Stephen Faulk's Franken-Santos: The Shop Warhorse Final Assembly- Stephen Faulk [Pictures] - created 01-08-2010

Faulk, Stephen - 01/08/2010.00:57:36

Ever have a guitar which never gets done? I defeated mine, finally. I call it the Franken Santos because it's a beautiful 1927 Santos Hernandez plantilla, which I built with sections made in different years. It seems to hold together, in fact it made a pretty nice guitar.

It's really a prototype that took a long time to finish.

The scale is 650mm ( I either build that scale or the one I call the 26" scale, go figure. )

Back and sides are Port Orford Cedar, that's what I was prototyping.

Top is European Spruce.

Binding is Macassar, Jarra and Brazilian peghead

The tuners are Pegheds planetary 8mm dia.

I built it one piece at a time, but it cost me more than a dime.

The rosette is a 2003 and the neck is a 2004. I think the body was a 2007 and the headstock was predrilled for bigger pegs, but the ones in it now fit just fine.

The Port Orford was acquired in 2000 and it's just been sitting around, but it all came together in '09 and it makes a beautiful sound.

Looks like Spain. Oakland, is Oakland, is Oakland, birthplace of Gertrude Stein.

Neat. I've used POC for steel string guitar tops.... I'm also using Pegheds(16:1, though) on a steel string guitar that I'm building right now; did the rough fitting of the Pegheds yesterday... How do you like 'em?

If there's a "trick" to prototypes, it's to rush them; that way, they don't get lost among the real priorities of day to day life! Seems that once they stall, they're toast. May as well scrap the notion of completing them. Glad to see you persevered!

Much more Santos than Franken. Nice style. Neat wood too. Congratulations. Real name of Oakland is Tierra de Robles.

Thanks guys. Yep Mario I hear you. I'm slamming the theorbo guitar ( my 100 dollar entry) together as fast as I can and as sloppy as I can, I mean sloppy elegance. I'm only trying to work out the structure and geometry of the neck. I know I have precious fussy guitars in me for the future, but I love to create on the fly too.

It also has Ruck bracing; fan, flat fan, fan, flat fan, etc. with a diagonal treble bar.

I like the Pegheds a lot. Peghead flamenco guitars are making a comeback because of them. In fact for flamenco guitars at this point I think they are better than geared slotted tuners. Some players are saying the same thing.

With the 4:1 gear ratio Peghed, the advantages over slotted tuners are lighter weight and easier in performance tuning. When you get to know the Pegheds you can touch them with a left index finger poke a quarter turn in either direction and flat or sharp the string back in tune. I would put them on a classical guitar if the player would go for it. And for a historical Torres model for sure. Some uppity purist might poo poo them, but they are a good product and a good piece of hardware.

Looks great Stephen! But where are the peghead holes for the ribbon!?

One of these days I will use Pegheds, I like the whole idea of them.

Great looking guitar, Stephen! Is it Flamenco or Classical?

It looks great, Stephen! The bar for 'protoypes' sure is high around here...

PO back & sides, wow, I'd expect that to sound very dry

seco.

It's a beauty for a prototype, love it.

And thanks for the info on the pegheads. I have some and need to find an opportunity to use them.

Beautiful instrument, Stephen and inspiring as well. I have several partial builds hanging about that really need to have something happen. I am hoping to be able to pick them up again and get on with it. You've inspired me to renew my interest for completion.

The headstock execution and rosette design are stellar. I like the sparseness combined with the bold light and dark separation. It's hard to beat a Hernandez plantilla, especially the upper bout shape.

How is your local flamenco community reacting to planetary pegs? I have heard mixed reports about acceptance, but since I don't exactly live in a hotbed flamenco activity, I don't have a feel for reactions.

But where are the peghead holes for the ribbon!?

Heh heh.......very interesting comment,we have a live one here.

Did you know that often those holes Santos bored in the peg head were not round, but square? I'm saving that move for a full on bench copy when I eventually get that job.

Is it Flamenco or Classical?

It's a 'Spanish' guitar, circa 1927- ( with some modern bracing )

I'd expect that to sound very dry seco.

It's very metallic, powerful and cuts like a saw. The mid range and basses have a lot of overtone riding through them. it's very lively in the upper fingerboard on the basses and mid ranges. The trebles are sweet if you play them that way. My first take s that it's a full on dance accomaniment guitar. It has all the stuff for dance, but you can also play samba and jazz on these things quite nicely. Myself I like classical music played on this kind of guitar.

The question is how will it sound over time? The Port Orford will oxidize and case harden from the inside out. That toughens the wood. I've seen cabinet doors in old houses being demoed out that have Port Orford ( I in fact grabbed some ) in them and the wood gets a tough oxidized, light brown 'skin' on it. I think over time this will make the guitar better and it will be interesting to see how it changes in the next few months. That will take 25 or more years. But for now I'm happy, I'll make a big WR Cedar topped classical with it now.

How is your local flamenco community reacting to planetary pegs? I have heard mixed reports about acceptance,

They are almost always resitant to changes. This is a good change which is in keeping with the style this kind of guitar. The guy who makes them has worked them over from the first sets he came out with. he specifically worked on making them right for different periods of Spanish instruments.

The older guys are especially set in their ways. I'm not trying to convince them. When I go to gatherings I almost never talk about guitars around flamencos. I just watch and mentally record sounds and details. You could beat your head against a wall as talk to an older flamenco who thinks they know guitars. I just show my work to younger guitarists now. there's an old saying in pro surfing " You have to bust down the door before they hear you knocking", well I simply tried another door.

The way you can really tell if your guitar is good is when a female flamenco dancer takes notice and says something. They usually don't say anything about guitars so it's a high complement if a great dancer says something. At least it makes me feel good.

That's a very cool piece of work. I'm really curious to know how the sound will change as it ages. I'm betting it'll all be for the better.

It's an interesting plantilla. The slope into the waist is really flat, and the waist turns so quickly. It's also somewhat flatter than I would have expected at the neck join.

I love the headstock and the pegs. We do such fat headstocks these days. They look like music stands once you get used to these thinner ones.

Beautifully done Stephen. I used pegs on the acoustic challenge due to cost, and might just use them on the next build because I like the way they perform!

It's an interesting plantilla. The slope into the waist is really flat, and the waist turns so quickly. It's also somewhat flatter than I would have expected at the neck join.

It's true the guitars then were most often flatter where the neck enters and flatter on the bottom than plantillas now. You can set guitars like this up on end on the workbench and they stand by themselves. I think these shapes come right out of Torres. Guitars now can be bigger and more bell shaped in the lower bout and I'm not digging it as much these days.

These plantillas are slightly smaller, but they can be huge in sound. Overall I think it's very pretty and elegant like a guitar should be. Santos was an artist. I gave this plantilla to Randy Reynolds and he offers it as one of his models built straight ahead. I have a 1920 Santos outline that is smaller, but the same type of shape.

I want to draw a bigger version of this one, same kind of lines, but just bumped up in overall size.

Stephen, I think it's a beautiful guitar. It's so elegant. Very inspiring to me.

Beautiful Guitar Stephen! Congratulations on your perseverance.

Very nice! Great rosette; a bit Frank Lloyd Wright-ish. Any shots of the bracing?

Port Orford Cedar should be very appropriate for a flamenco, as it's not a true cedar: it's other name is Lawson's Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana).

FLW that's funny. I would have thought Michael Graves.

The rosette BWB + green- white -green pattern came from a really old oud I worked on several years ago. I repeated the pattern twice and I liked the way the BWB lines up on the center of the top and then changes alignment because one circle is tighter than the other. I dyed that crazy green center myself.

I have an in progress shot of this guitar this another hard drive on my old computer, but I can't take time to rescue it at the moment. If I can I'll slip alight into the guitar and see if I can get a shadow play brace picture.

Thanks for the info on the rossette. It's striking!

That's ok. I've seen shots of the Ruck fan-flat bracing, but I wanted to see how you interpreted it. So many ways to skin this cat.

You know, if you wouldn't have said so, nobody would have known this thing took 7 years to assemble. Good job keeping it all together.

Beautifully done Stephen.

The colors work for me. The rosette is simple and stylish.

Well done!

Geez, I'm trying to scramble to build my 5th, while you've raised the bar by using pegs. One more thing to try!

Lovely guitar Stephen,

I also like the rosette, to me it says Flamenco. I think if done as multiples, it might be possible to get it down to a reasonable time to fabricate.