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[FIXED!]Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photography by "JuanDaBomb"
I'm creating this thread where I can display some of my photography work at Stephen Faulk's shop.
Stephen's shop is only 15 minutes from me, and I've visited him several times over the past few months. I've always liked photography, and since I also really like guitars and flamenco , I saw a fine opportunity to combine those things. Plus Stephen's a cool dude and I like hanging out at his shop.
In a nutshell, we just shoot the breeze while Stephen works on stuff and I snap away with my camera . It's pretty "informal" and very little (if any) setup goes into these shots. But I think it's an excellent way to practice photography. Anyways, I try my best . Plus it seems to me there is always a general interest in learning as much as possible about the luthiers' work on the Foro, so I hope people find this stuff informative in some way as well.
We also filmed that 3-part rosette-making video series that's elsewhere on the Foro **shameless plug**
Anyways, I'll be adding to this thread. I have a backlog of stuff that I need to process, and they'll be some new stuff later on I'm sure. Some of the photos I'll post here you MAY have already seen (in the video or in another thread), but I also want to put those here for the sake of having them in one place. It won't be TOO much double-posting, I promise.
The files are hosted on my Dropbox account, so as not to hog up the Foro's server space. I also re-sized to a horizontal edge of 900 pixels, so hopefully no side-scrolling is needed to view them. They fit just fine on my standard 19 inch monitor (4:3 aspect ratio, NOT widescreen). If you have problems viewing anything, please PM me as I'd like to know.
Also, if you want to leave comments I think that is OK, since this thread will get pretty long regardless. In the end, this is all about sharing, and that includes your comments .
If anyone is curious, I am using a Nikon D5100 w/ 35mm f1.8 lens.
One last thing: I am not being paid for this work in any way. I do it because I like to do it and it's good photography practice for me.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Wow, Hey Juan, next time tell me a day ahead so I can wash my hair.
This guitar is for Foro member Ralexander. I was going to post my own android camera photos of the guitar for Ryan, but Juan's are so much better. Thanks again Juan.
One of the photos I like best has a shallow depth of field with the sharp focus on the rosette channel in foreground. That Cedar top will become a Rodriguez style classical with California Nutmeg wood back & sides.
Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Juan - what a treat, you rock! These pics will be distracting me all day as I stare at the great details. Thanks for taking the time!
It has been a long wait, but I feel very lucky to be receiving one of Stephen's guitars. I almost had to back out on this due to some financial hardships, but now we're getting close to the finish line and I couldn't be happier. Stephen has been great to work with.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Anders,
The rosette channel is deeper than usual, it is 3mm. I usually make them 2 to 2.5. The body depth is 3-3/4" at the heel and 4" at the tail. Port Orford Cedar allows you to make a slightly deeper body without it becoming sluggish like a deep negra. I once played a deep bodied Granada blanca guitar about 15 years ago and it haunts me. I can't remember who made it, but it was robust and wholesome and I liked it. And also very light. I like large light guitars, it's just me. I seem to be able to make them go. This guitar will weight less than many that are thinner by 3/8".
The heel is getting a wash coat of thin shellac. It stiffens and raises the end grain so it can be scraped and/or sanded.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
I have a system of French polishing in which I body up the finish a lot with a brush. I cut it back between coats with a woven auto abrasive equal to 400 grit paper, but this product does not leave scratches. It is made is for auto body work, but works miracles in shellac application.
I let it dry well between coats and after I build the surface I sand back very smooth with this abrasive which is made to cut surface bumps, but not follow contour wonkiness. It renders a flat surface without heavy work. Then I pad in the normal way to glaze the surface or perhaps build areas to a final flatness. After that I step up to a finer grit abrasive and then polish with a compound. Sometimes I glaze again after the fine abrasive. Somewhere in the process I pore fill with pumice where it needs it.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Stephen, how often do you brush on a coat and how many coats do you do before moving on to applying with a pad? I've been tempted to try this as the whole bodying process with a pad seems to be an unnecessarily long process. Since you just sand back the shellac after you have enough shellac on the instrument I don't see why it needs to be initially applied with a pad.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Old sports I will most kindly add that brushing shellack is not considered to be French Polish or gomalaca a muñecilla... Nor is spraying shellack.... Both are called shellack finish. Its just like hunting rabbits is not the same as hunting squirrels.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to Blair Russell)
quote:
how often do you brush on a coat and how many coats do you do before moving on to applying with a pad? I've been tempted to try this as the whole bodying process with a pad seems to be an unnecessarily long process. Since you just sand back the shellac after you have enough shellac on the instrument I don't see why it needs to be initially applied with a pad.
I usually brush on about three thin cut coats and then proceed to pore filling. It's faster to brush on shellac to get enough to pore fill. After pore filling with pumice I usually brush about three thin cuts on. During that session, I check to see if all the pores are getting filled. I wait over night after three coats Then I give it a good leveling and start padding. You can also use a swatch of velour cloth instead of a brush and it works very smoothly. But I use a 1" wide fine imitation sable artists brush.
You have to be be careful to not let the shellac film not get tender. The faster and thicker you pile up shellac the slower it off gasses the solvent and during that time the film can bruise. Three coats need about a day to dry hard enough to level back. Then the film will shrink a bit more over the next week, but you'll be padding on shellac by then.
I'm not interested in semantics, just good results. Basically brushing a few coats on jump starts the pore filling and pushes it along faster. At least for me, mileage will vary.
Sometimes I just skip the brush and start with a pad. Depends on how I feel, I'm not married to any method.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
I'm not interested in semantics, just good results.
Dont take what I wrote as a critisism, I respect your way of working and its very traditional. But remember that you, just like everyone else, are sometimes interested in semantics and sometimes not and that the expression French polish is a tecnique, it doesnt even involve the word shellack. In the end, if you finish off with the pad, then I dont think there´s much final difference between one or another approach.
Do you have any links to that wowen auto abrasive? It sounds interesting. One of the main problems with shellack is that its not so easy to level. Especially brush marks (oh yes, I´ve been there to and like you I´m not religious when it comes to shellack) can be difficult to remove. Ofthe you end up removing the whole film.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
quote:
Its just like hunting rabbits is not the same as hunting squirrels.
Interesting analogy, Anders.
In fact hunting rabbits and squirrels is completely different.
Out of necessity I need to shoot both (they chew the sh*t out of my fruit trees). Beavers are the worst. Nothing stops them. . .
Squirrels are nearly always high up in the highest trees, and very jumpy. Rabbits are always on the ground and usually hopping - very difficult shots.with a .22 rifle.
I usually miss most of them anyway. The buggers are back withing a few hours.
Nothing to do with this thread, but couldn't help commenting on the analogy.
Incidentally, Juan. Very nice photos, nice use of available lghting, and nice compositions. (I'm a ex-pro shooter - architectural ! ).
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Thanks for the comments guys! It's appreciated.
The next 2 sets are a little older and smaller too. They include one of Stephen's 7-strings, and the Rodriguez-style classical bracing he mentioned in one of his posts above.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Here is the guitar Juan photographed. I gave it a little sound test. I'm not much of a player these days. It will be in Ralexander's mitts in a matter of days.
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
I´m used to listening to totally new guitars, so I think I can judge. I´m also used to listen to videos of totally new guitars. And 99% of my own videos are like that. This one is going to be good,. I´m sure. I also hear these trebles from totally new guitars. They sound so new. The trebles change a lot. Just the first week its so, but after a year, its another story. These trebles sound very new, very clear and not very meaty. But that´ll change. I know it, because I´ve experienced it many times. So I can somehow judge how the guitar might end up being.
BUT, all this with presenting guitars without finish or totally new guitars... I´m not so sure its such a good idea. Because we, the luthiers doing so, give a wrong image of what the instrument is and the costumers, who dont know what I just wrote because they´ve never experienced or have only experienced a few times, dont recognize the sound of a new guitar versus a broken in one and they compare with videos of broken in guitars....
But in all. Congrats with the guitar. I´m sure it´ll be a killer with time.
Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Good to have your input, Anders. Stephen seems happy with it so far, and I'm pleased to read these comments from you as well. You make a good point, but at least he stated right in the video that the guitar had only been strung for 2hrs. Then again, I suppose that those who are not native english speakers might miss that point. I'm delighted to hear it speak for the first time since I ordered it over a year ago. This isn't my first new handmade guitar, so I already have a bit of understanding of what to expect in the early stages. There will be a test drive vid from Jason coming hopefully today, which I'm very anxious to hear.
Soon it will be up to me to break this baby in and try to do it some justice. I have a lot of practicing to do
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Ryan, just surf around on this forum and you´ll see that people gladly rave about guitars without finish on them and brand new ones , just strung up. And they also happily compare them with old guitars on studio recordings and the huge majority is native english speaking. We live in a world where there´s very little patience.
Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
quote:
We live in a world where there´s very little patience.
Yes, no doubt about that. If I understand you, you're concerned about your work being unfairly evaluated? Makes sense. As a customer and aficionado, I'm interested in seeing and hearing everything you guys are willing to share. It would be a shame if you decided not to share as much, but I guess I would understand and certainly would respect that.
That said, I have only ever been impressed with every sample I've heard of your guitars. I would personally never seriously compare any brand new or unfinished instrument to a studio recording, but I'm not surprised to hear you say that people do that. To use a local expression, that's pretty stunned
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
Jason was kind enough to take the guitar for a spin and give me some feedback. He played it for an hour or so, and in his opinion is was his favorite so far of all the guitars I've shown him. But I would temper that opinion with a shaker of salt; I once said we just make the guitars and let the players decide what they want. We all make different guitars and we change or not change things as we go. John Shelton liked that idea too. It takes a long, long time to learn how to make these guitars because you have to remember what the last one was like and what you did and that may have been last month. Even if you write things down it is still a matter of plugging in your tactile memory to do or not do some thing that will move you forward. I get discouraged every time I make a guitar because it might have this, but not that in the right amounts. Then after a few weeks it sinks in you did your best, move forward. Six months later I hear one and I think ok I did a good job. I've never been able to be very kind to myself about my own work.
And to follow up what Anders said, guitars, good well made guitars, are not an instant gratification commodity. If you make a guitar and plays evenly, does rasgueado with out hang ups in the sweet spot behind the sound hole, does not have wolfy spots especially in the trebles, then it has the structure in place to mature into a good instrument. How they open up has a lot to do with how you play them too. It takes a strong technique to open some guitars, they really are string instruments and you have to shake them loose.
For example, Jason got a guitar from Ethan Duetch several months back and when it arrived it was a bit tight, it had all the attributes above I mentioned in place, but it was just not open yet. Since Jason and I live very close I hear him playing his Glenn Canin and Deutch guitars all the time and the ones he borrows from me while I make him another one. ( We don't talk about the first one I made him, even though it was a fine guitar, it came to an untimely end :)-- I hear how they develop and at first they sound closed, maybe almost nasal, but not head cold kind of nasal. Just the Deutch guitar has opened up into a really nice guitar with a sound that continues to ripen. It is easy to play and has that sweet spot where you can do efficient rasgueado, you don't have to labor. It is super flamenca. And Jason's Canin guitars always a surprise to me when I have not heard one for a while. Flamenco guitars in particular are built light and this causes a the top to "cold bend" under string tension, it almost kind of breaks itself down. This is part of how it settles into its mature voice so it takes time for the strings to pull the top into this place. A freshly built guitar should not do that right away, but gradually over time.
Good guitars should be a little tight in the beginning, but have all the sonic values needed to make a great voice in place. It fattens out with time and playing. It's not about instant gratification, but I hope that customers enjoy the process of listening to their guitars develop over time. It is actually something to cherish.
Guitar makers are in a minority of people who provide goods. We make something that gets better as it ages and requires patience from the buyer. A very odd thing in this world today where we want a computer or smart phone to be speedy, convenient and satisfying from day one. I think that despite this humans are still wired to understand slow and maybe guitars give them that balance between fast satisfaction and waiting for a project to develop. When you get tired of eating candy and ice cream all the time you want some veggies.
Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Stephen Faulk Guitars: Photograp... (in reply to JuanDaBomb)
That was a very honest and insightful read, Stephen.
The guitar sounds killer. I just got an email from Jason and he had some very positive comments. I won't tell you guys exactly what he said because it'll just make you super jealous
At my level in flamenco, I hardly feel qualified to properly judge a new or old flamenco guitar because I lack the technique and experience. I owned 3 different guitars before this one, and my main frustration was the playability. Either the neck seemed too bulky or the pulsation too hard. All of them were probably much better suited to a player with strong technique. Flamenco is hard enough as it is, and I want a guitar that I don't have to struggle with all the time. By all accounts, Stephen's guitars have excellent playability and this was one of the things I was originally attracted to in his work. I know a lot of attention goes into getting the neck shape right. Between this, the short clips and the positive comments from Stephen and Jason I'm already quite pleased and the guitar is still on the opposite coast! It's up to me now to practice my ass off and develop a relationship with this guitar. I'm so looking forward to continuing my flamenco journey with a great sounding and comfortable instrument. Thanks to Stephen for all the effort he has put into this.
quote:
I hope that customers enjoy the process of listening to their guitars develop over time. It is actually something to cherish.
I experienced this with a great steel string a few years back. It really is a fun and special process. Those little moments when you first hear or feel an instrument respond in a way that you had not yet experienced ... just awesome. And then you realize you're smiling like a fool. But seriously, as a musician I highly value an instrument that allows me to forget about details like woods, scale lengths etc and to just make music.
I don't ever want to give up playing and hearing fine handmade guitars, so I think it's important for us to appreciate and support these guys in their craft. That might sound a little gushy, I don't care because it's true. It's well known that this is a labour of love, and not too many of these guys are getting rich.
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, I saw a fine opportunity to combine those things. Plus Stephen's a cool dude 
and I like hanging out at his shop. 
. It's pretty "informal" and very little (if any) setup goes into these shots. But I think it's an excellent way to practice photography. Anyways, I try my best 
. Plus it seems to me there is always a general interest in learning as much as possible about the luthiers' work on the Foro, so I hope people find this stuff informative in some way as well. 
**shameless plug** 
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