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Off course you can make golpes, but its not easy and in general you loose some of the contact with the soundboard which is an important part in playing flamenco. Some players accept 10mm but the huge majority wants something lower and I´ve seen many a fine guitar with a beautifull sound being turned down because of that.
So what would you say is the more accepted value then, Anders? Perhaps Ahmed was also talking about capirote (golpe with index or middle finger above the bass strings & then driving into the basses), which even if executed correctly, can damage the skin on the finger if done on a guitar where the strings are too far away from the top/golpeador...
Perhaps Ahmed was also talking about capirote (golpe with index or middle finger above the bass strings & then driving into the basses), which even if executed correctly, can damage the skin on the finger if done on a guitar where the strings are too far away from the top/golpeador...
I agree with Ramzi!!
My Takamine Classical was also 10mm height!
It was very hard to execute capirote golpes. Also regular golpes (not impossible to play) where also tough to execute.
Bought a cheap Yamaha flamenco guitar, older model and golpes are very easy to execute.
not ideal. but it works and can play just fine under normal conditions. My Sanchis is high like that. It's easy to play... but if I over do it the fingers will suffer. See my bloody guitar pics?
i play with a classical guitar that has is 12 mm over the body and it is definitely doable. you just learn to play around it. pain generally makes your body learn quick
The height that really matters is at the place where your thumb is most of the time. I like it around 9mm in that area but when I play on other guitars at around 12mm or more, it takes only a few minutes do adapt.
Well, this with the height, we have discussed a thousand times and in general, around 8mm is considered to be a good compromise, where its comfortable for the right hand and where there´s space for lowering the saddle a mm more in the case the neckangle should change over time. 7mm is super comfortable, but its about as low as you can go. Lower, stringbrakangle over the sadlle can become a problem and you start hitting the soundboard when doing Paco picado. Some actually like the last "problem" most dont.
In the end its personal, but the higher the strings are, the slower you get. Its just like watching horses or dogs doing agilty. I this case, your fingers are animals and the strings the obstackles.
You can find a lot of players that are really very picky with this issue. They just look at a guitar if its 9 - 10mm stringheight at bridge, they refuse to play it.
All that said, Rui is right when he says that its the stringheight over the soundboard somewhere inbetween the bridge and the soundhole that really matteres. A really good setup has the strings pretty parallel to the soundboard, but some guitars, especially those with a high dome on the soundboard can have up to 3mm difference at the bridge and at the soundhole. If you to that add that its high, then its really uncomfortable.
So Ricardo, What should be the ideal and comfortable height ?
7. My negra is 6mm...it's better than comfortable. But yes my picado might hit the top sometimes when playing hard. I think that sounds cool though. Paco was making that sound a lot with the guitar trio, probably they had his mic too low compared to Dimeola.
7mm is good for an old and well played guitar that has settled, but for a new one, its on the limit and it can easily happen that it goes down to low. New guitars dont settle in one day, just as they dont sound the best day one. They need time.
I decline all flamencas above 9 mm. The reason is my short nail plate. At 10 mm you need a nail plate length of about 22 to 24 mm for not being hurt on the skin. Best measure for me is 7 mm. My personal classification I made over some years is as follows:
7 to 7.5 mm = very good 7.5 to 8 mm = good 8.5 to 9 mm = acceptable above 9 and below 7 mm = unacceptable
It´s just my individual classifaction, but I saw that much guitarists share it. With a longer nail plate you may get more tolerance for higher action. My problem below 7 mm is touching the top with the nails as Ricardo already has told.
I returned it back by the way because one of the back braces was broken from one side However concerning the height somebody told me that it can be fixed but he didn't tell me how does he mean removing the frets ,sanding the fretboard then putting the frets again?
If you returned the guitar, then no need to worry about it anymore. Wheter or not you can fix the stringheight at the bridge is difficult to say without more information. But go on and get another guitar.
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