February 13 2006

These pictures, when I first saw them, affected me strongly. I could not believe what I was seeing. Joshua's execution of the Meander and the herringbone inlay was breathtaking. The story here is compelling. Joshua decided to hand fabricate the herringbone from Holly and Ebony. He says it was one of the more difficult operations he's done to date, but as you can see, the finished product is truly spectacular. By this time I am really getting stoked!!!

Hey Joshua,
What do you think about my idea?. I spoke to Alfredo (Alfredo Muro, my teacher) today about maybe him playing Issa at a Guitar Society meeting. If he's in town, he said he's be glad to do it. He's going to be in Peru and Brazil for a few weeks in April. He's going to school, if you can believe it, to learn more about Abel Carlevaro's concepts about playing guitar. When did you say you might be going to the Luthier's Guild meeting? I have that email at work and forgot. We talked extensively today about your craftsmanship and building concepts. He's in the market for another guitar that is more Spanish. I told him all about you and we spent about an hour looking at your website. He was very impressed. I showed him some of the latest pictures and then he was VERY impressed. He saw your capo picture on the website and wants to know how much you would charge him to make one for him. I told him you were making one for me, but it was included in the price of the guitar, so I was not able to give him any figures.
Best Wishes, Jerry
Joshua writes:


Jerry,

Most importantly, or to anticipate most, check out the pictures in the following two emails. Having finished the bindings and finally trimmed them back (though obviously she is still in the rough, as I don't intend to so a significant scraping/sanding until she's about ready for french polishing), I can finally tap on her and get an idea of what she's going to sound like. This is a fun thing for me, since I have a fairly good ability to remember past guitars and how they sounded when strung and played, compared to tapping the box at this particular stage.

Tapping Issa - sounds like cardboard. Its a thump. There is no sustain, no reverbation, just a really boring thud.... and I'm extremely excited about that, so don't be alarmed! That is how a Torres is - you thump on it and is sounds like cardboard. Its an interesting phenonemon, and its something of a pet theory of mine that is also reinforced not only by Jose Romanillos observations in the Torres book but also my experience with my guitars. I'm not sure I could make a real claim about others guitars, but the less I can hear tapping on the completed box the better she will sound. The less sustain when thumping the soundboard the more sustain she'll have when a string is plucked. The less voice while thumping it, the more voice when the strings are plucked. This has been the truth with every guitar I have made, however counter-intuitive it may seem!

The finest sounding guitar I ever made, which is owned by someone who has owned and had access to the kinds of instruments I could only dream of, had this exact same sound when thumping it, and that guitar is one of only three he has ever "truly loved". It was a cypress as well, and with a tornavoz. Thought you might get a kick of out that, or at least my confidence that Issa will be a very beautiful sounding instrument.

Anyway, on to responding to your emails. My apologies for not responding sooner!

The Guild of American Luthiers convention is in late June, the 23rd I think. I won't know for sure if I'll be making it until about April or so, but I'm certainly intending to. I'm making a cardboard guitar that - if it isn't a total dud - I'll be bringing with. Its a re-creation of the Torres experiment which everyone refers to as the "papier mache guitar," where he seemingly wanted to demonstrate that the soundboard is the msot important part of the instrument. In reality, this guitar had cardboard for the back and sides! To the best of my knowledge, no one has replicated this experiment. Should be interesting. If I can pull off a decent sounding instrument with cardboard for the back and sides I'm going to be very happy.

I've heard that the drive down the coast from Seattle is quite beautiful. A good friend, who helped me design my rosette and who is a masterful sculptor, lives in Seattle now. My tentative plan is to rent a car and take a few days to do just whatever before the convention, and make a quick field trip to Portland, which I hear is quite worth the 6 or so hour drive. I'd love to meet you and your wife, as well as any of the local guitarists there. Unfortunately I'm not much for playing in front of people - but it would be great fun to meet anyone who wanted to see some more of my work and the like. Assuming I can pull off the cardboard guitar, that is something I think people would take some interest in seeing.

How do people like their action set in Portland? Seems to fluctuate from city to city. Issa is going to be set very low, but it may be a good idea for me to make you a second saddle in case you want to have someone who used to a higher action play her from time to time.

I've made a couple of capos for people who've seen that picture on my website. I usually ask for artistic license, because I just do them for something fun on the side, and always end up winging it aesthetically. Yours I'm going to make out of an offcut of the bridge blank I use for Issa. Mayble I'll flank it in herringbone or something. Anyways, I usually make them for $35 including shipping to the lower 48, and I'd be more than happy to make one for Alfredo.Thanks for showing the pictures to others. I'm very happy to hear they've been well received! I hope you like the ones in the following emails as well.
Best wishes,
Joshua