cejilla improvement

[keith]

having had my fill of cejillas that work well some of time :( , i decided to make my own. jim dunlops are great :) , but do not have that cool look--and of course there is the issue of do i want metal on my flamenco :x ?

i made a wicked cool cejilla 8) and discovered something that you'all can do to make your cejilla work better. only 2 things needed--costing peanuts.

1. get rid of the leather cushion (that presses on the strings) and go to your local hardward store (try to support your locals :D ), go to the plumbing section, and buy a small sheet of gasket material (brick red color but black is available). this is rubber similiar to the jim dunlop capo rubber. really grabs versus what leather does.

2. get rid of of the thumb screw and use a violin peg. you will need to cut it down and drill a small hole. but, what is great about a violin peg is that there is a small area that will accept the winding fishing line (25 pound test) much better than the traditional thumb screw.

3. as a side note--after putting a light coat of laquer on the cejilla i noticed an increase in friction--good for those slipping keys.

as to the cejilla part--i bought a piece of cocobolo at my local hardwood supplier for about 45 cents for a 4 inch piece. it was sold as a pen blank (i guess you can put it on a lathe and make a pen). hey, they even smell like chocolate (coco....) when cut.

i took me about one hour to make (if that--i think part of the time was dedicated to setting up shop in my kitchen and then having a cup of coffee). the cost: $2.50 for the violin peg, 45 cents for the blank, and $1.50 for the rubber gasket material. as to the strap for cejilla--used a small piece of leather (size approx. to the jim dunlop nylon).

well, there you have it. and no shameless plug for............... :twisted:

[rquinones27]

Very interesting! Do you have a picture of it to see your final product? I'm pretty handy myself and would be willing to give it a shot.

[keith]

picture!! that means i would have to purchase a camera....

here is what you do:
1. wood blank 2.125 inches long, 0.25-.50 wide. (cut this from your stock--the pen blanks only need to be cut to get the 2.25 inches long configuration).

2. figure out the shape you want--i cut off a triangle at both ends--which, in effect, left a 45 degree slop downwards to the base (2.125 inches)--think of a pyramid slice in half parellel to the base.

3. cut off the top part leaving the height at about 0.33 inches.

4. drill a hole the diameter of the violin peg (remember, you need to cut off the bottom of the peg) into the top--do not go all the way through.

on the violin peg i used (generic stock i guess) there are two ridges on the peg about 2mm. apart just below the thumb thing (i am sure there is a word here). the bottom ridge should go to the top of the cejilla. the hole drilled into the violin peg should be just above the ridge--the ridge ravine, if you will, is where the fishing line is wound. i am not sure if these ridges are super critical but nice.

just check out other cejillas. i like the shape i used, but you could use others with embellishments galore. i think the violin peg is key here though. other cejillas i have used do not have a good winding mechanism as the violin key (i think the one i used is a 3/4 size but since i do not fiddle---i do not know for sure). good luck and enjoy the money saved.

[NGiorgio]

Recently, I received a gift of a cejilla purchased in Spain. Granada to be exact. It has a super low profile. Lower than any I've ever seen, less than a 1/2 inch in height. It is a mahogany color and has a very small peg. Smaller than normal cejilla pegs. It has a strip of rubber on the bottom, not leather. Also, it does not have a leather strap for the back of the neck. Instead, the string goes through two layers of plastic tubing, one gold in color which is covered by one of clear plastic. It works extremely well. The cejilla was bought in the shop of luthier Valeriano Bernal. Has anyone seen any other cejilla's such as this?

I don't know why I didn't think of it, but Keith's idea of rubber replacing the leather on the bottom should improve the efficiency any cejilla. Great idea, Keith.