Historical Guitars

Towards a lightweight classical - the neck

12/21/2021

To minimise the weight of the head, wooden friction pegs has to be the obvious choice. The pegs that I have happen to be of a very dark coloured rosewood. The neck itself is made of Spanish cedar (cedrela).
Whilst I've retained the Torres head shape this particular guitar is not a copy of a Torres guitar. The soundboard bracing will be of my own design, a variation on fan bracing.
The back is now ready to receive the cedrela harmonic bars. The reinforcement of the back joints has been done with the use of a heavy weight 100% cotton rag paper. e to edit.

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Towards a lightweight classical guitar.

12/13/2021

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Much in the tradition of many late 19 th or early 20 th century Spanish guitars that were made of Cypress. This one should come in at around 1 Kg, a more suitable weight for playing in the traditional flamenco position yet very much intended for playing the classical repertoire. For those unfamiliar with this method of holding the instrument see guitarists such as Scott Tennant, Michael Chapdelaine and Pepe Romero.
Cypress is a relatively light soft wood with a density of around 530 Kg/m3. Whilst it does not have the spectacular grain pattern of the rosewoods it's colour can be a beautiful golden yellow that oxidises to a more yellow/orange over time. Probably my favourite wood to work largely because it's well behaved when using hand tools.
It has a sweet slightly spicy aroma that many people think divine. I don't think I can disagree.
In many Mediterranean countries it is often grown in or around cemeteries, very similar to how the Yew tree is found in cemeteries of the UK. It's probably no coincidence that both trees are very long lived.

The back and sides of the guitar thicknessed. With cypress being a rather plain looking wood I tend to inlay black contrasting stripes to add more visual interest.

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For all the lost souls of the guitar. . .

12/8/2021

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. . . tension ridden, eternal beginners who are stuck in a deep depression, unable to move on from remedial pieces, longingly watching Utube videos of a 6 year old who is far in advance of you. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Ramon Amara's essay on 'snail practice'. Ignore at your own peril. You will need the patience of San Miguel though.
For lick

'All of my students invariably ask me for my advice on how to practice. And over the years I have given it to them verbally. Recently it dawned on me that it would make a lot more sense to give it in writing. That way the student could absorb it more thoroughly, and also be able to refer to it regularly to buttress comprehension. Below is the essay I now give to all new students. I offer it here for any member who is in search of advice on how to practice.'

Ramon

A METHOD FOR PRACTICE

Most theories on practicing are sound, and will work if followed diligently, but it is reasonable to suppose that some work better than others. My own theory of practice is time tested, and has proven very successful for myself and my students. I should add that others have offered similar ideas, so I don't claim any unique insight.

This method entails what I (and others) call "snail practice." This means pretty much what it sounds like – but not just "slow" practice. It means very, very slow practice. There are many reasons for this – all good, and many results of this – all good.

First, it relieves, or more correctly – precludes – tension. Tension is the single most detrimental factor and inhibitor of fluent playing. And so it is beneficial to ask what causes a player tension in the first place. It is primarily caused by fear of making a mistake. You perform a hundred simple, mundane tasks daily without getting tense. You don't get tense pouring yourself a glass of water. Or tying your shoelaces. That's because you're not likely to get it wrong, and it doesn't matter much if you do.

But when practicing a piece of music, especially for the first time, you are likely to get it wrong – at least at first, and at least in some places. So you get tense because you are afraid you are going to make a mistake. Ironically, that fear generally becomes self fulfilling due to the tension it creates.

But suppose for a moment there was a way of practicing by which it is just about impossible to make a mistake - even the first time through the music. You are not going to get tense since you know you are not going to make a mistake, and consequently there is no reason to get tense. Very, very slow practice is that way. You practice so very, very slowly that you completely relax in the knowledge that you are playing the music perfectly – we are speaking here of just the notes.

Consider that statement for a moment – "playing the music perfectly." It's quite an achievement to play music perfectly, albeit at a very, very slow tempo. The goal of any practice method is to eventually play the music perfectly, and here you are doing so the first time through. No tension – no need for it.

Now consider the alternative – practicing faster than very, very slowly. You are bound to make some mistakes. What then? You go back and try it again. Maybe you make the same mistake or mistakes in the same place or places. Maybe you don't but make some other mistake or mistakes. What then? You go back and try it again. Etc. You will probably get it right – eventually. But at what cost? Frustration at making mistakes, more repetitions than are necessary, and – tension.

And frequently a repeated mistake becomes ingrained, so that you tend to make it often, and even when you don't you get tense at that point because you know it's a problem spot and you're afraid you're going to make that same familiar mistake. How much better is it then to not make mistakes while practicing, and to relax in the knowledge that you will not.

Your fingers will go where you train them to go – by habit and muscle memory. But we only develop habits in general by regularity and controlled repetition. Doing something wrong numerous times and repeatedly going back to correct it will never develop a good habit, nor will it develop good technique. But doing something right over and over, no matter how slowly, will develop a good habit and good technique.

Here is my recommended method:

Don't use a metronome. Start at a very, very, very slow tempo. Consider this – there is so much to think about all at once that it is taxing on the mind, fingers, and nerves to concentrate on everything at the same time – unless you give yourself the luxury of amply sufficient time for all of it. You have to do the following: read the notes, relate them to their location on the fingerboard, select the proper right hand fingering, select the proper left hand fingering, and keep correct time.

It's little wonder that a player going through a piece of music is going to make mistakes. But – you can go through it without making any mistakes if you just play slowly enough – again, which means extremely slowly. By going through it numerous times very slowly – and perfectly - your fingers develop a positive habit. No hesitation becomes ingrained because you never have any hesitation in the first place. No mistakes become ingrained because you don’t make any. And most important of all – you never get tense, because you are playing slowly and relaxed in the knowledge that for all practical purposes it's impossible to make a mistake.

Now here is the key to making this approach work - never consciously attempt to increase the tempo. You might ask how will you ever get a piece or run up to final tempo if you never increase the practice tempo. The answer is you will discover that after a period of very, very slow practice without having consciously increased the tempo in intermediate gradations, you can play the piece or run fairly close to final tempo – perhaps tempo seven or eight out of ten. This is possible because by so thoroughly ingraining the fingering, and with complete relaxation, your fingers have developed muscle memory in such a secure, positive way, that there is no tension to inhibit speed. Going on to tempo ten follows easily.

One final phenomenon you will discover using this method. Though you are not attempting to increase the tempo as you go, and are not even using a metronome, and don’t really know at what tempo you are playing, except that you are trying to play at the same snail tempo all the time, you will find at some point that you are actually playing somewhat faster, but it seems like you are still playing at your original tempo. That’s because it has all become so ingrained, and in such a relaxed and natural way, that it feels like the same tempo, but is in fact faster.

This method of practice, followed diligently, will lead to more fluent playing, and faster playing where speed is required or desired. I recommend using this method for all practice - runs, isolated sections, and complete pieces.
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April 04th, 2013

4/4/2013

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My copy of the small Torres 1863 Guitar.With a small body size and string length of near 63 cm's this charming instrument is suited to the 19th century repertoire of Sor right through to the works of Tarrega. It has a bass response that is quite remarkable for it's size.
Although the original instrument had body woods of pear and mahogany I used English cherry, a wood of similar density and should go some way to preserve the tonality of the Torres instrument.
I've managed to incorporate some of the two shades of dyed 'Torres green' veneer into the rosette. The other lines in the rosette consist of contrasting walnut and maple.

Rob Mackillop playing Tarrega on the Torres 1863 copy:

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The Torres Green

3/27/2013

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Recently I have been experimenting with the use of natural dyes. The combinations of wood, dyes and mordants can give countless colours along with various shades of those colours. According to Romanillos Torres used two types of green. One made by using ferrous sulphate (copperas) on sycamore and another type of green by using the same solution on satinwood.

From left to right is the ferrous sulphate, barberry bark, Brazilwood chips and logwood chips.
The first veneer sample (far left) is copperas on maple/sycamore.This is also the famous 'harewood' used by furniture and marquetry makers in the 17 th century and after. In reality it appears to have a tinge of green but the silvery grey colour predominates. If a sample of sycamore that has a natural base colour of yellow/cream is used it seems to push the resultant colour further towards a green. Very white maple or holly finishes a blue grey.
The next sample is copperas but this time used on dogame (SA boxwood). That gives a dark green, perhaps a little more vibrant than suggested in the photo.
Next on is pear wood in copperas followed by walnut. The strong tannin content of walnut reacts with the copperas to produce a black. Add logwood chips to the solution and the both the pear and walnut will give a stronger black. Dyeing pear black in logwood chips and ferrous sulphate was supposedly the method that Stradivari used to obtain the black of his violin purflings.
It is the two shades of green that I will use in the rosette of my 1863 Torres copy. Hopefully the effect will be similar to the green that Torres used on some of his rosettes.

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Torres 1863

3/21/2013

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLpEHg1wShk

This rather plainly adorned but beautifully proportioned instrument made by Antonio Torres has some interesting features. The Lute style bridge lends itself to a greater 'action' and intonation adjustment than first appearances suggest. By virtue of the way in which the strings are tied a height adjustment of 3 mm's or more can be achieved. That transfers to an action change of at least 1.5 mm's at fret 12. Going from say a low 2.5 mm's on the high 'E' to a very high 4 mm's can be achieved simply by releasing a little string tension and adjusting the position of the string on the Bridge. Again Intonation adjustment is quickly altered by moving the loop of the string further away from the Bridge tie block.
In some ways the Torres Guitar has some similarities to the Vihuela. Not only in the type of Bridge but in the lack of any form of bracing past the lower harmonic bar. The absence of any bracing seems rather odd to see on a 19 th century Guitar where the use of ladder and fan bracing was well established. It also seems incredible that such a soundboard can withstand the string tension. With it's 11 strings the combined string tension found on the Vihuela can easily exceed 30 K, not that dissimilar to the probable tension placed on the soundboard of the Torres Guitar. The Vihuela resists the string tension quite adequately and there is no reason to think that the Torres Guitar will behave any different, especially considering it's low soundboard aggregate.

Despite the Torres instrument being made of modest materials, a Spartan approach in terms of ornamentation and prompt methods in construction there is no doubt that such an instrument can sound as fine as lavishly adorned Guitars. Although Richard Brune is playing Flamenco on the small Torres there is no reason to believe that Flamenco was the intended style of music for this Guitar. It can easily be considered to have a firm footing in the Romantic Guitar style of a slightly earlier period. Indeed String length and the actual soundboard aggregate is very similar to that found on French Romantic Guitars.

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A 19 th Century 'Hybrid' Guitar.

10/10/2012

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An experimental Guitar in which I have incorporated elements from the well known 19th century Guitar makers. The basic body plantilla is that of the 'Fecit' Panormo model. Instead of the usual ladder or Panormo bracing I decided to go with a fan bracing in keeping with Torres. I have also thrown in some stylistic features of the Lacote French school. I suspect (hope!) that the outcome will be an aesthetically attractive instrument with a more typical 19 th century Spanish tonality. Perhaps with the mellower, sweet sound that is a hallmark of that genre.
The soundboard is of European Spruce, the Back/Sides of a rather attractive English Cherry. Given the density of Cherry wood I suspect that it will not be unlike that of the more familiar Maple. Fretboard will be of a very Black (environmentally friendly) 'Bog Oak' - no doubt submerged for 5,000 years or so!
More pictures to follow.

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Towards a lightweight classical - the neck

Towards a lightweight classical guitar.

For all the lost souls of the guitar. . .

April 04th, 2013

The Torres Green

Torres 1863

A 19 th Century 'Hybrid' Guitar.

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