Posts Tagged ‘Blanca’
Video – Ethan Deutsch Blanca
I’ve been wanting to do a video of one of Ethan Deutsch’s flamencos, but the last two guitars we got from him were sold so quickly I didn’t get a chance. This time I jumped on it the day the guitar arrived, just in case (It’s not even up on the site yet, but will be in a few days). This is a brand new guitar which had probably only been played by the maker (who happens to be a flamenco player) and it sounds great already. It’s very comfortable and easy to play, and the fact that it has mechanical pegs makes tuning a breeze. I’m a fan of good traditional pegs, but I’d be lying if I said that the mechanical ones aren’t easier to use. I really like this guitar, and for the money it’s crazy good. Here’s me playing some Guajiras I’ve been writing for dance.
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Ethan Deutsch sent us some photos of the flamenco blanca he just finished for us – a traditional blanca with Pegheds mechanical pegs (they look like traditional wooden friction pegs but work like machine tuners, which they are). We’ve had a couple of Ethan’s guitars in, and I’ve been trying to do a video of one of them, but they keep getting sold before I can get to them, so I’ll need to jump on this one. It should be in some time next week. In the meantime, you can check out video of Jason McGuire playing one here.
This is one of those ‘as good as it gets’ guitars that I finally had a chance to sit down and play for a minute last week, and which pretty much lived up to all of my expectations. It’s a 1989 Manuel Reyes blanca, and it rocks. Here’s me playing some Rondeña and then a bit of Tangos.
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We’ve just received our first flamenco guitar from Seattle luthier Ethan Deutsch, and it’s a killer guitar. Even before we got our first one I had noticed on facebook that Jason McGuire was freaking out about how good they are, and he even made a few videos of the guitar. The guitar will go up on the site next week, but in the meantime check out Jason’s fantastic playing and just how good this guitar is.
Luthier Erez Perelman (who was recently commissioned by Paco De Lucia to make him a guitar) just sent us a new guitar, and before he did he made a video for us telling us a little about the guitar and showing us how he test drives a new guitar to make sure it sounds right (Erez was a guitarist before he was a luthier). This particular guitar is sold, but we do have a 2009 flamenco of his in stock right now. (Since some readers have been having trouble viewing the videos there’s the YouTube link just in case.)
Erez Perelman just sent us some photos of the guitar he’s about to finish for us. This one and the next one are already sold, and demand seems to be going up. The fact that Paco De Lucia just ordered one never hurts. So the wait for a new one will be longer than it used to be, but in the meantime we have one of Erez’s classicals as well as a 2009 blanca in mint condition with a 640mm scale.
Since we have these two guitars that are aesthetically identical except that one is a blanca and the other is a negra, I thought it’d be fun to play the same stuff on both to really hear the difference between the two types of guitars (it’s a big choice for many). The guitars are a Felipe Conde FC26 and a Felipe Conde FC28, both made this year and both serious flamencos. Of course we’re dealing with two specific guitars, so my little demo isn’t going to settle any bets, but it’s a pretty straightforward way to hear the difference between cypress and rosewood guitars (and whatever construction details may be adjusted for each).
Here’s guitarist Alfredo Cáceres playing a beautiful Minera on an equally beautiful 1964 Arcangel Fernandez. I’m a huge fan of Alfredo’s playing and the guitar is gorgeous. The bit at the end with the glasses was unrehearsed, but timed perfectly!
Part 2 of my interview with Manuel Reyes, who many consider to be the greatest living builder of Flamenco guitars. Seems that with the exception of those born to guitar making fathers, they all started out wanting to play, so maybe we’re lucky they weren’t good guitarists..
I got to sit down with legendary Flamenco guitar builder Manuel Reyes Sr. in his shop in Cordoba and discuss how he got started, his philosophy of building and a lot of other cool stuff. We have a Negra of his in stock at the moment (despite what he says about preferring to build Blancas), which you can check out here. There’s a lot more footage of Reyes and I’ll be posting it in coming weeks.
