Before and After: flamenco wear and tear on guitar strings
BEFORE: D-string on its last thread. September 6, 2007 12:25am
It's 1:00am on Friday as I type these words. It's yet another day where I've been inspired to practice for hours and hours. So right now, I'm just squeezing in a quick blog about something that may or may not interest you unless you're a fellow guitarist. Oh well. Just want to write a little somethin' for you to read so I can finish up and get back to practicing. Selfish selfish me! Hehe. 
It's still educational nonetheless. So read on...
Doing flamenco gigs several nights a week every week in addition to practicing several hours a day obviously is going to put some wear and tear on guitar strings. Normally, I'll keep a set of strings on anywhere from one week (if I'm really practicing and gigging intensively) to a month (if I'm just playing the normal amount of weekly gigs and practicing moderately). But I change the strings to regain that bright and punchy attack that comes with a fresh set of Savarez or D'Addario's. It can be pretty uninspiring to play a guitar that sounds muffled if the strings are "dead" tone-wise.
Occasionally, I'll play the guitar enough that the strings actually break or come close to breaking. As you can see in the pic above, the D string has worn down to the point that it's being held together literally by a thread. It's just a matter of minutes away from breaking.
Sometimes the string does break in the middle of a show, but I've dealt with it numerous times, that it almost never throws me off. The dancers onstage with me would see my situation knowing that within a few seconds I'd remove the string or just somehow get it out of the way so I could go on playing without losing the compás.
My tuner. The arrows on the left indicate that I'm a little flat. The clamp of the tuner passes on the vibration of the guitar to the tuner itself. September 6, 2007 1:00am
Last night (Thursday) I was recording some flamenco rhythm tracks with my DigiTech Jamman Looper and Phrase Sampler Pedal
Anywayz, after removing the old strings and putting on the new ones, it was time to tune up. The device I use these days is the Intellitouch PT1 Tuner
AFTER: fresh set of strings. September 6, 2007 1:00am
Another cool thing about this tuner is that the readout is viewable in a dimly lit place like Cafe Citron. Of course, I just use the tuner to get a ballpark tuning up for my guitar. But I still do a last-second checkup once I'm plugged into my sound system with the volume cranked up and am about to start my set.
September 6, 2007 1:02am
So there you have it: a little inside look at one of the numerous little but important details that we flamenco guitarists have to think about in addition to keeping the compás.
OK, so if you'll excuse me. Time for me to get back to practicing.
P.S. I went to Taste of Jerusalem to take pics of dancer Estela Velez and members of Furia Flamenca as they performed Thursday night with guitarist Torcuato Zamora. I'll publish those pics very soon. Stay tuned (pun intended).
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