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Small body torres for flamenco guitar?
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RobF
Posts: 1566
Joined: Aug. 24 2017

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RE: Small body torres for flamenco g... (in reply to Tikahtnu)
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I think you should be posing these questions to the person in Spain who will be teaching you. Is his course really that open-ended that you can show up with your own idea for plantilla, own selection of woods, etc....and he’s supposed to somehow transform this into a workable solution? I’ve mentioned this on here a couple of times in the past, but if you want to build a traditional flamenco guitar then the quickest and easiest path to success is to build a traditional flamenco guitar. The teacher should be able to advise on plantilla, scale length, and material choices. I would expect he may cover a lot of that territory during the first day of the course, which kind of makes all this preselection stuff superfluous. But a traditional flamenco guitar will follow a known successful plan and use traditional materials. Other plans, plantillas, and materials may work, but why do this to yourself on the first instrument? Honestly, it doesn’t make sense to me. As an aside, I tried to help someone out about a month ago on here and essentially got a Big Lubowski “well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man...” as a response. So, I’m going to say right now, what I’m suggesting isn’t an opinion, it’s informed advice given with the benefit of experience. It’s up to you whether you take it or not, but at the very least I think you should contact the instructor and run your ideas past him. If he says anything is fine we can do whatever you want, we can make anything work, then I personally would have misgivings about the course. I guess it boils down to what your goals are. If you want to take the long road, that’s your choice, but if you build something that in no way, shape, or form resembles a traditional flamenco guitar, then it follows that it may not sound or behave like a traditional flamenco guitar. It’s really that simple. Also, I’m not trying to get on your case or anything like that. I recently posted about a Sitka topped guitar I made a few years ago and my observations on how its voice developed over time. One of the reasons I composed that post was to subtly and gently steer you, as you have been talking about using Sitka spruce and Alaskan Yellow Cedar for the guitar. I truly believe your best chance at success is through traditional and proven methods using traditional materials. Save the Sitka and AYC for a later project when you have more knowledge, it’s important to get the first one right and you’ll be busy enough just keeping up with the multitude of steps required to just make the darned thing, let alone worrying about how to make something that’s an outlier work. Trust me.
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Date Aug. 16 2021 19:30:18
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Tikahtnu
Posts: 16
Joined: Jul. 10 2021
From: Alaska

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RE: Small body torres for flamenco g... (in reply to Tikahtnu)
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Let me address your points. I think you should be posing these questions to the person in Spain who will be teaching you. I had just received my reply from him this morning, right before I came here for what I would consider to be a diverse knowledge-base of what a very complicated field that I’m obviously naive in. Being on opposite sides of the planet, communication usually takes an extra day or so. I could only talk to him, you are correct. But why would I do that? Is his course really that open-ended that you can show up with your own idea for plantilla, own selection of woods, etc....and he’s supposed to somehow transform this into a workable solution? 100% of the wood is being provided by him. His response to my questions was that any of the Torres models will be acceptable. The teacher should be able to advise on plantilla, scale length, and material choices. I would expect he may cover a lot of that territory during the first day of the course, which kind of makes all this preselection stuff superfluous. I have no doubt he will, in about 8 or so months. It’s a big commitment traveling to Spain for a month to build a guitar so I’m definitely not wasting any time trying to figure out what I would like to have come out of it. I only recently started thinking about the smaller body Torres after seeing a beautiful FE-17 that Thames built. I asked the guy i take flamenco lessons with if he’s played on any and he said he really liked them. And again I figure this forum has a diverse knowledge base to be able to help me try to pinpoint my understanding of this very complicated field in general. I guess it boils down to what your goals are. If you want to take the long road, that’s your choice, but if you build something that in no way, shape, or form resembles a traditional flamenco guitar, then it follows that it may not sound or behave like a traditional flamenco guitar. It’s really that simple. Forgive me for my naivety but as far as I understand, there was no distinction between a classical and a flamenco guitar when Torres revolutionized the guitar design? Or at least not in the way we see classical and flamenco guitars today? To me, if a small body Torres is suitable for flamenco, then it’s absolutely a traditional flamenco guitar, at least in regards to my definitions of the words. As long as it isn’t completely unsuitable for flamenco, which I think is my question posed in this thread. I’m taking two guitar builds next year, a 6 day classical guitar build with Robbie O’Brien in Colorado and then a couple months afterwards I will be in Spain for approximately a month with this guitar. This will be an electricity free course, all hand tools, traditional methods, no synthetic materials. My goal from this course in Spain is to refine what I learn in Colorado, and to see how viable it would be to make guitars on my 17 ton blue water sailboat that I’m restoring, and will be my primary residence until I die someday. I’m not sure if I will come back from Spain confident that I could do that, but I hope to be sure to come back with something I can cherish until I’m dead. I’ve had probably 70 or so different instruments, few of high quality but I’ve had ukuleles (every kind), charangos, balalaika, Puerto Rican quattro, irish bouzouki, 14 string Filipino harp bandurria, banjos, that’s just the strings I could keep going on my but point is that a small body Torres really doesn’t seem non traditional to me, and if we have a differing in opinion that’s fine as long as you know that my god is stronger than your god One of the reasons I composed that post was to subtly and gently steer you, as you have been talking about using Sitka spruce and Alaskan Yellow Cedar for the guitar. I truly believe your best chance at success is through traditional and proven methods using traditional materials. Save the Sitka and AYC for a later project when you have more knowledge, it’s important to get the first one right and you’ll be busy enough just keeping up with the multitude of steps required to just make the darned thing, let alone worrying about how to make something that’s an outlier work. From my understanding the quality and quantity ratio of current stocks of Sitka and AYC is favorable to traditional European spruces and Mediterranean cypress. The woods that were offered for the soundboard were Sitka, wrc and redwood. Redwood is a mixed bag from what I’ve read, but some people think it’s very exceptional and carries the positive characteristics of both cedar and spruce. For the backs, it was Spanish cypress or Alaska yellow cedar. The neck will be Spanish cedar. When I get my boat done, I hope to live in southeast Alaska where I was born, where Sitka and AYC is happiest. So it makes sense to me to have a guitar built out of similar woods wih someone who knows how to use those woods to produce a traditional Spanish guitar, this makes much more sense to me. But I’m stupid still I’m very open minded, plans always change, I’m just trying to figure things out and pinpoint my ideas. I’m definitely not doing any of this with the explicit goal of building guitars as a means of getting by, but if I could build awesome guitars to give to friends then I’d be happy
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Date Aug. 16 2021 20:59:43
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Tikahtnu
Posts: 16
Joined: Jul. 10 2021
From: Alaska

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RE: Small body torres for flamenco g... (in reply to Tikahtnu)
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Well, it’s a custom build based on what I want, since we have 8 or 9 months to figure everything out we’ve been corresponding on every aspect of the guitar. This is my first flamenco guitar, but it most definitely isn’t his. He brands himself as a bespoke guitar maker and said it was a cool idea, but to be honest this was just an idea I started having a few days ago, and the replies haven’t even been specific to what I’ve asked in general. I’m just scooping up information for processing. Why do you think it’s such a particularly foolish build for me to do? And I agree with you about the sharpening, I am learning because I’m doing work on my sailboat deck currently. Definitely need more practice, I’m working on it. I really didn’t start this thread firmly attached to this idea, could you explain why this one would be particularly foolish to build? Oh and like I’d said, Jose Romanillos’ book is currently just under $1000 on Amazon. I’ve read the Torres section of making master guitars by Roy Courtnall which the requinto plans are from. I got a good deal on a used copy compared to new, but I think the lowest I’ve seen for that book right now was 750.
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Date Aug. 17 2021 3:45:30
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Tikahtnu
Posts: 16
Joined: Jul. 10 2021
From: Alaska

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RE: Small body torres for flamenco g... (in reply to Ricardo)
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quote:
Amigo, pretend it’s not a guitar at all. You are basically saying you are going to a viola building class but want to come with plans for a violin that you want to know can be used as a fiddle. The only difference between a violin and a fiddle is you can spill beer on one of them. This isn’t explicitly a flamenco course, it’s a custom build, and I’ve been realizing that my self taught style has some close similarities to flamenco and I’ve been delving into it, which is why I had requested we make a flamenco guitar. Though it would be really stupid to travel all the way to Spain to make with this builder to make a non-flamenco guitar. But I’m not trying to be a flamenco guitarist, I am takin lessons but that’s more to work the techniques I’ve developed over the past 13 years. I’m just trying to explore my relationship with music and musical instruments. It just happens to fall in line with flamenco currently. I think it’s important for me to point this out because the majority of replies seem to be directed at someone who desperately needs to find himself within the closely guarded traditions of that which is the eternal flamenco guitar. I’m not trying to be Paco or Jason Macguire by any means, I don’t care about performing, I just care about forgetting who I am and what all of this is for a moment while I’m lost in a self manipulating soundscape. Thanks for pointing out the tuning for the requinto, I hadn’t realized that. It’s tuned like a guitalele. And this answers my other question, about the differences between the requinto and the FE-17: requinto has a scale length of 604 according to the plans, and the FE-17 is 645 according to Echi… yikes wish I hadn’t already purchased the plans. Oh well, still stupid it seems. I’m not going to beat myself up too much, I’m terrible at judging the length of sailboats too. I will explore more of Santos’s designs in Making Master Guitars and communicate with Paco and see what we can work out, as that seems fairly unanimous. I do appreciate the replies, though I wish I wasn’t treated like a complete idiot for asking these questions. Even the best builders will put stickers over their mistakes, and they will be 100% better. But anything this niche is going to have ardent guardians. I’m a self taught (advanced) amateur mycologists with my own functioning myco laboratory, I’m a pilot with a multi engine rating who has flown his own plane across a continent, I’m a sailor, a diver with thousands and thousands and thousands of hours, and if anyone has any stupid questions about any of my passions, I’m always happy to stop what I’m doing and help try to explain them in a way that can be understood and I and I’m a way that we can communicate ideas and both learn. Which I’m not saying hasn’t happened here, it definitely has and I appreciate the replies, just had to wade through a bit of narcissism. Echi, I was looking at Thames’ website and he currently has an FE-18 for sale. Looks super cool. The videos I’ve seen of his FE-17 are all unreal sound quality, but would be nice to hear it next to a full sized instrument as well. I did see one lesser quality video that sounded a bit more hollow but I’m not sure if that was just the recording equipment he was using.
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Date Aug. 17 2021 19:12:53
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ernandez R
Posts: 687
Joined: Mar. 25 2019
From: Alaska USA

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RE: Small body torres for flamenco g... (in reply to estebanana)
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Moose! Moose! Did some one say Moose! Let me at em, I'll take him with one hand tied behind my back, both hands... Did you learn anything on the foro today, well... don't go luthering any farther then your own back yard and... Click your canastas three times and say, there's no place like the foro, there's no place like the foro, there's no place like the... HR
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I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor. www.instagram.com/threeriversguitars
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Date Aug. 18 2021 6:40:33
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