This just in from roving reporter Benoît Meulle-Stef.
That’s Edgar Cruz (photo from his Facebook page). Edgar is a prolific pop/classical/flamenco nylon-string fingerstyle player based in Oklahoma. Ben spotted this new video of a recent performance: Edgar plays an Eagles tune, a short classical medley and Ghost Riders in the Sky (a tune I happen to love).
I don’t recognize the builder, nor does Edgar talk about the instrument, so we’ll have to get him and/or the luthier to chime in on that.
So, you see? I can’t keep up with it! If anyone’s plugged into this world, it’s I – yet here is still another player (who cites some harp guitarists among his influences) who I had no idea was working toward this; and an unknown guitarmaker quietly working away on yet another new design.
Welcome to our world, Edgar! (even if I’m the last to know!)
EC Here. The luthier Carroll Cox was from Oklahoma City. He spent the last decade of his life building custom guitars from local woods and enhancing them with his artistic skills. He passed away at the end of 2009. I got it right before. It is a smaller nylon guitar (mexican requinto size) tuned a 3rd higher than normal (the E strings are tuned to G). He designed it after borrowing Stephanie Jackson’s Harp Guitar. After a month of different tunings with most of my arrangements, I decided to tune my basses from the guitar neck (relative to if the strings were tuned to E)…B, D, A, C, G. Also being a bass player, I found tuning them in fourths was the most workable and with this tuning you can accidentally hit the wrong bass note and still be within a triad of the note meant to be played (as opposed to a wrong half or whole step). I have become so comfortable with this Harp that I have literally taken only it to some of my background gigs (as opposed to having 2 or 3 guitars) and trying out all my arrangements (including Bohemian Rhapsody with the C up to C# and G down to F# in the key of A. I plan on uploading more of my performances in the near future and even record with it on my upcoming original CD due later this fall. Visit my website for more information. Happy to be part of your group! Edgar
Gregg
Edgar will be playing at a Christmas Guitar Night show with Stephen B.
in my neck of the woods. Should be able to find out then…..