The top was scraped and French polished and a golpeador of my design was installed. The neck was thinned, reshaped, and French polished. The frets were leveled and action adjusted. It plays very easy and the response is great and the tone phenomenal with sweet trebles and basses that growl.

more photos

The guitar looks very nice Sam. It would be interesting to play it again to learn how it compares to before.

-Bob

Bob, You wouldn't believe the difference in how it plays. Peter thinned the neck and worked over the frets and it is much easier to play. Big difference is the tone after I thinned the top, then ever better when Peter finished scraping the top and French polishing it. Here are some clips I made today. Haven't played much in last week due to vertigo and vomiting, so my hands are worse than usual. Listen to the bass growl and the sweet trebles. The amplitude of the tones are very even over the normal used range and the response is very good. I recorded with a bit low volume.
Tango 1 Negra.mp3

Tango 2 Negra.mp3

Guijiras Negra.mp3

Even with high-quality recording equipment like you use, recordings rarely sound as good as a guitar sounds live. Even so, your guitar sounds very nice in the recordings. The top did seem a little thick and stiff when I played the guitar a year and a half ago. It isn't surprising that thinning it and changing to light French polish improved the sound.

It is easy to believe the changes Peter made to the neck and frets made the guitar easier to play. He certainly improved the playability of my Ramírez even though I had thought it was easy to play before. Some changes he made are subtle, but important, nonetheless. Even small things affect how well we each play and consequently the satisfaction we derive from playing. I love playing that guitar since his "tune-up." He didn't charge much compared to the improvement. Next time I go to Portland I may take my Contreras and other Ramírez and see if his is willing to work his "magic" on them.

I'm sorry you continue to have such nasty medical issues. This past year I also had medical issues that were severe enough at times to make it impossible to play or even go anywhere. Fortunately, after months of tests the root cause was eventually determined and the problems have mostly vanished with treatment. I still have some finger tingling and numbness that is sometimes severe enough that I can't play, but those problems are nothing compared to what I experienced before. My playing ability degraded over the past year due to not being able to play much, but is quickly coming back.

From what you have told me about your condition the chance of finding a treatment that would give you similar relief seems poor, but you never know. My problems were so bad and continued so long I was starting to give up hope of ever getting back to normal, but I should have been more hopeful, because appropriate treatment did more than just restore my previous "normal." It made me feel years younger. Hopefully someday you will experience the same thing.

-Bob

Sam,
The Negra sounds terrific. Your guajiras clip is very nice and I think it demonstrates the sound of your guitar particularly well.
Also, I hope you'll be getting better soon.
Regards,
Roland

Bob, I never give up hope on the chronic pain nerve condition, but the vestibular nerve loss and hydrops I understand and realize there is no way docs have of replacing nerves or repairing the damaged endolymph sac. I think this latest attack was triggered by weather changes and all the virus going around. I had all the flu shots and never got flu, but just the exposure to it can cause vestibular problems. Feeling better now and almost back to my abnormal normal.

Roland, Thanks and I agree that the guajiras really shows the tone of the guitar. What I forgot to mention is this guitar compared to my maple flamenco has a lot more sustain even with the top thinned. I think from the old growth Brazilian rosewood back and sides. It is also a bit stiffer to play than the Tsiorba maple. Before palos using a lot of strummed chords didn't sound good on it, but now they do. So the sustain was reduced to a perfect point in my opinion, enough that the chords are not "muddied", but still enough so the notes can carry enough to give that extra sound especially on the basses for Latin American music and flamenco palos influenced by such. It also sounds nice for siguiriyas. I think players of the newer jazzy latin flavored flamenco would love this guitar.

With all that was done to it, the weight was reduced enough to feel. It has a unique tone that I have never heard in another guitar, even the old Brazilian rosewood classicals. I think my unique 11 fan brace system is what gives it this quality.

Hi Sam

You must have been very pleased with yourself when you first built the negra and also after picking it up from Peter´s .
Do you have any photos of the bulid you could share with us ?
Also what inspired you to make the negra ?

Many thanks

Victor

Victor, I will post some old photos of the bracing when I get my laptop back from repair. I don't have them on this computer. I don't have any more photos of the assembly as they faded over the years and could not be restored. Lucky 2 photos survived of the bracing of the 74 negra #2 and the 74 blanca #3. The blanca got destroyed in a move before I had it varnished. It was cedar top and cypress b & s and was promising to be a great traditional flamenco, but it was reduced to splinters during a move. I salvaged the fingerboard and pegs and sold them on ebay a few years ago. Like the negra the top and b & s were all aged 25 years by 73 when I purchased them. The blanca wood back then cost $150 and the negra $300 and that was for the best grade around. I made for my myself to play and have for demo for potential clients. Issues of life interfered and my life took another course until I retired 8 years ago due to disability and decided just to play and not try making guitar anymore. #1 was made from scrape redwood, mahogany, and some kind of light wood (birch?) from a Yamaha piano crate and was destroyed 2 years ago when the top got broke and it wasn't worth repairing. Sort of ugly with poor craftsmanship and made to test my bracing system.

Victor, Here are the only photos I have of the build. The photos were taken in 73 with a cheap box camera and these are the only ones that survived. Notice my original 11 fan brace system.