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The other day I came across a Manuel Reyes Tipo (Type) C guitar and will like to find out What does type C means?. Lower quality wood. Different workmanship in the making. Thanks in advance
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Posts: 15242
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to Siulnarom59)
Not sure..but never seen the lable unsigned and un stamped like this. Rosette looks simple too. I only know his brother Miguel used to help him in his shop.
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to Siulnarom59)
Well.. I know this direct from a Spanish luthier (master) They sell/sold cheap guitars they bought from other manufacturers to earn some money to live... Especialy for tourists. They put their own label inside but do not stamp or signe them. Casa Ferrer and José López Bellido did so... If the Manuel Reyes is such a guitar... hard to say.
Normaly they have date, stamp and signature.
By the way.. I own miself a "Casa Ferrer" from 1977 without signature or stams.
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to gerundino63)
Brother, thank you a million. They do specified that Reyes used lesser quality materials for the Tipo C guitar. That is why it is not signed... Fraternally Luis
Posts: 15242
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to Siulnarom59)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Siulnarom59
Thank you Ricardo.
Upon closer inspection of photos of provided links, I would hazard a guess that these "concert" guitars were marked down in price, simply for aesthetics. He is using wood that is either with knots or wide grain, or not matched sides....only having to do with good looks. I would bet they sounded just as good as the pretty ones. Luthiers sometimes challenge themselves with "scrap wood", that looks like what was going on here IMO. To a collector that plays, it is almost MORE valuable to have one of these in a sense. I would love to play one for sure.
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to Siulnarom59)
When Reyes was young he was championed by the guitarist Pepe Martinez - look for some recordings - he played all the stuff Ramon Montoya recorded but (in my opinion) slightly better! In the 50's and 60's Pepe travelled to the UK to give formal and informal concerts and give lessons to his many fans. He always brought a Reyes for someone. In the book Flamenco Legend: In Search of Camaron De La Isla by Marcos Young there is an interesting account of this process. I remember going to a concert in a house in Fulham and listening to Pepe with his Reyes.
The main importer of fine flamenco guitars during the early sixties was Ivor Mairants. By this time Reyes was able to ask a good price and the import duty into the UK was about 100% meaning that legitimately imported high end guitars were quite rare. Guitarists preferred to travel to Spain, buy a guitar with a "cheap bill" made out as a matter of course by Spanish luthiers. This was presented to Customs officers who couldn't tell the difference between a crude plywood guitar and the real thing! Ivor Marants tried to solve the problem by asking Reyes to make a cheaper model with simpler decoration (including simple attractive handmade rosettes) which Reyes called the "Tipo C".
These were great guitars. I think that at first they weren't signed but some later ones were. I have only seen examples from 1965 and 1966 but the period of production might have been a bit longer.
The construction of Reyes guitars in the 60's didn't conform to the plan so often mentioned on this forum. Changes were made in the middle 1970's. As is often mentioned on this forum, whatever the internal bits and pieces Reyes, like all great makers, had an idea of how he wanted his guitars to feel and sound and this remained pretty constant.
Recently (December 20150 a "tipo C" sold at the Bromptons auction in London for a bargain price. You can still see the picture on their website. https://www.bromptons.co/auction/8th-december-2015/lots/473-a-flamenco-guitar-by-manuel-reyes-senior-cordoba-1965.html This is the same guitar sold the previous year in the auction mentioned by gerundino63. It was a very good guitar, previously owned by a contemporary of mine who died recently. Bromptons asked Juan Teijeiro of the London Guitar Studio to telephone Reyes (in 2014) to check out the Mairants connection and he confirmed it.
The guitar could well have been made with the assistance of Manuel's brother Miguel - but so could the normal ones! I don't believe that these guitars were bought in.
Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to RobJe)
I agree with everything here , one thing as well is these will be all early guitars as i see the address in in the Plaza del Potro ... where he was at the beginning in Cordoba as later guitars , and i have a guitar I got from him, the label will say;; Calle Armas 4 ., Im not sure when he moved around the corner but I think with the new place things became more serious and he wanted higher quality , hence not so many tipo C s
Also , yes in his shop there are (were) a few pic of Pepe Martinez on the wall , with his guitars , I presume .
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to El Kiko)
It is interesting to look at Homenaje a la guitarra cordobesa by Eusebio Rioja, Ediciones de la Posada 1990. This is the catalogue of the 1990 exhibition in the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, Córdoba. It is pretty difficult to get hold of a copy these days but some libraries hold it. This gives some insight into what Manuel Reyes and the other great maker from Córdoba, Miguel Rodriguez were up to in the 50’s and 60’s. Pictures in the catalogue show them experimenting with near identical internal layouts in the late 50’s (7 fan struts) and early 60’s (5 fan struts). I don’t know if this was collaboration or copying. Does anyone know if they were friends?
Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to RobJe)
theres 5 or 6 videos of him on you tube ...easy search..
one of the first records given to me by a friend was ..THE LYRICAL GUITAR I still have it and think its great ..learnt a few pieces from it as well ( well you know as best I could )
RE: Manuel Reyes Type C guitars (in reply to Siulnarom59)
Hi, posts here are quite dated. However, there is a lot of opinion and guesswork from investigatve minds. Interesting but often misleading. I have imported a 1950’s Blanca Tipo C from the US. Prime quality tone woods, distinctive sound. No comparison to other brands in the house, Conde, Callejas, Rodriguez, Hanika. No signature, no stamp but the confirmation by Hijo of same selected materials used and dedicated workmanship The Tipo C was built by his late father. Handwritten letter, signed. The instrument is a true lightweight at slightly over 1000g. It is a Flamenco Blanca, not a concert guitar. Original condition with tuners, bridge etc. Evaluation from specialist vintage guitar shop is just in the range of the average model, surely heads for a high 5-digit in 2023. If Ivor Marants should have initiated a deal for inferior guitars > 1. The team there can not confirm such arrangement 2. Manuel Reyes senior has never produced other than exceptional guitars, the quality is always stellar. 3. In the end sound and playability are the central criteria. My Tipo C has been played by semi-pros with reassuring results. If they would have the money they would buy it immediately. Musicality is something else, never experienced before. Attack is precise, sound is produced evenly over all strings. She’s pure pleasure and gets better with every year. If you see one pls let me know. Happy to get her a sister.
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