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I was thinking of using 2 nice spalted sycamore veneers to put on a flamenco instead of the tradional cream colored or clear vinyl plates . Anyone else done this before ??. Just wonderin ?

Ernie.
Those will be fine if they are not heavy -or thick.
Those tops need to be alive!

Mike

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Mike Collins

I think your wood veneers will split or dig out over the years.

Well a typical veneer is about 5 times as thick as the normal mylar sheet so you are adding significant mass.
The spalted areas may also be soft and it could end up looking shabby quickly.
With a flamenco it is not unintended contact , but deliberate tapping with the nails
I would stick with mylar

How thick is the mylar .0015?? the veneers are not punky but about.045

Well the stewmac mylar is listed as 0.005" thick
The "strings by mail" sheet I used on my flamenco measures at 0.010" installed (though the website incorrectly says .010mm)

+1

When I started playing flamenco, I used a cheap plywood guitar without a golpeador, and I dug through the outer veneer after just a couple of months. Even on my current flamenco guitar the finish and wood fibers are all mashed up and uneven underneath the golpeador.

Thanks for the feedback sondre , any other flamenco players out there ??

I'm not a Flamenco player but I am building a Flamenco guitar at the moment. A friend of mine is a good Flamenco player and she's pretty brutal on the sound board. IMHO if there is one place on a guitar where plastic is acceptable, even desirable, it's the pick guard or tap plate. Not only is it lighter as was mentioned but it's acoustically dead and a lot more resistant to finger nails et cetera.

Please allow a sidebar question: What was the traditional material for the golpeador? I'm talking about the days before plastics were available. I never really thought about this until reading this thread. Thanks.
Patrick

Tortoise maybe?

Celluloid was available from the late 19th century.
As I understand, this was the period when Flamenco guitar technique was starting to develop.
So there may have been no predecessor to the plastic tap plate, it may have allowed full development of modern percussive flamenco techniques.

As a child, I tapped on the bridge extension.

Early flamenco guitars were considered to be fairly disposable, yes? Concern about what golpeador to use to maximize the combination of playability and longevity is probably a very recent concern, possibly post-plastic?

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu