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I ask this with baited breath, being well aware of the divisive perspectives and strong opinions on Conde Atocha..... but without wanting to open any Pandora's boxes: who are the current 'high profile' players of the Atocha instruments?
I'm planning to make some videos about Conde Atocha in the future and I'm doing my research to ensure that I'm adequately educated! I've read through the different posts on this forum and I'm aware of the general perspectives of the workshop. I've visited the shop on Atocha street in Madrid myself and met Carmen. I currently own one of Javier Castaño's instruments, I've also visited his workshop in Aranjuez and heard his take on Atocha.
Anyway, back on topic! the players that I'm aware of, off the top of my head: - Juan Habichuela Nieto - Jesús de Rosario - Javier Conde - Chicuelo - Rafael Cortes (but mainly Castaño's newer instruments from his own workshop)
Players that I've wondered about but don't know which Conde workshop they use: - Yerai Cortes - Myrrdin de Cauter
Again, straying away from the usual Atocha discussions... who are the players that you know of? Thanks in advance for the help.
Posts: 288
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Sydney, Australia
RE: Current players of Conde Atocha (in reply to francisgrant)
Yerai's conde is from Atocha. Rafael Fernandez, David Cerreduela, Alfredo Lagos, Alberto Lopez are also Conde Atocha users. BTW Jesus de Rosario doesn't use Conde Atocha often. That guitar is for his son Jesus El Sabas.
Posts: 3047
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
RE: Current players of Conde Atocha (in reply to Arash)
quote:
I think some players just make some promotion with them, but in concert use some other old Conde or whatever
Gerardo Nunez shared a funny anecdote this year in Sanlucar. One year when Rafael Riqueni was giving a concert at the curso, he was about to play a gig (with a guitar that wasnt a conde) and then noticed a Conde (not sure who) sitting in the audience. Riqiueni was contracted to play only conde! so he ended up having to borrow a guitar from one of the curso students at the last minute!
RE: Current players of Conde Atocha (in reply to francisgrant)
Well, till 1987 the guitars sold in the shop in Calle Atocha were the same as those sold in Calle Gravina. In the following years - let say 1990- 2011 they were mostly outsourcing guitars from different makers, like Vicente Sanchis and Ricardo Sanchis Carpio and other less known infdividuals. The same as Gravina. My guess is that Conde Atocha ended up being a little better than Gravina in the years 1990-2011 just because they had a better selection, having a smaller market. When Juliana Conde Patstor gave up the business, they decided to invest more on their own production and trained Javier Castano and a couple of other fellows. Eventually Javier opened his shop and for a couple of years Conde Atocha wasn't anymore as good. Now they recovered.
Posts: 16498
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Current players of Conde Atocha (in reply to francisgrant)
Atocha was good because SANCHIS CARPIO AND SONS were a good house of Valencia makers in a belt sander style factory. Tap tones it was, as observed from the horses mouth. These Atocha guitars (unlike the other two houses) were MUCH CHEAPER, as in, a 1500E Sanchis was given a different rosette and a media luna and sold for 2.5 or 3000E as "condes". Meanwhile, the other two houses sold the equivalent models for 5000E+.
Chicuelo's guitar looks exactly like my A26 (I owned two, 1997 and 98), well small details differ, but Gerardo Nuñez had a 1995 A26 (that number means FELIPE V address), on which he was too lazy to change the golpeador and slapped another on top of the previous. In 2003 or so he pulled out his aging 1999 Atocha, and gradually started using it until it replaced the A26 entirely for touring and recording. On the album cover of Andando del Tiempo you see the A26 on the cover and the 1999 Atocha on the insert. He recorded that album with the A26. His best performances I have ever seen were on the Atocha Conde (including the Trafalgar video of 2006 I uploaded). I have told the story before, Gerardo was asked to record a video in Sanlucar and did not have his guitars so asked his doctor friend. Despite the expensive collection, including Robert Ruck previous owned by Gerardo himself, Gerardo chose the guys cheap Hermanos Sanchis Lopez 1F, as it felt closest to his Conde Atocha (of course). Yerai is using the same model as Chicuelo it looks like. He needs a new golpeador. There are small details in the Head cut, Rosette and etc that differentiate it from an A26 of the same era, but they look darn similar.
I have had no further experiences with Atocha since Sanchis is no more. I had two follow up confirmations (myself in spain and a pro colleague who investigated recently) this year that Felipe Conde CRESPO is the superior "Conde" builder right now. Looked to me like he actually builds them by hand in shop. I asked some tricky questions that he had good answers for. If its fakery he is a diabolical genius.
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