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RE: Conde Questions
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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 RE: Conde Questions (in reply to Echi)
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Then there were the "tourist" model media lunas. When I first went to the Gravina 7 shop Faustino was there, though not behind the counter. He lounged near the three disused workbenches at one side, which commemorated the day when the Sobrinos actually made guitars on a regular basis.
I asked the young man behind the counter for one of their best instruments. He went into the back room, returned and handed me an object shaped more or less like a guitar, with the media luna headstock. He quoted a price twice as high as their best guitars were going for. The neck was not only bowed, but also twisted. The frets were rough, and only in approximately the right places. Though the trend varied, it went very sharp as you went up the fretboard. Chords were out of tune. It had the sonority and tone of a freshly cut yellow pine two-by-four inch board. I had met more than one gringo who bought one of those disasters.
I played a couple of solea falsetas and handed the object back to the young man without comment. He glanced at Faustino, who nodded almost imperceptibly. The young man went to the back room again, and returned with a quite decent guitar, though not outstanding. I sat on a stool and played for ten or fifteen minutes. Not virtuosically, but competently. In those days it was rare to hear a gringo play in compas.
Faustino and the rest listened attentively. A boy was dispatched. He returned with the Professor from down the street, whom I had visited earlier. He muttered to Faustino, presumably identifying what I was playing mainly as stuff copped from Mario Escudero.
I handed the guitar back to the young man, commenting that it was pretty good, but expensive. No discount was offered. I bought some strings and departed, without indicating that I knew who Faustino was.
Whenever I went back I was treated honestly and politely, but I never bought a guitar from them.
One of my friends had a '73 media luna which he bought new. His daughter was studying in Madrid. She went with a pro classical player to pick out a guitar. It was well made, but at first it was dead as a doornail. I felt sorry for my friend, but said nothing. However over a year or two it developed into a great guitar. Then I tried to buy it from him--more than once--but he wouldn't sell.
RNJ
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 16 2018 17:18:47
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Ricardo
Posts: 14797
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Conde Questions (in reply to Harry)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Harry
I am sorry to revive an old Conde thread, but are AF25 models listed as AF25 on the label? I see so many Conde guitars listed as AF25 with a huge price tag to match but the label does not specify AF25 whereas I could swear this used to be the case back in the 90s to mid 2000s.
I have the catalogue with a photo of a guitar signed by Mariano Jr (their distinct signatures revealed after their split 2011), Felipe V no.2 address, 1989 on front cover. THe photo on the back is a very old Mariano Sr. Working on an Indian rosewood backed guitar. The top negras are first shown in the second section as AF25/R (Brazilian rosewood), AF25 (Indian Rosewood media luna), AF24 (old M. Ramirez style headstock), the blancas were called A26 and A27 with same idea with the headstock. STudent guitars called EF 4 and EF 5 models, and the classicals are shown in first section called AC 23/R, AC 23 AC23/R.8 (8 string), AC 22....and the studio classicals called EC 3, EC2 and EC1. So it seems with the establishment of the shop in (earliest) 1989 or so, they had been using this catalogue to distinguish the models, up until as mentioned 2003 or so when the wood issue came along and they started writing the models numbers in pen, and also saying the Brazilian looking guitars were “caviuna” and such...THAT practice could have been Guitar Salon influence.
This catalogue use was before Guitar Salon, back when Luthier music in NYC USA (the string maker) were the main distributor for these guys...and their online info, or if you called them, also used these designations to distinguish the models. When I purchesed my guitar from them (Luthier) in 1997 (A 26) I asked about the rumor of R.Sanchis constructing their guitars (as was rumored at the time) and he got super angry about it and assured me that was BS. Not long after I discovered the Atocha instruments at comparable price to Sanchis that had Sanchis stamps, hence the rumors....but the rumors persist to the present that the Felipe V are also guilty of this practice.
_____________________________
CD's and transcriptions available here:
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 17 2018 15:19:31
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We had a great time when he came to visit me in Cádiz with his friend Ulpiano. 
