I prefer minimalistic cejillas that don't distract from the guitar, the player, or the music, and especially that don't damage a guitar or interfere with playing. Sam's modified #1, and his #12 and #13 seem near ideal to me.

Fancy hand-carved and mother-of-pearl-inlaid cejillas I purchased in Spain years ago look nice, but more like they should be in a jewelry shop than on a guitar, do damage guitar necks, and aren't typical of what poor gypsy players used. The large, ugly mechanical monstrosities some modern players use ruin the appearance of flamenco guitars and seem entirely out of character with the general nature of flamenco.

I had the opportunity to see and use Sam's cejillas when we stopped to see him about a week and a half ago. They didn't appear to damage guitar necks, the ones I tried didn't interfere with playing, and they look as good in real life as in Sam's photos.

-Bob

Thanks Bob! Here is #14 made from Oregon Manzanita. It is about as hard as Mountain Mahogany and works nicely with hand tools and peg shaved smoothly.

#15 Oregon Manzanita. The sap wood was used for the peg.

Oregon Manzanita with Oregon Mountain Mahogany peg. Makes a great looking and working combination.

Oregon Manzanita. Peg shows contrasting colors from sap wood to heart wood.

Do you sell these, or are they simply your own personal hobby/collection?

David

David, I made them to experiment with the different Oregon woods, learn to make pegs, and perfect the changeable cord system and also be able to have cejillas in every guitar case. I stopped at 20 and there are 7 that are my favorites that I keep in the guitar cases and the others I use for display and occasional use. If I were younger and my hands better, I might consider making some for sale, but the problem is finding Mountain Mahogany or Manzanita that is dry and quality enough to use. When one is lucky enough to find it, it is expensive. If I was able I would go to the mountains and cut it myself. The other woods such as the Yew, Black Locust, Russian Olive, Black Walnut, Myrtle, and Maple while fairly hard are a bit soft especially for pegs. Making these cejillas using all Oregon woods cut by guitar and violin makers is part of a project I call Oregon meets Andalucia. The unique flamenco guitar for this project being made by Peter Tsiorba for me using all Oregon woods will be ready this fall if all goes as planned. Two years ago I had this idea that Oregon has all the tone woods necessary to make a world class master flamenco guitar with a traditional sound, but unique look. I discussed it with Peter and he was interested in exploring this uncharted territory. Many flamenco guitars have been made using a majority of Oregon woods, but the wood for the fingerboard, bridge, and pegs presented the challenge. The only woods hard as ebony and rosewood are Mountain Mahogany both species and Manzanita. Both these woods come from small trees. It is almost impossible to find a tree large enough to cut a piece large enough for a fingerboard that is free of flaws and can be dried without cracking badly. Violin makers have use these woods for years, but of course a violin fingerboard is much smaller.