I really enjoy my Tsiorba blanca, play it more than my other guitars, and want to complement it with a Tsiorba negra. (Although, since playing Sam's maple Tsiorba recently I also have been thinking about maple.) Of course, more important than the choice of wood, is the choice of luthier. Just as great chefs can make almost anything taste good and bad ones can ruin the best ingredients, great luthiers are more important to end-results than the woods they use.

I stopped by Peter's workshop in late July. He has expanded it considerably since previous visits and needs the additional space, because even though his prices have increased and the world economy is terrible, he continues to sell more guitars. New order shipment time has increased to about fourteen-months. He had a great-looking negra underway on his bench for a customer in Ireland. He has been shipping other guitars overseas, which, considering overseas shipping and importation costs, speaks for itself about the value now being placed on his guitars.

His guitar tops are unusually responsive to sound vibrations. I touched my fingers lightly on top of the negra on his bench and could feel strong vibrations as we talked to each other in normal conversation. It wouldn't be surprising to feel strong top vibrations at particular sound frequencies where a guitar sound-box happens to resonate, but the vibrations occur at similar levels over a wide range of frequencies. The effect is similar to feeling the surface of a large loudspeaker diaphragm while someone nearby is speaking.

After spending a while in his shop we went to a place nearby for lunch and I told him I would like a Tsiorba negra sometime down the road. So far the specs are simply negra (East Indian Rosewood), spruce, traditional pegs, a 650mm scale length, and 52mm width at the nut. I am still thinking about other details, but that is fundamentally what I am excitedly looking forward to.

-Bob

Bob, Consider some Oregon alternative woods that I think would make a nice looking and great sounding negra. Black Locust or Madrone. I talked with a steel string maker that has used both and knew of a flamenco made from Madrone that was as good as any from the best rosewood. Myrtlewood is also much like Maple and has beautiful color and figure. You may want to stay with traditional woods, but I believe our Northwest tonewoods rival and surpass the best tonewoods worldwide. Here is info on Madrone. I can give Peter the name of the guy that has a few old growth well seasoned sets if you are interested. The chest will give you an idea on color.
http://owic.oregonstate.edu/species/madrone.php

Bob, Here are some better photos of the woods.
Madrone
http://www.gobywalnut.com/catalog/madro ... 36_63.html

Black Locust
http://creationwoods.com/Black%20Locust.html

http://www.specialtywoods.net/photos.html

Bob, Here is an Oregon Myrtlewood that Andy made for Antonio. Sound is very characteristic for Myrtlewood.

Bob, another consideration if you can find a dry quartersawn set is Russian Olive.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... 0olive.htm

Thanks for these suggestions, Sam. My thinking about woods isn't "cast in stone." It is fun to experiment with new things. I am open to suggestions and opinions about alternatives from anyone.

Reverberation in the recording of the Myrtlewood guitar that Andy made for Antonio makes it difficult to judge how the guitar actually sounds live.

I have read that many fine guitars have been made from Myrtlewood. It is available in a range of beautiful colors and grain patterns and, or course, is widely used to make works of art, because of that. However, I haven't particularly liked the appearance of the Myrtlewood guitars I have seen. It is not that the wood hasn't been beautiful. It has been. it is just that somehow to me it hasn't looked right for a flamenco guitar. Of course, where Myrtlewood is available in such a wide range of colors and grain patterns I might be able to find some that I would like.

I know little or nothing about the other woods you suggested and haven't had time yet to look at the information you referenced. I will do that later today.

Thanks again for your ideas.

-Bob

I'm jealous! Peter's guitars look fabulous, but I am barely able to pay monthly expenses right now and not able to buy a new guitar. Some day though, I hope to have one.

Bob,

I am looking forward to making your guitar. I resonate with your analogy, and aspire to be that chef, blending ingredients in a skillful and enlightened way. Whatever the ingredients, I'm searching for unity and an appealing taste in the resulting dish...

I like the idea of using local materials, and encourage Sam's enthusiasm for Oregon timbers. It seems a shame to fail to recognize value and beauty in one's own backyard. I am, in fact, working on a guitar from all-Oregon woods, and it is indeed an inspiration to mould these materials into a new shape, so full of sonic promise and aesthetic appeal.

At the same time, it would seem an equally sad case of blindness to ignore the virtues of the woods from far away. Those "exotic" timbers did earn their place in the guitar building tradition for many good reasons, and it does not seem right to me to shun them in any way. Why pitch "exotics" against the "locals"? I place greater importance on approaching wood with a deep sense of respect, and maximizing its beauty and usefulness, regardless of whether it came from Oregon or India, Madagascar or Panama.

Feel free to experiment with ideas, and please do not feel pressured to pursue "the best wood", since those "best woods" are different for different people. What I promise to do is treat your guitar in an intimately personal way, listening to my senses as I construct it. I believe it is that sensitivity, expressed through accumulated woodworking skills and experience, which results in unique and appealing guitars. It could be sugar pine, and still be unique and special. On the other hand, even the most expensive, showy concoction of "components", laced with random ornamental trickery, can still feel aloof and soulless. Forgive me if this post sounds a bit too etherial, but this thought process truly does exemplify my approach. For me, guitarmaking is as much spiritual as it is mechanical. Maybe even more so.

Peter, Your approach to guitar making is refreshing for those that seek that one of a kind personal instrument. The spiritual experience you speak of, especially in the making a flamenco guitar, is the key ingredient to your success. Flamenco is about emotion and expression and while the player must be able to express (technical) felt emotions (spiritual), their guitar must be able to react to their fingers guided by these emotions. The guitar maker is challenged with making a visual art, a functional art, and an auditory art. The painter is challenged with just the visual, a musician with just the auditory, a furniture maker with mainly a functional art, although there is a visual component to their art. I like your organic, old world approach of choosing shavings over sawdust, the singing sound of a handsaw over the piercing scream of a high speed power saw, and the serene experience of finishing your masterpiece with organic products rather than the hiss of a spray gun blasting its toxic contents on woods that have waited silently drying for years for their turn to sing. I agree we cannot war local woods over foreign, but I think many times local woods are over looked because of traditional concepts and fear of experimenting. I also agree that a great maker can take a low graded piece of tone wood and make it sound great. Most tonewoods are graded on appearance. The plainest lowest graded woods can sound the best. Reminds me of Susan Boyle. Based on appearance the crowd was laughing. When she started to sing they got real quiet, then applauded. Based on looks she is a bad singer, based on her voice she is phenomenal.

Bob, What wood for pegs? Ebony or Rosewood? If you go with the India Rosewood B & S, then a nice set of rosewoods pegs might look great.