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Buying Guitar from Spain
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RE: Buying Guitar from Spain (in reply to abraham)
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Hi Abraham The two major cities for guitarbuilding in Spain are: Madrid and Granada, and you should visit both. The problem is that both cities, and Spain in general, are famous for their huge amount of builders and their lack of guitars. Most builders builders have waiting lists, and you have to order and wait x or xx month. So this idea, that many players have, of comming to Spain, trying out a lot of guitars and return home with THE guitar, is an ilusion, especially when it comes to flamenco guitars. In order to get the most for the money, the best thing will be to contact some builders, explain what you are looking for and make an order. 4000$ is still alot of money especially in Granada and even taking the dollar/euro relation into consideration. For less, you can find a wonderfull guitar, and for more you can end up with a dead box with strings. So what are you looking for? Saludos Anders http://perso.wanadoo.es/eliasson/anders.htm
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Date Dec. 24 2004 7:49:49
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Miguel de Maria
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
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RE: Buying Guitar from Spain (in reply to abraham)
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Abe, are you under the impression that good luthiers make a bunch of guitars and then price them according to how they "turned out"? That's grossly incorrect, if that is what you are implying. Guitars priced like everything else is--supply and demand, opportunity cost--market forces. Santa Fe luthier Keith Vizcarra charges $7000 for his guitars. Does that mean they are 3X as good as my Vicente Carillo guitar--probably not (although the one I tried was by far the best guitar I ever played). The luthier knows which guitars are going to be his top-of-the-line lines and which are going to be student or intermediate long before they come out of the shop, to be sure. I would assume that you have experience buying guitars off the shelf, but little to no exposure to "known" luthiers. The reason people are willing to buy guitars that cost $7000 is due to the skill of the luthier. He is a skilled craftsman with a strong idea of what his guitar should sound like. Just like before a guitarist steps on stage he knows whether or not he knows how to play the guitar... He uses this skill to create an instrument which matches his concept. You can see that this is a different way of working than a factory situation, where the workers are merely assembling an instrument according to templates or plans, without the skill or authorization to tweak it according to the nature of the materials. I know a lot of people who don't know anything about fine luthiers, how they work, and what their value is based on. Not that I'm an expert--I've only built one guitar--but I have been exposed to this field. You would be a lot better off buying a guitar--custom, you never having played it--from a fine luthier such as Brune, Sigurdson, or our Aaron Green than going to Spain for the priviledge of getting to try out their "duds." Ask around a little bit, Abe, I think you'll find a lot of people saying the same thing.
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Date Dec. 24 2004 20:25:53
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RE: Buying Guitar from Spain (in reply to abraham)
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Hi again. You guys had a good long discussion while I was happily asleep. First. I totally understand that people have worries about ordering a guitar from a luthier. A person they dont know and might even be that they've never tried one of his/hers instrument. In a perfect world, you would easily have the oportunity to play and try everyones instrument. But this world is not perfect, and Miguel de Marias story about travelling Spain and not finding anything special, is a story I've heard so many times. I try to have a good guitar at home, but if someone offers me the money I want for it, it's sold! Reality is that if you want a good guitar, you have 2 posibilitys: to buy second hand from someone you trust. Jim Opfer had an A26 Conde for sale for 2500£ a few weeks ago. Thats a safe investment. If you dont like it, sell it, you wont loose money on an instrument like that. The other posibility is to order an instrument from a builder. Have a look around, send some E-mails and if possible make a phone call, and see what you get in return. Might be that you find that it's to weird and that you dont feel secure. This, I and other builders totally understand and respect. When someone gets in contact me me, we talk and send some mails. I try to explain how my guitars sound and the difference between the models, I might send you a soundclip, and some pictures. etc. And please, the builders know quite well what they are doing. We are talking about tenth of milimeters in order to make a soundboard work well etc. Prices are another thing. Name is the biggest variable. Wellknown builders are safer investments, but also a lot more expensive. Another variable is wood. There are huge differences in quality and looks. And looks cost a lot. When it comes to models and their price difference, its just like with anything else. You look for different buyers, just like Volkswagen. In a standard Golf, you wont find the luxury seats of the highest level Passat and the engine will be smaller. It's all about needs. I hope that this makes some kind of sence. Guitarbuilding is not a mystical profession, the only thing is that its difficult with words to explain something like sound. Saludos Anders
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Date Dec. 25 2004 8:07:59
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Guest
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RE: Buying Guitar from Spain (in reply to abraham)
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One thing more: Abraham wrote: "I don't like a guitar which produces buz sound, no matter how strong/loud I play it but at the same time the distance between strings and neck is as short as possible." What you say is what we all want and what at the same time is a contradiction. Now you are talking about a thing which is very personal. Some people buzz a lot more than other, never mind the power with which they play. It has something to do with your right hand position, where the very flat, very anti classical position produces less buzz, because you play more parallel with the soundboard. I've heard bad players capable of making whatever thing with strings buzz. At the same time some people (like me) actually want their guitar to buzz a little bit. The solution is to make two saddles, a normal (slight buzz) and a higher one, and then the player can choose and adjust the guitar the way he/she likes. Well, merry christmas Anders
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Date Dec. 25 2004 8:17:16
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