New classical sound

Conrad

Hi all

This is the Manuel Contreras I bought 2nd hand last Saturday. I love it's sound.

I made a little demo of one of my exam pieces and I know there are mistakes but I was too excited to go and record again or work on the bit of distortion at the end.
I know there also might be a bit too much reverb at the moment but heck it's Sunday night and I have to get to bed LOL.

Here is a link to a piece called Saudades Brasileiras:
http://www.box.net/shared/o53aypnp7b

C

Keira-WitherKay

congrats ..... very nice tone..... ? now you have a reason to visit to show off the new guitar and tell us all about it ..... and well played on the exam piece....... your hard work is showing ..... keep it up .......

Conrad

Keira WitherKay wrote: congrats ..... very nice tone..... ? now you have a reason to visit to show off the new guitar and tell us all about it ..... and well played on the exam piece....... your hard work is showing ..... keep it up .......

Thanks Keira. The classical foray came up with challenges I never expected. The technique is just SO different and my plectrum divorce is a little traumatic! We are basically fighting for custody of speed!

Keira-WitherKay

Conrad wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote: congrats ..... very nice tone..... ? now you have a reason to visit to show off the new guitar and tell us all about it ..... and well played on the exam piece....... your hard work is showing ..... keep it up .......
Thanks Keira. The classical foray came up with challenges I never expected. The technique is just SO different and my plectrum divorce is a little traumatic! We are basically fighting for custody of speed!

well paco and vincento never use a plectrum and .wow what speed....... so give it time.... anyway i always felt if one follows one of the old disciplines like classical or flamenco "proper' LIKE YOU HAVE DONE ...... one must approach it in the traditional way ...... pretty soon you'l have to start using gut strings .. ? or nylgut ( a synthetic string close to the tone and feel of gut ) which i believe is awesome. but still to try em.........

looking forward to seeing the new guitar .........

Conrad

Keira WitherKay wrote:
Conrad wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote: congrats ..... very nice tone..... ? now you have a reason to visit to show off the new guitar and tell us all about it ..... and well played on the exam piece....... your hard work is showing ..... keep it up .......
Thanks Keira. The classical foray came up with challenges I never expected. The technique is just SO different and my plectrum divorce is a little traumatic! We are basically fighting for custody of speed!

well paco and vincento never use a plectrum and .wow what speed....... so give it time.... anyway i always felt if one follows one of the old disciplines like classical or flamenco "proper' LIKE YOU HAVE DONE ...... one must approach it in the traditional way ...... pretty soon you'l have to start using gut strings .. ? or nylgut ( a synthetic string close to the tone and feel of gut ) which i believe is awesome. but still to try em.........

looking forward to seeing the new guitar .........

Ya I got this one set of strings from my teacher that he got them from a luthier in Spain that wanted him to try them. I am waiting for the Savarez to "vrek" on the Raimundo then I'll put these on. Apparently this old Spaniard makes them specifically for flamenco guitars so I dunno, the might be the type you were referring to above. Have you sold the Brazilian guitars yet?

Ya I think you will like this guitar. It has more bass response than the flamencos we have and it seems to sounds more "organic" (lack of better word) than most Spruce tops.

I have 4 flamenco lessons coming up with a guitar player that fries my neurons LOL. I am hoping that will push me in the right direction.

Keira-WitherKay

Conrad wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote:
Conrad wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote: congrats ..... very nice tone..... ? now you have a reason to visit to show off the new guitar and tell us all about it ..... and well played on the exam piece....... your hard work is showing ..... keep it up .......
Thanks Keira. The classical foray came up with challenges I never expected. The technique is just SO different and my plectrum divorce is a little traumatic! We are basically fighting for custody of speed!

well paco and vincento never use a plectrum and .wow what speed....... so give it time.... anyway i always felt if one follows one of the old disciplines like classical or flamenco "proper' LIKE YOU HAVE DONE ...... one must approach it in the traditional way ...... pretty soon you'l have to start using gut strings .. ? or nylgut ( a synthetic string close to the tone and feel of gut ) which i believe is awesome. but still to try em.........

looking forward to seeing the new guitar .........

Ya I got this one set of strings from my teacher that he got them from a luthier in Spain that wanted him to try them. I am waiting for the Savarez to "vrek" on the Raimundo then I'll put these on. Apparently this old Spaniard makes them specifically for flamenco guitars so I dunno, the might be the type you were referring to above. Have you sold the Brazilian guitars yet?

Ya I think you will like this guitar. It has more bass response than the flamencos we have and it seems to sounds more "organic" (lack of better word) than most Spruce tops.

I have 4 flamenco lessons coming up with a guitar player that fries my neurons LOL. I am hoping that will push me in the right direction.

have not even advertised the brazilian guitars .... so i still have them........but i play my yamaha CG170 live at moment ... that guitar does it for me..... since ihad it i get the sound (thru pick up ) that i love and most importantly thatr i can work wit at my gigs..... so stopped looking at nylons all together and i still have those savarez strings for you ....... collecting dust but i'm sure they'll be just perfect ......

and yes keen to hear your guitar ........ not sure if i told you but i been playing with nails ( acrylic ones ) and so my guitar needs for nylon have shifted. and what used to work for me when playing with the finger "pads" now have shifted radically ...... thats why i moved away from the brazillians and onto the yamaha 170 i bought about 8 months ago ...... so constant change but hopefully for the better ........

Conrad

Keira WitherKay wrote:
Conrad wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote:
Conrad wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote: congrats ..... very nice tone..... ? now you have a reason to visit to show off the new guitar and tell us all about it ..... and well played on the exam piece....... your hard work is showing ..... keep it up .......
Thanks Keira. The classical foray came up with challenges I never expected. The technique is just SO different and my plectrum divorce is a little traumatic! We are basically fighting for custody of speed!

well paco and vincento never use a plectrum and .wow what speed....... so give it time.... anyway i always felt if one follows one of the old disciplines like classical or flamenco "proper' LIKE YOU HAVE DONE ...... one must approach it in the traditional way ...... pretty soon you'l have to start using gut strings .. ? or nylgut ( a synthetic string close to the tone and feel of gut ) which i believe is awesome. but still to try em.........

looking forward to seeing the new guitar .........

Ya I got this one set of strings from my teacher that he got them from a luthier in Spain that wanted him to try them. I am waiting for the Savarez to "vrek" on the Raimundo then I'll put these on. Apparently this old Spaniard makes them specifically for flamenco guitars so I dunno, the might be the type you were referring to above. Have you sold the Brazilian guitars yet?

Ya I think you will like this guitar. It has more bass response than the flamencos we have and it seems to sounds more "organic" (lack of better word) than most Spruce tops.

I have 4 flamenco lessons coming up with a guitar player that fries my neurons LOL. I am hoping that will push me in the right direction.
have not even advertised the brazilian guitars .... so i still have them........but i play my yamaha CG170 live at moment ... that guitar does it for me..... since ihad it i get the sound (thru pick up ) that i love and most importantly thatr i can work wit at my gigs..... so stopped looking at nylons all together and i still have those savarez strings for you ....... collecting dust but i'm sure they'll be just perfect ......

and yes keen to hear your guitar ........ not sure if i told you but i been playing with nails ( acrylic ones ) and so my guitar needs for nylon have shifted. and what used to work for me when playing with the finger "pads" now have shifted radically ...... thats why i moved away from the brazillians and onto the yamaha 170 i bought about 8 months ago ...... so constant change but hopefully for the better ........

Thanks Keira. We should do Sat or Sun lunch soon and then I would like to hear your Yamaha too.

AlanRatcliffe

That is nice tone Conrad. Which model Manuel Contreras is it?

I'm still using the Savarez 520R sets on my Yamaha GD20. Might change that though (more in another thread).

I was also tempted to change nylon recently - but to sell my GD and get an electric nylon guitar for performance (Godin or possibly even the Yamaha Silent Nylon). Then I sat down with the GD20 for a couple of hours and fell in love all over again. So now toying with the idea of a pickup system. No rush fortunately...

Conrad

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: That is nice tone Conrad. Which model Manuel Contreras is it?

I'm still using the Savarez 520R sets on my Yamaha GD20. Might change that though (more in another thread).

I was also tempted to change nylon recently - but to sell my GD and get an electric nylon guitar for performance (Godin or possibly even the Yamaha Silent Nylon). Then I sat down with the GD20 for a couple of hours and fell in love all over again. So now toying with the idea of a pickup system. No rush fortunately...

Thanks a lot Alan. This is BOTTOM range C7 Manuel Contreras. I think it is one of the student luthiers that did a better job than the others LOL! I just recorded this in my study last night with a decent condenser mic.

I have heard some surprisingly faithful sounds from the Yamaha silent guitar but I suppose your choice will depend mostly on what you want to play with the nylon string.

AlanRatcliffe

Conrad wrote: Thanks a lot Alan. This is BOTTOM range C7 Manuel Contreras.

It might be "bottom range", but it's a hell of a range (it's like a "bottom range" Porsche) ? The C7 has a good reputation as being one of the best guitars in its price range.

I have heard some surprisingly faithful sounds from the Yamaha silent guitar but I suppose your choice will depend mostly on what you want to play with the nylon string.

I played the SLG120 at Marshall's recently (the one with the ebony board, full 2" wide nut and rosewood veneered "wings") and it wasn't bad, but still very much an undersaddle pickup tone - which tends to accentuate the percussiveness a bit too much for me (didn't help that they gave me an SWR Strawberry Blonde amp to play through, which is anything but neutral). Fine for a stage guitar I suppose.

Conrad

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Conrad wrote: Thanks a lot Alan. This is BOTTOM range C7 Manuel Contreras.
It might be "bottom range", but it's a hell of a range (it's like a "bottom range" Porsche) ? The C7 has a good reputation as being one of the best guitars in its price range.

I have heard some surprisingly faithful sounds from the Yamaha silent guitar but I suppose your choice will depend mostly on what you want to play with the nylon string.
I played the SLG120 at Marshall's recently (the one with the ebony board, full 2" wide nut and rosewood veneered "wings") and it wasn't bad, but still very much an undersaddle pickup tone - which tends to accentuate the percussiveness a bit too much for me (didn't help that they gave me an SWR Strawberry Blonde amp to play through, which is anything but neutral). Fine for a stage guitar I suppose.

I think about 2 years ago you told me all about piezos on the forum and I realised this was the problem with my live sound. I could never replicate my acoustic sound on stage. Consequently, I use the L.R. Baggs dual source and can also recommend the L.R. Baggs I-Beam if the natural sound is what you want to go for although sound-wise an external condenser mic still sounds superior to me but as you know is very hard to handle in gig situations.

[deleted]

That's a beautiful piece! And a lovely sounding guitar! I'm sure it must be a pleasure to play too.

Every time I see the words "new sound" I think of this:

Conrad

Viccy wrote: That's a beautiful piece! And a lovely sounding guitar! I'm sure it must be a pleasure to play too.

Every time I see the words "new sound" I think of this:

Oh my goodness. When I record it again, I will do a better job!

[deleted]

Oh my goodness. When I record it again, I will do a better job!

I think we're crossing wires again. Your recording was lovely. I just have a Mighty Boosh obsession and the two are largely unrelated.

Conrad

Viccy wrote:
Oh my goodness. When I record it again, I will do a better job!
I think we're crossing wires again. Your recording was lovely. I just have a Mighty Boosh obsession and the two are largely unrelated.

Yay! Viccy are you not planning a little concert in Pta oneday?

[deleted]

Yay! Viccy are you not planning a little concert in Pta oneday?

That's funny ? that was about the last thing on my mind. * I would love to plan a little concert in
Pta, I have family up there.

*Note: Viccy's plans take very long to materialise