Hello everyone,

I'd like to share photos and a sound clip of a recently completed Brazilian RW/German Spruce flamenca negra. The trick with rosewood body flamenco guitars is to hit the mark as far as "flamenco sound" and character. To my ear, negras often end-up sounding more like classical guitars--slow response and not enough separation between the notes. Not enough percussiveness. I am quite pleased with the sound of this instrument. It has a very strong, loud midrange. The recording is done on a simple Tascam DR-1 portable recorder, with its built-in microphones.

Additional photos can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/guitarsbypeter/BrazilianRosewoodGuitarFlamencoNegraByPeterTsiorbaCommissionLosAngeles?feat=directlink

Beautiful Brazilian rosewood and superb craftsmanship, however the best is the sound. It is very authentic sounding and seems very responsive. How close is the action? I cannot hear any buzz. Patrick playing is nice and clean and the siguiriyas was a great choice for this guitar. This maybe the best flamenco negra I have ever heard. The bass growl and the way that it rings is amazing. What strings are on it? Low tension, medium, or high? How would you rate this one compared to other negras you have made? The little handheld recorders are amazing.

Hola Peter
Yes I agree with what you say about negra guitars in general. I have never liked them very much.
But this one is certainly flamenco.
It sounds like Patrick has a strong hand. Can you ask him if he had to work harder to produce the sound with this negra or was it the same as playing a rubia?
For my taste it sounds and looks great.
Saludos

Tomás

Manos Lentas wrote:Beautiful Brazilian rosewood and superb craftsmanship, however the best is the sound. It is very authentic sounding and seems very responsive. How close is the action? I cannot hear any buzz. Patrick playing is nice and clean and the siguiriyas was a great choice for this guitar. This maybe the best flamenco negra I have ever heard. The bass growl and the way that it rings is amazing. What strings are on it? Low tension, medium, or high? How would you rate this one compared to other negras you have made? The little handheld recorders are amazing.

Manos Lentas,

Action was left a bit high (about 2.6mm bass side and 2.4mm treble side at 12th fret) because the musician is coming from Los Angeles to pick up the guitar in person, and I can "dial-in" the action perfectly while he is there.

Strings: normal tension

Compared to other negras I've made, this one is braced with a bit more stiffness. It was done so at the request of the customer who wished to match the instrument as close as possible to the style of Conde Hermanos AF25 guitars. Patrick actually happened to play another one of my negras a few months back, and here is what he had to say:

http://site409.mysite4now.net/simonsh/s ... =1&smode=1

TomasJimenez wrote: It sounds like Patrick has a strong hand. Can you ask him if he had to work harder to produce the sound with this negra or was it the same as playing a rubia?
Tomás

I will ask. To my eye, it did not seem that Patrick was trying to work particularly hard to get the guitar to play. Nor did I notice any increased demands on the player as I played it side-by-side with other blancas in my shop.

Peter Tsiorba wrote:

TomasJimenez wrote: It sounds like Patrick has a strong hand. Can you ask him if he had to work harder to produce the sound with this negra or was it the same as playing a rubia?
Tomás

I will ask. To my eye, it did not seem that Patrick was trying to work particularly hard to get the guitar to play. Nor did I notice any increased demands on the player as I played it side-by-side with other blancas in my shop.

I have listened again to your Youtube examples and again the guitars sound exceptional as well as this recording.
The guitars are very much to my taste so I hope that one day I can contact you about this.

Hi Peter,

A very nice guitar! The stiffness seems to give the right hand a very fast response, real flamenco sound, my compliments!

-Payul-