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Flamenco
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This Cypress/spruce flamenco guitar was built in 2004. It is built lightly, along traditional lines. The top is supported by a 6-fan assymmetric system of my own design. It is a lovely flamenco instrument with a beautiful warm, crisp, dry sound. The tone is very balanaced and even throughout. Excellent separation of the string voices and well focused notes make for effortless playing. The left hand is easy, the response for the right hand is taut, but the string feel is flexible. It has strong percussive qualities when required and a "growling bass", responding very well to rasqueado playing. The trebles, clear & incisive, have a musicality that is excellent for melodic work. This is a guitar which loves to be played! Scale-length 655mm. Neck-width at nut 52mm, at 12th fret 61mm. The body size is a little larger than previous models- a new plantilla (no.12), based on the earlier 07 shape that was originally inspired by a 1932 Domingo Esteso guitar. Plantilla dimensions. This is a guitar which I have kept to play myself, but if you're interested, give me a call. Enquiries to Rohan Lowe POA . N.B. This instrument has now been sold. My next flamenco project will be to build a copy of a 1929 Santos-Hernandez guitar which I am restoring at the moment. |
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I absorbed the elements of flamenco guitar- making while sharing a workshop with Stephen Hill in 1995/6. However, I didn't make a flamenco guitar until 1998. During this time I listened to alot of flamenco guitarists playing a wide variety of instruments and gradually I formulated the kind of sound that I wanted to produce. I wanted to make an "all-round" flamenco guitar :- an instrument capable of expressing both pathos and happiness; light and dark; airyness and earthiness; one which would possess the qualities necessary for both percussive and melodic work. | |
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In the making of the guitar pictured I have used the traditional materials for the flamenco guitar. Cypress for the back and sides, European Spruce for the top, cedrela and ebony for the neck and fingerboard, and Brazilian rosewood for the bridge and head facing. Enjoying flamenco music and playing a little, it is a real pleasure to build a flamenco instrument where the requirements are so different from that of a classical guitar. | |
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The plantilla (no.12)used is based on a 1932 guitar made by the great Domingo Esteso. As with all my guitars, the rosette and other inlays are designed and made by me. |
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