Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
This past summer I brought my Conde to Richard Brune for an appraisal.
It was a great experience meeting Richard and seeing his shop for the first time. I asked him about his "No. 1" and he pulled a guitar made by his son - it sounded really great! It's definitely in the genes.
I asked Richard if I could record him playing my guitar. He kindly agreed.
The moment was crudely recorded with a Flip video camera - so my apologies to Richard for the quality - but I thought others might enjoy seeing the impromptu performance.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Richard Brune Playing 1985 Conde (in reply to Xavi)
quote:
It's yours to play whenever you're in Chicago!
I WILL hold you to that!
So then, what is the story here? Built by Mariano sr, at the then "new" shop Felipe V, signed by Felipe and Mariano too...was this guitar or series of guitars to get the son's names on the map? For some reason I didn't think the Felipe V shop was in business until later (1988/89 or so after the death of Faustino and Marino).
RE: Richard Brune Playing 1985 Conde (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
For some reason I didn't think the Felipe V shop was in business until later (1988/89 or so after the death of Faustino and Marino).
Come on boys you could have a good thing going when I’m gone if you get your act together – let’s make a guitar.
Who knows what kind of shape the old boys were in 1985 and whether they were still making guitars at this time. Faustino died in 1988 and Mariano Sr in 1989.
I think I detect the beginnings of the signature (with flying "J") of Faustino’s wife Julia Pastor Conde on the 1985 Gravina label shown below and I guess everyone was repositioning themselves for the inevitable.
Rob
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
RE: Richard Brune Playing 1985 Conde (in reply to Xavi)
Richard Brune's photos of the two labels in this guitar are included at the end of my video.
Earlier this year I attempted to collect some additional backstory about this guitar and wrote to David at Conde. I received instead a reply from Felipe that said:
"...David forwarded this email to me and I preferred to send you a personal response...It was one of the special models we have constructed using a special and select wood stock personally constructed between my father, my brother and myself. This guitar is signed by my father on the main label and additionally by myself, my bother and again my father on the smaller label below. This model is a fruit of a collaborative construction process that was always a tradition in our workshop.
I hope you enjoy this guitar! Please let me know if you need anything else.
Regards,
Felipe Conde Cavia"
I appreciated Felipe responding to my inquiry.
In the end, the guitar sounds great, and Brune confirmed that the interior work was "exceptionally clean and well executed."
I believe that this guitar was the result of this collaborative process between father and sons, at a critical time in the Conde history, just as the torch was being passed, to RobJe's point.
RE: Richard Brune Playing 1985 Conde (in reply to Xavi)
That guitar sounds superb. Despite the not so great recording, the quality of the instrument really comes through. The Walnut back and sides has a great impact on the tone, it sounds somewhere in between the traditional rosewoods (Indian and Brazil) and a blanca.
A bit of a random question but is it American Black Walnut or European Walnut?
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread