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Heat
Damage
Q
Is
there any type of case or case cover that will protect a guitar
stored in the trunk of a car from summer heat on a long trip?
Sharon
Stepler
Lawrenceville, Georgia
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A
Unfortunately,
keeping a guitar in a hot car remains a problem. Case covers
such as the Climate Case (www.allenguitar.com/case.htm)
will protect your instrument from heat produced by direct
sunlight, but they won't be much help in the virtual oven
that your car turns into on a hot day. If you must leave your
guitar in the car, wrap it in anything insulating. A few blankets
or sleeping bags will greatly increase the time it takes to
heat up the instrument to dangerous levels. Parking in the
shade will also help, but to be safe, take the guitar with
you whenever you can. I generally carry my guitar in a gig
bag instead of a heavy case for this reason; it makes it easier
to keep it by my side.
—Teja
Gerken
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A
Climate Case is one way to help safeguard your instrument
against heat damage.
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Manuel
Contreras Guitars
Q
I
have a 1968 M. Contreras Concerto model. What can you tell me about
Contreras guitars?
Darrell
Harbison
Newport News, Virginia
A
Manuel Gonzalez
Contreras initially trained as a cabinetmaker before José
Ramírez III invited him in 1959 to join his workshop, where
he quickly learned the craft of the guitarrero. The following
year, Contreras built the Ramírez that Andrés Segovia
used after retiring his beloved 1937 Hermann Hauser. In 1962 Contreras
left Ramírez to establish his own workshop at Calle Mayor,
in Madrid, where it remains to this day.
Contreras was one of
the more innovative Madrid luthiers. Although his earlier guitars
followed Ramírez' style, Contreras was always looking for
ways to improve the guitar's sound. In 1974 his experiments resulted
in the Doble Tapa (Double Top), which was built with a second internal
back of spruce or cedar. In 1983 Contreras introduced the Carlevaro
model, named after Uruguayan guitarist Abel Carlevaro. This unusual
guitar lacked a waist curve on the bass side and featured a continuous
slot around the edge of the soundboard instead of a tradition-al
soundhole. For his 25th-anniversary model, designed with his son
Pablo, Contreras suspended the main body of the guitar within a
second back and partial set of sides to help prevent damping of
the guitar by the player.
Contreras himself signed
the labels of the older 1a or primera Contreras models, indicating
that they had met his standards as top-of-the-line guitars. Contreras
1a's from the '60s and well into the '80s are usually large-bodied,
long-scale instruments with Brazilian rosewood backs and sides and
either spruce or red cedar soundboards. These are beautifully made,
lush-sounding instruments, but the big Madrid guitars of this period
have fallen somewhat from favor. Prices range widely, but most of
the good- to excellent-condition Contreras 1a's from the '60s and
'70s sell in the $3,000—$3,500 range.
The workshop also made
2a (segunda) models with somewhat simpler ornamentation than
the 1a and built from lesser-quality wood. The 2a's are unsigned.
Like nearly every other shop in Spain, Contreras has sold student
models bearing the Contreras label that are made for them by other
workshops.
Manuel Gonzalez Contreras
died in 1994. Pablo assumed the direction of the workshop in 1986
and carries on his father's ideals of tradition and innovation under
the name Manuel Contreras II (Calle Mayor, 80, Madrid, Spain, www.manuelcontreras.com).
—Charles
Vega
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Licks
vs. Riffs
Q What
is the difference between a lick and a riff?
Marvin
Berry
New Orleans, Lousiana
A A
lick is a short, formulaic phrase generally used in improvised solos.
Licks tend to be common to an idiom: bluegrass pros recognize common
bluegrass licks (like a Lester Flatt G-run), which differ from the
licks a jazz cat would use. Many players string these licks together,
letting their fingers remember what to do next. They instill their
own personality in the solo in the way they play the lick or in
the moments between the licks, as well as in the melodies they pull
out of their head.
Some folks
use riffing to mean jamming, but a riff can also be
thought of as a clearly defined phrase that is unique to a song.
The riff in "Day Tripper," for example, is instantly recognizable
as an important part of the song; it's the hook, the musical catchphrase.
In jazz, riff has a specific meaning: a short melodic phrase
that is repeated, often over changing harmonies. It can function
as the melody of a song or as an ostinato for a soloist to improvise
over. Riffs likely are derived from the call-and-response patterns
of African music, and the word itself is thought to have originated
in New Orleans marching band music, from which it entered the jazz
lexicon. Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump" and Glenn Miller's "In
the Mood" are two popular riff-based tunes. But the word riff
has come to mean different things to different people.
—Andrew
DuBrock
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Excerpted from
Acoustic Guitar magazine,
May
2003, No. 125.
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