that was a good experiment. i has a feeling it was the other way around. i could tell better with headphones on.
maybe for the next experiment, we can try to figure out which is which out of two blancas from different years. hopefully, we'll hear the difference in sound as one of the tops should have aged for longer.

I know I shouldn't do this and it will put me under pressure but as the winner I'll have a go at the experiment. I need to push myself and start to play regularly so here goes. You may have to wait till the weekend but the guitars (not quite the range in age you were thinking leo but it's all I have) will be:

- An Anders Eliasson blanca 2005: This was made for me and has been my main weapon.
- A Valeriano Bernal 1999 blanca. This was owned for 5 years by a gitano working bars in Seville. It had the beer stains and dings /cracks to prove it but was restored to health by Stephen Hill. It is a bit fatter (deeper) than my Anders. It is signed so I imagine it is a top of the range production model.

What you will get is a beginners Farruca.

Now I've committed I'm off to practise and get my video recorder working. I suggest you all go get your ear plugs ready

Nigel, Looking forward to that comparison and hearing your Anders. I have to concede because I have only one cypress flamenco. I always wanted a maple like the old flamencos, but every time one comes up for sale that I want the price is prohibitive. I want a peghead.

Don't worry about doing a simple Farruca. I still can't get through the easy intermediate one I have worked on for years without messing up several times. I am working on a hybrid should be "easy" Alegrias (Diego del Gastor, Juan Serrano, Juan Martin, and my own) that I was hoping to post soon, but my hands can't get through it without cramping. It is only 3 minutes. Off to make some tapas for dinner ... chicken, beef, cheese, olives, Anaheim peppers, garlic, and hot paprika from Spain all on a flat bread.

Looking forward to the blanca guitar duel. Is the Farruca your own conglomeration?

alright! this should be interesting!
do you have pics of the Valeriano Bernal?

Manos Lentas wrote:I always wanted a maple like the old flamencos, but every time one comes up for sale that I want the price is prohibitive. I want a peghead.

Sam, how does maple compare to cypress? i did a little research and the way people describe maple sounds perfect for flamenco. punchy, percussive, bright but not harsh, strong mids, etc.

Assuming the same top, maple will have more growl on the basses and be a little tighter in tone. If one compares a rosewood to a cypress as the two extremes, then maple will fall somewhere in the middle IMO. Until the 1930s when the depression made maple prohibitively expensive, maple was frequently used for the finest flamenco guitars. The tone of cypress was not considered as good, but then in time it became the flamenco tone and was considered the correct wood for flamenco. In the early 70's the rosewood flamenco's started gaining some popularity. I think one of the reasons was that a lot of players of that era played both classical and flamenco. Even though it was still frowned on, times were changing. One guitar worked well for both. Here is some sound clips from Zavaletas....

Jesus Bellido 2007 maple
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/2007 ... orresM.mp3
Jesus Bellido 2006 cypress 2 examples
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/06jesusbellidot2.mp3
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/06JesusBellidoT1.mp3

A 2000 J.A. Pantoja Martin maple
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/PantojaMple.mp3
Here is a 2002 JA Pantoja Martin in rosewood
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/02PantojaF.mp3


Maple guitars from the past
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/file ... usjany.htm
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/file ... uchene.htm
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/file ... Guitar.htm

after reading your post, i think my next guitar will be a maple as well. maybe some pretty pale quilted maple.

Just some constructive thoughts – in the minor section, the golpe on beat six is too soon, well before the beat. The picado that then follows is considerably faster than the tempo you had set with the first five slow chords. In other places, the tempo is fluctuating even within the same falseta. I'm not a big advocate of using a metronome too much, but there are times when it can be very useful. I think this may be one of those times. It will help you to keep the compas steady. You play fine, you understand the toque, you have a good aire. It would be good to just work on your timing, and I think slow practice with a metronome would help a lot.

Thanks PC. You are right on the golpe. Also I rushed in places. This was something I did for fun and didn't put much effort into.