John Shelton Passing Thru the SF Bay Area

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Ted G

Posts: 56
Joined: Jul. 19 2003

John Shelton Passing Thru the SF Bay...

Just thought I would let those in the San Francisco Bay Area know that John Shelton, maker of Shelton-Farretta guitars, will be passing through San Francisco on his way to Southern California this week. I mention this because I hope to meet with John myself to try his double-bodied flamenco guitars of which he'll have two (2) with him. As spruce and cedar. And with John's permission, I am mentioning it here. So those who may wish to try one of John's guitars, please contact him directly at email: shelton_farretta@msn.com to arrange to meet with him. I'm not sure of the exact dates myself, but I believe it'll be later this week and it may only be for a day.

Please note that I mention this only because I offered to do so for John, and I am not being compensated in any way. I'm just a guitar addict posting to other guitar addicts.

-Ted G

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 10 2004 4:24:33

Ted G

Posts: 56
Joined: Jul. 19 2003

Afternoon with Shelton-Farretta (in reply to Ted G)

I posted this in the other Forum, but I thought I would post it here too:

Yesterday afternoon, John Shelton called me to let me know he was in town. I knew he would be in town and would be callingme, but I wasn't exacty sure when. So obviously, without hesitation I agreed to meet with him later in the day. I met John and his wife Susan at their hotel and they were very gracious. They are quite charming and genuinely very nice people. They had two double-bodied guitars, a spruce and cedar. Both cypress bodies. I brought along my single body spruce top Shelton-Farretta blanca (which I got from El Zurdo at LaFalseta) for comparison. Both John and I first played my guitar. You know when John was playing, I was just thrilled to be right in front of John and lisening to him play. He's quite an accompished flamenco player himself. I smiled because I was also quite impressed with the sound of my guitar too. Then I played the cedar top double body. Man, after the first chord, I knew this was a very different guitar in my hands. It was almost like it was amplified. John and Susan did something inside that sound box that creates that flamenco sound that I think most everyone wants to attain. The sound is loud, yet still very distinct and clear and also has that raspy sound. It provides a very different feeling/sensation playing this guitar, like trying to tame a wild horse. After playing around with it, I attempted to play a soleares. I have never really played solo in front of anyone, but I could see from the corner of my eye that John's wife, Susan, was keeping compas. Well, I was OK till then, but the minute I saw her, my concentration was gone and then I fumbled through the piece, most likely out of compas and then ended very weakly. I was a bit embarrassed, but I covered up my embarrassment by asking John to play. Wow! I was blown way. I walked to the other side of the room, but still I felt like I was up close sitting in front of John while he played. It's amazing the amount of volume this guitar projects. Then I played the spruce and played a little bulerias. I knew I shouldn't have, but I sneaked a peak at Susan and yes, she was keeping compas. I concentrated and continued a bit longer with the few falsettas that Iknew fairly well, but I didn't end as strongly as I would have liked. Hey, but I think I was in compas. Then John played the spruce while I stood across the room. I have to say that the spruce had the same qualities of the cedar, yet still very distinctly different as it was not as loud as the cedar top, however it was a tad bit brighter. We kept switching playing guitars for a while as we sat and talked. For those who are unaware, Susan also contributes to the construction of each guitar, so they are actually a team, hence Shelton-Farretta.

Overall, in my humble opinion, I have to say that compared to single body guitars, these double-bodied guitars are very loud and very flamenco in sound. And if anyone is wondering, let me just say that I can confidently say that they in no way sound like a classical guitar. These are genuine flamenco guitars. So if you need to turn up the volume in your playing, these double-bodied guitars would definitely fit the bill.

-Ted G

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 16 2004 22:58:53