Amigos,

I'm curious how many of you find standard-size golpeadores/tap plates inadequate. In other words, too many dings outside the tap plates develop? Conversely, I'd also be curious to hear from anyone who thinks the standard ones are too large. Anyone? I usually end-up making a golpeador after a conversation with the player, taking into consideration their technique and habits. For those of you who ended-up putting your own tap plates on, or buying guitars that already had them installed, what are your experiences?

Interesting subject Peter. Aficionados of Moron de la Frontera toque as a rule require extended golpeadors. As you know I require one that goes past the bridge end on the bass side as well as the treble which is more common. I use a lot of upstroke on the thumb following the sami rasqueado. Sometimes this is done near the soundhole requiring the rosette to be covered for protection. With clear plastic I don't have a problem with the looks of an extended golpeador, but with the maple I think it might be a bit heavy looking. I never cared for the white or black plastics one. Also do you ever put a small piece behind the bridge to protect when changing strings. I had a Victor Diaz of Granada a few years ago that had this.

As Peter knows from repairing fingernail dings outside the golpeador on my Ramirez guitar, the golpeador on that guitar obviously isn't large enough to avoid damage when I play. I was surprised when I first noticed those dings, because I haven't been aware of tapping that far out from the strings.

Someone posted this on Foroflamenco a long time ago: "When the wear on the golpeador is only in a small area as is the case with Ricardo's it indicates a skilled player with refined technique." I don't agree with that statement. There are many styles of flamenco playing. Golpes are used in different ways in those various styles. Even within the same styles, flamenco playing can range from very soft and slow to extremely hard and fast. Highly skilled players play in all those different ways. When the wear on a golpeador is limited to a small area it indicates to me that a player probably plays a limited range of styles and nearly always plays them in the same uniform (boring) way. That type of playing is not typical of flamenco. Flamenco tends to be fiery with quick and often unpredictable changes in tempo, technique and style. The resulting unpredictable-contrasts are important to making flamenco seem fresh and exciting even though listeners have heard countless soleares, bulerías, alegrías, or whatever, before.

It seems to me that there are three primary considerations related to golpeadores:

1) Ideally a golpeador should be large enough and strong enough (and/or thick enough) to avoid fingernail dings in a guitar top.

2) Ideally a golpeador should not negatively-affect sound quality, which may mean that a guitar with ideal sound quality wouldn't have one. (I don't know whether that is true. I think it is theoretically possible to design golpeadores that would improve sound quality.)

3) Ideally a golpeador should improve or at least not negatively-affect guitar appearance, which depending on personal judgment may mean that a guitar shouldn't have one or, if it does, that it should be decorative. However, not having a golpeador violates Consideration 1 and having a decorative one (such as one made of wood) may violate Consideration 2.

I would be interested in knowing how much Peter has found that golpeadores of different sizes, shapes, thicknesses, and materials affect guitar sound characteristics. In addition to the general alternatives of using plastic or wood, there are many types of both plastics and woods that could be used. Some have interesting characteristics. For example, Polymethyl Methacrylate is a transparent thermoplastic that is so hard that it often is used as a replacement for glass. It is sold under a large variety of trade-names, including Plexiglas, Acrylite, etc. and is commonly known as acrylic glass. I am curious to know whether golpeadores have been (or often are) made from it. Because it is very hard and stiff, a thin sheet might act as an efficient transducer to convert high-frequency vibrations to sound waves, so that instead of muffling high-frequency sounds as soft materials on guitar tops do, it might enhance them.

What about using thin glass? Has that been tried?

What about spacing a stiff golpeador slightly above a guitar top, instead of sticking it directly to the top? Would that result in better or worse flamenco sound characteristics? A golpeador mounted that way could be made easy to replace without guitar-top damage. Would a stiff, relatively-small golpeador spaced slightly above a guitar top and attached rigidly to the bridge function as a high-frequency "tweeter" that would increase the intensity of high-frequency sounds while having negligible affects on other frequencies?

I think Peter should make thousands of guitars with all the possible variations so we can learn what is best!

-Bob

Bob wrote: Someone posted this on Foroflamenco a long time ago: "When the wear on the golpeador is only in a small area as is the case with Ricardo's it indicates a skilled player with refined technique."

Ridiculous! First of all the use of the golpe puts minimal wear on the plate compared to rasqueados. Look at the scratches on your plate. They are all indicative of fingernails brushing over the plate. A golpe would be more of a ding and probably be more concentrated in the area below the 1st string in front of the bridge. More forward wear is usually scratches and from rasqueados. The plate should really be renamed the rasqueado plate or rasqueadoador as this is it's main purpose. If just for golpe then just a plate on the treble side would be necessary. Size would depend on how a player uses a golpe. With Moron style a golpe may be done after or simultaneously while playing a chord with the thumb, thus forcing the ring finger down further on the plate as opposed for instance to a golpe played with notes on the D string. Sign of refined technique? More like sign of restricted technique.

Bob, The material I used for the windows in my 813 transmitter are made from a high carbon hard heat resistant plastic. They are hard to scratch, yet light and thin. I cannot remember the name of it, but I got it from a glass company that had ordered it in for an industrial application where heat was involved and clarity and hardness were an issue. The only problem is it would require an adhesive to be applied and I haven't found a way to do that without it looking cloudy from the adhesive. If there is a spray on adhesive that is clear and would stick to this plastic without changing its clarity and yet still be removable, then this stuff would make the toughest rasqueadoador ever. The place I got it is out of business and other inquiries I had made about it are met with, "never heard of such."

You might be thinking of Polyetherimide, commonly called Ultem. Ultem 4000 is harder than your pick, your fingernails... pretty much anything you would want to use for percussion other than broken beer bottles. Because this material is commonly used for industrial bushings it comes in a lot of thicknesses but I don't know if any of them would be thin enough to keep from affecting a guitar's tone. At some point tap plates can be overkill. It's more coverage than strength as the gent mentioned earlier, the big fingernail sweeps are the things that cause the wide damage patterns. Look at Clayton Ultex picks... the amber colored ones... that's Ultem 1000 or Ultem 2000... either of those would probably work fine. 4000 is simply a higher grade and even more ridiculously bombproof. The visibility of the mounting cement wouldn't be much of an issue as Ultem looks great buffed to a satin sheen which would hide the method of attachment. The only question is whether the cement used would stick to it. It is, after all, a bushing/bearing material and so it is somewhat self lubricating - not nearly as much as HDPE/Acetal etc.

The golpeadores on my guitars are all scratched and dinged. It would be interesting to try something more durable like Polyetherimide if it isn't too slippery to stick or so heavy that it affects the sound of a guitar.

Fernandez