RE: The Last Station

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Escribano

Posts: 6417
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Ron.M)

Claramente, usted es un caballero y un erudito, señor

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 16 2003 22:30:27

Pedoviejo

Posts: 59
Joined: Dec. 12 2003

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Escribano)

Sounds like a Scot laying in a French gutter near the Spanish border on a rant after a bottle of bad sake.

And now you know how the "k" became so popular in "hip" Gypsy lingo: Too many evenings of Gypsies and Japanese aficionados getting blasted together, no one understanding the other, and presto! Españojapocaló was born: ¡Ke boniko manco para mi pobrekalé ketama!

And do you know what “ketama” really means? As opposed to that pap the Habichuela boys put on the back of their first album about some fictitious town in Morocco famous for its hash? ¡Ke chistoko eran!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 16 2003 23:58:09

Pedoviejo

Posts: 59
Joined: Dec. 12 2003

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Ron.M)

Wrong number. "El número quarenta y trés significa…” un boracho muy mal. Or as the Gypsies might have said, “Es muy boracho mio.” 43. The number is 43. That’s the name of that dreadful yellow liquor that they would mix with orange soda (Seltzer? Gas? I can’t keep up with the colloquialisms for a carbonated liquid.) The preferred orange soda was “Fanta”, so this concoction was referred to as a “Fantástico Quarenta y Trés”. The one and only time I had it was at some sort of disco close by the Rio Darro and the Sacromonte, up the hill a bit following the Carrera del Darro; in Granada, of course. And “río" used generously, of course. I once asked Arcángel why all the streams in Spain were called “rivers,” and he said, “Son ríos de broma.” (“They are joke rivers.”) “So is your toilet paper,” I replied. “And by the way, have you ever tried it for refinishing older guitars? Works great. About the same it does on your…” “I do not use sandpaper,” said Arcángel with finality. And he was right. He only used scrapers. Academic, actually, as scrapers probably wouldn’t have felt any different.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 17 2003 1:54:44

Escribano

Posts: 6417
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Pedoviejo)

quote:

He only used scrapers. Academic, actually, as scrapers probably wouldn’t have felt any different.

For finishing his guitars or wiping his !*&%?

Scrapers are better as they do not pull the pith out from the grain as much, I guess. I have been using something called Micromesh, a NASA product that has small embedded teeth rather than abrasive. Works like a smaller scraper to the point that you can get away with finer and finer finishes and little varnish as the finish becomes smoother. It even works across the grain and the rosette.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 17 2003 8:36:10

Pedoviejo

Posts: 59
Joined: Dec. 12 2003

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Escribano)

Careful, Simon. You're about to open up a whole other topic of conversation which will bore everyone except the most die-hard guitarists to tears. I did a stint as a guitar maker a long time ago, and spent plenty of time in Arcángel's shop (though not as an apprentice - Moto Ishiwa was there at the time in that role). I can tell tales of scrapers, glues, woods enough to make everyone run howling from the room. I also have an alternative to Ivor Mairant’s tale about how Kono “apprenticed” with Arcángel. Another day perhaps.

On guitars my advice for everyone who wants a really great guitar right now: Buy a Lester Devoe. There's some very good reasons why Paco de Lucía, Vicente Amigo, Viejín and others are playing Lester’s guitars while all the non-Spaniards are chasing overpriced Conde, Rodriguez, and many others. Sceptical? That’s a Devoe that Paco is playing por tangos in Saura’s film “Flamenco”; and Vicente’s “Ciudad de las Ideas” was recorded playing a Lester Devoe. And despite the fact that all of Paco’s early albums showed him with a Conde, many were recorded playing an Arcángel – one he had to buy from another guitarist. All stuff for other topics of discussion.

De cola y maderas

Pedoviejo

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 17 2003 15:07:50

Conrad

Posts: 533
Joined: Jul. 16 2003
From: Toronto, ON, Canada

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Pedoviejo)

I think I can speak for most of the group in saying: Any stories you've got, we'll take 'em! I'm certainly interested in which albums Paco played the Arcangel and the story there. I have read that Paco performed with Conde mostly because he felt indebted to the Conde family for their generosity when he was younger. They had given him many guitars.

Yeah, and Paco's last album (Luzia) was recorded using a Devoe, if not the last two solo albums that he recorded.

-conrad

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 17 2003 16:29:59

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Pedoviejo)

quote:

On guitars my advice for everyone who wants a really great guitar right now: Buy a Lester Devoe.

Pedoviejo,

I fully agree. Unfortunately DeVoe's waiting list is about three years. I have been on his list for a year.

I have a friend that owns about twenty world-class flamencos and he still compares all of them to the DeVoe. But he keeps looking for one that's better.

If you want to pay an extra thousand or so, Dan Zeff in California has a standing order for two DeVoe's per year. DeVoe won't discount to Zeff. Zeff just adds the premium and moves them fast for people that don't want to wait three years (and can afford it).

I am hearing incredible things about young builder Aaron Green. DeVoe level for less money with about a six-month wait.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 17 2003 16:51:00

Pedoviejo

Posts: 59
Joined: Dec. 12 2003

RE: The Last Station (in reply to Conrad)

Arcángel never told me which albums, but at the time “El Duende Flamenco de Paco de Lucía” had just been released. So it had to be that and/or any albums prior to that. Arcángel had told me that Paco had asked if he wanted his guitar acknowledged on the albums somewhere, but Arcángel politely declined. He certainly didn’t need the PR because even then, thirty years ago, his waiting list was over ten years long. (He even had a letter from Gen. Omar Bradley requesting a classical guitar for his new trophy wife. Of course, Bradley didn’t say “trophy wife.” I wonder how Karl Malden would have played that part of Bradley’s life?)

There’s lots of variations on the stories about Paco and the Condes, Paco and his father, etc. Lots of rumor. What I heard that seemed to hold more weight than anything else was that Paco’s father, Antonio, was buds with the Condes. Paco, being a good son, followed his father’s wishes that he be seen with Condes. But even that’s not entirely true because there’s an album showing Paco with (if I remember correctly) some super fancy Ramirez made just for him. Truth is that Paco did have an incredible Conde, so why not be seen with it? First Conde negra I ever saw was shown to me by a Japanese guitarist who hung out at Amor de Diós. And Paco had signed the Conde label next to the “Conde Hmnos” signature. It probably now rests in some Shinto shrine, right next to the ceremonial Samurai sword, incense burning in front of it.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 19 2003 1:56:46