosewood, cedar guitar which Rafael had, so changed. I am very happy with this guitar which is very flamenco, although I do not like dark wood. But the sound is what matters. Now I can leave the Gerundino at home, apart from important and controlled shows. Suerte Sean
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Date Oct. 1 2004 14:45:27
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