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RE: Ramon Montoya's guitar
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aarongreen
Posts: 367
Joined: Jan. 16 2004
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 RE: Ramon Montoya's guitar (in reply to Doitsujin)
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Good playing there Ricardo!
could you please tell this guy next time, it´s time to preserve that guitar as part of culture and history. It belongs to a museum god damnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently you missed Richard Brune's comments via Tom Blackshear. I took it upon myself to cut and paste them, hope neither gentlemen mind.
I think you should be aware of the way Brune feels although he does not have much time to be on chat lists, which I can understand since he is a slave to guitar orders that just won't quit.
1. The guitar is a 1923 Domingo Esteso ex collection of Luis Maravilla,
which I legitimately own. I don't know why someone said "no one" owns
it, unless this was intended as an insult. If it was supposed to be
humor, I'll gladly forward a $5 bill for humor lessons if they are
courageous enough to give me their actual name and address.
2. I have previously published articles about this guitar and its
history in Guitar Player Magazine, August 1988, page 22, and Vintage
Guitar Magazine, July 2004, pages 68-72. If any foro member wishes to
contact me directly with their actual name and email, I'll be happy to
email copies of either or both articles at no charge. They can contact
me through my web site. Over the past 40 + years I have tried to make
as much of my collection and archival material as possible available to
others through my published articles, and contributions to other
author's works, most done for little or no compensation. I do this out
of my aficion for the instrument.
3. The guitar is hardly hidden away "in the middle of nowhere" as one
writer put it, as Evanston is right next to Chicago, Illinois, a city of
some world wide notoriety. It has been played and admired by artists
such as Paco Peña, Pepe Romero, Eliot Fisk, Tomas de Utrera, Paco Fonta,
and many others. It is available to any aficionados who visit my shop
to see, play and study, as are the many other instruments also in my
collection.
4. Anyone who feels strongly enough that this guitar should be in a
museum in Spain is welcome to make me an offer I can't refuse and in
turn, donate the guitar to the museum of their choice in Spain.
Otherwise, they should study the concept of private property as set
forth in the U.S. Constitution. Right now the guitar currently IS in a
museum, the Bruné Museum, which I daresay is probably under better
storage, security and humidity control than just about any museum in the
world. I understand as well as anyone in Spain the significance of this
and all the instruments and archival material in my collection, and I
intend to preserve this for future generations to study, love and
appreciate as I have.
And I might add that Brune has the expert skills to keep the guitar in its restored value and material conditioning. Any museum would have to depend on an expert restoration artist, like Brune, to be able to keep the instrument in its best condition.
I think you ought to just let this ridiculous beef of yours drop. Richard is quite open and sharing and has been for the entirety of his career. Most luthiers and aficionados who have any knowledge of the history of the Spanish guitar owe a considerable debt to the man. Granted he has done well by doing good but he could have just as easily done well by keeping all this to himself. He has stated for the record that his collection is available to any aficionado who cares to visit, what more do you want? Try getting the Met to let you play something in their collection. It can be done but you'll have to jump through more hoops than you can imagine and any lack of credentials will probably sink you along the way. Insofar as your concern for the preservation of the guitar, while there are others who might do as good a job and provide as caring a home, I can't imagine anyone who would do better. So whats your issue?
Now as someone who deals in historic and vintage instruments myself, let me tell you first hand that I do NOT believe that museums constitute the best home for a musical instrument. When I represented Sabicas' 1951 Barbero I had conversations with a few notable museums, an avenue of course which I pursued. My responsibility was first and foremost to the family of Dr. Shultz, my good friend and client. My second responsibility was to the instrument. In the end it was a private collector, who came through with the appropriate offer monetarily and the appropriate home for the preservation of this magnificent piece of history.
Futhermore, it is hardly professional players who provide the best home for guitars, from a viewpoint of preservation. There are exceptions of course but the demands of a gigging and touring musician do not provide much of a chance for an instrument to remain unscathed. The 1931 Simplicio I represented (ex Rey de la Torre) is a classic example of what happens to even the best of guitars being used by international virtuoso. These older guitars are of course wonderful instruments, historic icons and such but being retired from active service as it were, opens up the market for younger makers who, just might be building guitars every bit as good. Something to consider, as well as how lucky guitarists today are to have so many great builders offering fine instruments at very affordable (relative to historic guitar or just about any other musical instrument) prices.
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Feb. 13 2013 13:03:16
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estebanana
Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
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RE: Ramon Montoya's guitar (in reply to Doitsujin)
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quote:
There are enough guitars that can be played. This one has been played and honored enough. I see no point in using it anymore since there are enough alternatives.
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Yes but it will disappear from public view and no longer be accessible to people like me who need to hear it and play it in order to understand what a guitar from that time sounds and feels like. With the exception of well endowed museums like the Met in NY most museums treat the instrument collections like the step children of the paintings. The paintings get more conservation attention and better display conditions, while instruments often times languish in poorly climate controlled rooms and disentegrate while under museum care.
The other problem is that, I'm not speaking bad of this guitar, but guitars will almost always get the poorest of care in museums because they are more difficult to care for than almost all other instruments. And the value of a guitar compared to a Stradivari instrument or a top notch Italian violin is not that much. Museums tend to put money into the most valued objects, and even the expensive instruments suffer.
Historic guitars, I am convinced, are best left in the care of collectors and dealers who specialize in understanding the conditions guitars should be maintained in. Unless a museum is like the Shrine to Music in the US they are usually not educated enough in the specialty of keeping guitars and should not have them. Collectors, guitar makers and conscientious players should steward these instruments, not institutions.
P.S. I only act crazy because, well I'm bored, but if you want to know about how museums treat objects I can tell stories from my days working in academia and museums. Suffice it to say most museums harbor these deep dark secrets they don't want the public to know. That is that many museums have some atrocious, horrible storage facilities. There are main storage facilities that house the most important objects, but there are often overflow areas that hold things they don't l have room for in better conditioned rooms. I know because I used to specialize in setting storage facilities correct and modernizing them. I have seen more trashed out objects in museum collections than you want to know about.
There is one museum here in the Bay Area that will go unnamed, but at one point ten years ago they had human remains from South American Indians stored in a leaking basement in fifty gallon metal drums. Those containers had been in that condition for several decades.
That was about the worst I had ever seen.
_____________________________
https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Feb. 13 2013 19:57:18
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