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Posts: 1808
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
Return of a ghost from the past
Sometimes people contact me for repair work and I often do it. Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable when they bring me a guitar that has been poorly cared for or one that is just crummy. Yesterday someone brought a guitar that I made in 2009. I had given it away because I wasn’t totally happy with it. It has a four-piece hard maple back of wood that I resawed myself. The main reason for my dissatisfaction with it is that it is heavy. A flamenca “blanca.”
The guitar has changed hands several times. I gave it to a Pakistani niece of a woman I was friends with after meeting the woman on Facebook and dating her once. On the date I discovered that she is a serious alcoholic. Last I heard of her, she had burned down the apartment that the two women lived in. The guy who brought it mentioned the previous two owners, neither of whom was one of the women.
The guitar came to me yesterday with two holes in the back that shouldn’t be there, black dirt all over it, and what appeared to be the original strings, or parts of them. No one had gotten a case for it and he brought it wrapped in a blanket, in the rain. It has a brushed-on varnish finish and I used an acetone-soaked rag to remove the dirt. I fixed the holes and am touching up the area with French polish.
The guy who brought it is not a guitar player! He plans to sell it. I don’t know what he hopes to get for it. I think it will sound good and play well, but I don’t consider it up to my present standards. I hope he doesn’t convince someone that it is. When he first emailed me, he said it is one of my Grand Flamenco Concert Guitars, or something like that. I don’t know where he got that idea. I wish I had not put a label in it.
My wife says buy the guitar from the guy - that way he gets money, and you avoid having your name out there in a way that doesn't really represent the quality of work you do presently.
I don't know if it is a good idea to give away or even sell a guitar with which a luthier is not happy with. Reason being that people who might get that in guitar in their hand might not know the history and assume that all the luthier guitars are like that, tell others about it, etc. and that might kill the chance of potential buys in the future and even damage some reputation. Basically trying to do a good thing to give it away might turn in to negative consequences. It is not really worth it. Better to just keep it if you are a luthier.
Unless you are Conde, then you might get away with bad ones
Posts: 1808
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
RE: Return of a ghost from the past (in reply to Ricardo)
Thanks for all your comments, guys. While I pretty much agree with Ramzi and Arash (and Metalhead and Ricardo) I'm thinking that giving away a guitar without a label might be fairly safe.
Perhaps you should offer to buy the Grand Concert Guitar back ;)
I would let our work exchange students take my #2 guitar to the bonfire parties on the river next to our place cause, secretly hoping perhaps it wouldn’t come back… but like a bad penny ;) When I moved away a few years ago I left her hanging on the wall of the common space. Yes she has a label ;)
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.
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