Preludio Nº 3 H. Villa Lobos by Abel Carlevaro

[cglover]

Browsing for videos I came across this performance by Abel Carlevaro. Very well done! I think I'll start working on this piece after I finish memorizing a baroque piece by Santiago de Murcia.

Does anyone know what kind of guitar he is playing?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7939301730802411083&q=villa+lobos&hl=en

[brian richardson]

i'm almost positive thats a
contreras.

[cglover]

Hey, your good :!:

I found this about it:

Contreras constructed the "Carlevaro" model in 1983. Based on an idea of the Uruguayan master Abel Carlevaro, it incorporates a number of very original new elements, as the missing waist on the bass side and the lack of a sound hole on the harmonic top.



I'm guessing there must be a sound hole. Maybe on the side by the upper bout so the sound is in your face :?:
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[brian richardson]

i think there is a gap
between the top and sides. it's hard to tell.
i don't think there are 'ports'.

i'd like to see the 'no waist' on the bass side
catch on. looks comfy!!

[Great Googly Moogly]

i'm almost positive thats a
contreras.The one slose-up of the headstock gave it away for me. It's the same exact headstock as my N4.

[brian richardson]

i was that close to getting a contreras bri,
but, went with the perez.

[Great Googly Moogly]

:)

[Axel]

I went to the contreras shop this past summer and it was a wonderful experience. The shop owner and lady were very kind and helpful and pretty much let me try out anything I wanted. I only tried two models though as I didn't want to push it :) A concert level spruce and a cedar one. They were amazing instruments. The cedar one sounded a little better which is no surprise as they were both fairly recently made. I was surprised at how easy the tuning pegs moved and how comfortable the guitar was to play. I'm definetely keeping that brand in mind for the future. I did walk over to play a few open strings on their top performance guitar which was up on the wall towards the right and I was blown away at how loud and full they sounded.

http://umiami.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039309&l=19a82&id=10615387

The first pic in this album is from the contreras shop.

[oc chuck]

Axel

Great photos

The old architecture has such scope and
humanity to it!

BTW, do you remember any prices
from the Contreres shop?

[Axel]

I honestly can't remember if it was 2500 or 3500 euros (for the one I liked). So I guess around 3500-5000 dollars? or thereabouts. I'ts definetely worth stopping by. Very relaxed atmosphere. I bought a great book about the origins of flamenco there.

[dennis]

Chick, Contreras has a website http://www.manuelcontreras.com/ I have a price list from last time I was there but that was when the peseta was the currency and drinking rioja was cheap!

The Carlevaro guitar was designed so that the back inside the guitar could fully resonate WITHOUT contact from the players body. I think it was inspired by and an evolution of the famous 'double tapa' model concept. There is an article in the British Classical Guitar Magazine in which he fully discusses how the mechanics work. I don't think this one ever fully caught on among players though.

You should go to the shop if you can, plenty of cool stuff nearby, and once upon a time Rojas' shop was nearby...

[Axel]

I remember when I was there that he also sold what looked like the sides of a guitar ala carlevaro model. Basically you fit a guitar into it and it's supposed to increase the instruments volume, probably due to the resonance feature as you said.