Richard Jernigan -> RE: Which factories make guitars for famous luthiers? (Dec. 9 2013 22:48:55)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Arash If you want to buy a painting from an artist, you don't want anybody else been involved. I believe many of the great paintings of Renaissance Europe were painted by a master doing the important parts and his apprentices or journeymen filling in details or background. Even the most prestigious museums mention only the master. However, I'm sure if you asked a curator, they would fill you in on what may be known, or what they deduce from a close examination of the piece. So would an auction house like Christie's or Sotheby's. Other dealers….?? For the case of Renoir, he is known to have worked alone--at least I have never heard of any collaboration. Evidence of someone else's hand in a "Renoir" should make the prospective buyer extremely suspicious, at the very least. There is a spectrum in guitar production. The lone dedicated artisan like Anders or Estebanana, or Abel Garcia, from whom I have a wonderful classical. A shop like Marin's where very close associates work under the direct supervision of a master, who also does work directly upon the instruments. My favorite flamenca was made in such a workshop. I bought several guitars for friends from the Mexico City luthier Juan Pimentel Ramirez, who employed a handful of relatives, and taught one of his sons in his workshop. Pimentel had his tools in hand and worked away at the bench, even while interacting with customers. An operation like Jose Ramirez III's where the design was his, there were many workers, no one did all the work on any single instrument, but all was under the direct, daily strict supervision of the master, who was himself a qualified luthier. I have seen a couple of guitars claimed by the dealer to have been made by Ramirez himself. One of them had a distinctive sound. But Ramirez never claimed to have touched any of the guitars I bought from him during construction. He vehemently maintained that every one with his signature had been personally inspected and tested by him. This was backed up by the former Ramirez employees I talked to. At least four of Ramirez's former employees became well known luthiers on their own. They were very good all around luthiers before they left Ramirez. The three I talked to gave Ramirez the credit for teaching them their trade. An operation where a famous name is applied to guitars outsourced to other workshops or factories, provenance unknown, daily supervision likely distant or nonexistent, quality control unknown. Apparently some such operations still sell some excellent guitars. At a concert a couple of months ago I got talking to the guy sitting next to me. He works at the Collings steel string factory here in Austin. He manages a small group who do final setup. He is not only a qualified steel string luthier, he apprenticed at the Bosendorfer piano shop in Vienna for four years, and worked for Steinway in New York building their top concert instruments. He invited me to tour the Collings operation, with about 90 employees. I met Collings, who clearly was involved in design and operations, but maybe not to the extent of Jose Ramirez III. In the old Conde shop at Gravina 7 in the 1960s and '70s there were three workbenches in the large room where you walked in off the street. Faustino himself didn't mind giving the impression to a tourist that he had been working away just a few minutes before, but I didn't believe it for one second. Once they saw I wasn't buying their tourist shtick, they didn't try to fool me any longer. But I saw a few tourists get the song and dance, and walk out with dreadful pieces of junk at the top price. However, one of my friends has a '73 Conde blanca which is one of my favorite guitars, beautifully made, wonderful sound and playability. I have no idea who made it. It would be hard to convince me it was one of the Hermanos. But I tried to buy it from my friend more than once. I thought the Gravina 7 store was a pretty shady operation back then, but if you were careful you could get a great guitar there. Then there's the stuff you can get at Guitar Center. ;^/ I assume not many of the kids at Guitar Center have any idea that such a thing exists as an artisan luthier, working by himself. My son does know of artisan workshops, since he was with me a few times when we visited Pimentel. But he got a good deal on his Strat at Guitar Center, and he loves it. He doesn't take his Strat to Guitar Center for any setup or fret work. It's the world famous shop of Dan Erlewine here in Austin for that. So, take your pick. Draw your ethical line where you see fit. Caveat emptor. Enjoy your guitar. RNJ
|
|
|
|