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Posts: 1607
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania
International Frankfurt Mucic Fare (...
Hi all, just thought I'd share some impressions:
A couple of days ago I went to the international music-fair at Frankfurt, and had the chance to play two Conde hermanos.
The reedición Vda. y Sobrinos 1953 blanca with pegheads : nice and light but no volume at all; basses and trebles balanced but awkwardly „muted“ or „muffled“; the white plastic golpeadores give the guitar a „cheap“ look and contribute to the overall disapointement. They`ve just raised their prices, and now want € 14.337 ($ 21900). I would not want that guitar for less than half!
The second guitar I tried out supposedly was a reedición Domingo Esteso 1915 (now €16.727 -> $ 25450); however „in the classic guitar version“ [??] i. e. no golpeadores, negra, and just the regular Conde Hermanos label (no „reedición“ mentioned). The representative insisted it was the remake model though (it did not have the Esteso head): deep basses, great volume, very impressive. But I didn’t fall in love!
I talked to Vincente Carillo, and asked him why he uses nitrocellulose lacquer on his models. Though he mentioned the greater ease of application, he didn’t mention costs as a reason but obviously feels that shellac makes the guitar too fragile thus compromising playability. If I instisted on gomalaca, I could have it ...
David Sanchis Lopez is convinced that the lacquer he uses („invented“ by a friend) is similar to shellac ´though „chemical“, thus combining the best of both worlds...
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: International Frankfurt Mucic Fa... (in reply to edguerin)
Thanks for sharing your opinions. For info, the 1915 headstock of Esteso SHOULD look more or less like M. Ramirez, though I have seen other styles. Just in case you meant the media luna, that was not invented until about 1953 (hence the reissue). Conde guitars have never been known to be "loud" guitars, but have a special percussive quality and clearity. Perhaps that is why they were prefered by so many accompanists in the 60-70s, because they were not bombastic cannons, but had a softer percussive crispness and clearity that complimented the voice in intimate juergas. Just a guess.
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