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RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to SephardRick)
Rick,
This was an experiment from start to finish. There seems to be a positive aspect to the way the guitar preforms but it also goes in the direction of a cross-over with classical and flamenco even though the articulation lends itself more toward a flamenco technique.
The more the top ages, leaves me to believe that it will calm down and promote a certain edge to reverb/sustain with-in its tonal make-up; a more distinct sound.
The problem I have is with its presentation. I'm limited by inferior recording equipment and a professional application with playing technique
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to SephardRick)
quote:
You're too self conscious, Tom. I'm hearing notes produced by a state-of-the art master piece.
Actually the guitar is too much for me to try and demonstrate its qualities. With my limited techniques there is no way to give it the expression it deserves
I know what to do but my hands won't do it, and that's the truth. So this calls for a professional to play the heck out of it, God willing.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
I need to teach to earn a living so this is one of my serious students who made a guitar for this performer who accompanied a very popular Kamanche player. The rosette is my creation.
The builder's name is Mark Usherovich. And I might add that Mark has come into his own with his knowledge of these fine tuning techniques. He is doing things now that go beyond what I taught him.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
This finished guitar went to Carlos Rodriguez Quiros in Puerto Rico.
His comment was that this is the best guitar he has of mine at the present time, but has to wait for the top to come to its tension with the strings.
He likes the tonal aspect quite well and says the guitar will be good for both flamenco and classical technique. The sound is very immediate and the beauty of it is going to be great for classical music.
I think I got that part of it right, so far. But the proof is in the performing with it, which I hope he will visit this list and play something.
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
More on the comparison of the '82 Arcangel Fernandez blanca and Tom's latest Reyes negra:
As soon as Tom strummed a few chords on his new negra, I said, "Tom, that's a great guitar." After an hour of comparing the two, I still think so. I think both of them are great guitars, but they are different, so some people might like one better than the other, or some people might fall in love with both of them. I might be among the latter group.
Tom's guitar has more brilliant trebles than the Arcangel, played with the same touch. Tom remarked upon the "separation of notes" on the Arcangel. Trained as an engineer and physicist, I often have trouble understanding the usual guitar lingo. One hint to decoding "separation of notes" is that Tom said he could really dig in on the Arcangel, even in rasgueados.
The strings on the Arcangel were a well broken in set of Savarez "red cards" (520-R), but there was no visible wear of dirt on them. The strings on Tom's were two weeks old, presumably the D'Addarios he uses.
For the same stroke on both instruments, the trebles on Tom's guitar have more upper harmonic content than the Arcangel. At first I thought the Arcangel had more sustain than Tom's guitar, but more listening revealed that it wasn't the case. Maybe I had that impression as the upper harmonics decayed on Tom's guitar, but the character of the notes didn't seem to change as much on the Arcangel. Both instruments sustained for seconds on strongly produced chords.
I said I thought the Arcangel trebles reminded me of a great mezzo soprano, while the Reyes model was more like a coloratura.
Of course the basses on Tom's guitar had more harmonic content than the Arcangel as well, but it wasn't quite as obvious as with the trebles.
My recollection of the pulsacion of Tom's guitar was just a little stiffer than the Arcangel, but well within comfortable range.
After we had been comparing the two for a while Tom gestured, "Your guitar goes like this, mine goes like this." I interpreted his gestures to correspond to my impressions: the midrange on his guitar was slightly stronger than the treble and bass, while on the Arcangel, the bass and treble were slightly stronger than the midrange.
I was already driving back to Austin the next morning when my cellphone rang, displaying Tom's caller ID. In a minute or two I found a spot to pull over and returned the call. Tom spoke excitedly. He said he had lightly sanded four of the seven fan braces on his guitar to "give it an inverted pull like a real flamenco guitar."
I said I thought it already was a real flamenco guitar, but Tom said he thought he now had it just right. The light sanding on the braces had brought the "key" down to F#-G, just where he liked it, and it had the "inverted pull" of a true flamenco. As I said in a previous post, Tom told me that when he said "pull" it was pretty much what others called "pulsacion. I took the "inverted" part to mean slightly stronger trebles and basses, compared to the midrange.
As I said, I think they are both great guitars. I know the Arcangel much better, but I think I would very much enjoy getting to know Tom's guitar. New spruce guitars generally improve with age.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
quote:
As I said in a previous post, Tom told me that when he said "pull" it was pretty much what others called "pulsacion. I took the "inverted" part to mean slightly stronger trebles and basses, compared to the midrange.
Richard,
Thank you for your kind response. I think you nailed it with the inverted part but I would like to say that the last tuning caused the mid range to drop off a little while remaining stiffer with the bass and treble end, which I think you explained.
But another way to put it is this allowed me to dig in deeper with the rasgueados, as this gave me the sensation of going downstairs into the basement rather than trying to climb over the roof top.
The similarity is close, and even though my guitar seems to have a beautiful treble edge, the Fernandez is great in its foundational essence. It's definitely a masculine build with propio sello.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
Well Folks,
I just received an e-mail from Carlos Rodriguez Quiros in Puerto Rico. He gave me a little of his very busy schedule to say thanks for a good guitar.
My dear friend Tom,
Greetings! Just a quick note to let you know how much I like your new guitar. In the "loudness war" times of the guitar we are living in, it is refreshing to hear so much beauty and musicality in an instrument.
Easy to play, every note sings and the tone is full, defined, and elegant with lots of character. So much so that I wanted to share this joy. So I called Ivan Rijos and Rey Nieves and they both were amazed with the quality of your guitar. They said the trebles sound like Angels and the basses are deep and clear.
The rasgueados sound particularly spectacular and emotional. We all agree that "Incredible" is an appropriate word for this guitar that I love so much, since the first minute I played it. I'll be busy these weeks with some projects I have to finish but as soon as I have a minute, I send you a little video in YouTube or Facebook. Thanks again for your art! All the best!
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to SephardRick)
quote:
..Have you ever made a guitar, that you just couldn't part with?
Before the fine tuning technique was developed I sold many guitars I could let go with just top graduation. But after the technique was fairly well perfected, practically every one has had its interesting aspects that I could live with.
And there were a few I could have kept but my role in life is to see the guitars in the hands of an accomplished player...it's the sound of music that effects the universe.
God's love song created it, now we must keep it in motion.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to SephardRick)
quote:
ORIGINAL: SephardRick
That is a little too deep for me. So, I'll take that as a "no".
Yeah, I know what you mean, as I incorporate more than just the 5 senses into my building schedule.
I'm a pretty deep thinker, especially when it comes to venturing out and taking chances with fine tuning.
Believe me, it's a search every time I work with it. But so far, I haven't been disappointed. I've been able to pass this system on to other builders and there is hope it will grow for those who have the basic knowledge to work with.
I like your idea of a head plate jig, it appears simple and effective. It has more surface to rest the router on, which to me, would not allow the router to tip on its edge while routing out the peg holes. I could use my plunge router to take out most of the wood and then clean the edges with my other router, set for removing a little more wood.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
Well folks,
I'm into the teaching schedule now with Juan Cadena. We are using my shop to build a replica of the 2003 Reyes model and so far it's going well. In the meantime he is setting up a small part of one of his 80,000 sq. ft. warehouses to build about three guitars a month in his retirement.
I'll try to get some pictures as soon as my wife can take a video.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
I just received an e-mail from Mark Usherovich with a You Tube presentation of a double top double back classical guitar he just finished. This young man surely has a flair for experimentations.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
Trebles sound nice but you can't really tell anything with all that reverb. We're just finishing a cedar double top with Cocobolo/Pao Ferro double body. The trebles are remarkable.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to jshelton5040)
Folks, this is to introduce you to Juan Antonio Cadena. He is currently taking a guitar building class from me to gain information to start his own guitar making business.
He is a consummate wood worker with Aircraft furniture, Home building and custom cabinet making.
I am thrilled to have him here as I feel he will do well in this business. More information will be coming from the shop.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
Hello again,
Here is a communication from an old friend who is a movie director who makes a lot of documentaries around the world.
Hi Tom, long time no talk to. I happened to come across one of your videos on Youtube again tonight, and it reminded me to email you.
We had a wonderful year in Spain, finally coming home in August 2015 for the new school year. I then went back in September 2016 for the Flamenco Bienal, which is an amazing experience, with all the best performers from around Spain in one place.
We just went back again last month for a combination spring break and work trip -- I've been wanting to shoot another documentary there again, or part of one, and I think I've been able to make that happen. I'll know in the next week or two if funding and scheduling line up to go back at the end of May for a week of shooting. Hoping so and looking forward to it!
This film will actually have a little bit of flamenco in it. It's part of a new PBS music series I'm trying to get off the ground. This episode would be on Scarlatti, who was greatly influenced by the music of Spain, and worked it into his keyboard compositions.
In the Youtube videos you're playing a Reyes-style negra. I have to ask, is that guitar for sale or already sold? I'm still really enjoying your 2006 Reyes-style blanca, in fact was playing it yesterday. It would be cool to have a negra sister.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
Aesthetical web design, well rounded edges, appealing working place, fine tools and tidy corpus interior.
And to me a nice challenge, who´d be spontaneously suspicious of some bracing patterns if the guitars weren´t praised by you, whose judge I certainly trust.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Ruphus)
The guitar top pictures are basically Miguel Rodriguez style and the 2003 Reyes style, but in retrospect Mark has done some basic improvements to the Rodriguez plan which I find very interesting.
Of course one of his guitars being owned and played by one of Japan's top performers, speaks volumes about his quality builds.
I don't covet having to travel as much as he does but Mark certainly gets around.
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Ruphus)
Well, here's another video of my shop with Juan Cadena's first guitar, almost finished.
It has turned out well, so far, and it sounds good, strung up without the frets, which will give us the final voice after everything is complete.
Does anyone have an idea where I could buy solid black ebony fingerboards that are well dried and ready to use? LMI does not offer them with dyed black, and their solid black limited supply is dwindling fast.
Question also: what would be this list's opinion on top color.....A little color or none at all for the spruce top?
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Tom Blackshear)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Tom Blackshear
Question also: what would be this list's opinion on top color.....A little color or none at all for the spruce top?
I don't know what the list's opinion is, but personally I like a little color in a spruce top. But a problem is that if the color is in the finish, the top continues to darken with exposure to light.
I have no idea how the makers of my spruce top guitars have handled this, with the exception of Abel Garcia. When I visited his shop in Paracho, he had a cabinet set up with a couple of tops being exposed to ultraviolet light. This hastened the darkening process, imparting some color before the guitar was assembled and the finish applied.
But it's more equipment, more room taken up in the shop (Garcia has plenty), and maybe the top still continues to darken with time?
RE: Tom's tutorial Manuel Reyes Flam... (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
Richard, I have used about every technique for coloration I can think of and I still come back to a light shellac spray tint.
There are ways to make the wood age, colorize, by not making color predominate; too dark to begin with. I remember my second guitar, with its top, was rubbed with raw linseed oil and hung out on the clothes line in the sun for three days to darken its appearance, as well as oxidizing the oil.
As you say, age will cause most spruce to have a color change, to some extent. Sometimes I forget to cut the yellow with a drop of black tint. Then I have to go back over it with a neutralizer to cut the yellow to be a more lightened tan appearance.
I don't like to do this as it prolongs the drying time for the finish. This doesn't seem to hurt the tone but it does cause more time to dry and this lengthens the time in the shop instead of being able to send the guitar out for sale.
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