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2013 Graciliano Perez Cedar/Rosewood
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avimuno
Posts: 598
Joined: Feb. 9 2007
From: Paris, France
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 2013 Graciliano Perez Cedar/Rosewood
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Hi guys,
I thought I'd give my impressions on a guitar I received a couple of months ago. I got in touch with Graciliano Perez from Cordoba a year or so ago about ordering a guitar. I was hearing some good things about his guitars, and I must confess that seeing Vicente Amigo playing a bunch of them made me tip over (I'm weak like that!  ).
After almost 11 months in the waiting list, my guitar was ready in October. I ordered a cedar top/rosewood back and sides guitar, with some custom measurements. I'm a big guy and it was great to have Perez build me a guitar with bigger dimensions (665mm scale, 54mm nut width, 62mm string spacing at the bridge). The guitar is finished in french polish and overall it looks gorgeous. It also feels very comfortable... it is the first time that I am getting a guitar built to me own specific measurements, and this will be my way to go from now on. The difference is only of a couple of millimeters but my right hand does not feel cramped, and my big left hand fingers do not feel awkward when fretting the strings... it just feels right.
Otherwise, building quality is very good, and the woods look very nice. The only minor flaw is that it came with less than satisfactory tuners and a cheap case. At the price I paid, I did not expect more, since most of the money probably went in the woods and the craftsmanship, so I changed the tuners to a set of Fustero I had lying around and I bought a really nice BAM fiberglass case for it.
The set up and the action are very nice and the guitar is just a great player.
Sound wise, after playing it intensely for a couple of months, I must say that the top is really starting to open up. The pulsation is somewhat harder than my Tom Blackshear Reyes, but I like it. The trebles really sing very nicely, and they have a lot of meat to them. The basses are strong, crisp and deep. I expected the cedar top to produce a really round tone, but the sound is actually very very flamenco with just the right amount of warmth and roundness. The guitar is loud, and the dynamic range is just great... it can go from very lyrical to a big flamenco bark depending on your right hand attack. Rasgeados and alzapua also sound great and explosive... this is definitely not a classical guitar with tap-plates on it.
All in all it's a great flamenco player, with the ability to explore other styles of music (I also play a lot of brazilian music these days - mostly Baden Powell stuff - and this baby does a great job for that too). The sound is not as refined as my Tom Blackshear, especially the trebles, but this guitar still has some opening up to do. So far I am enjoying the contrast between the sweet lyrical trebles and the raw bark of the basses.
A word must also be said about dealing with Jose Antonio and Graciliano (the former deals with clients whilst the latter builds the guitars). They are both great guys. Jose has always replied to my (many) emails promptly, and Graciliano has delivered on the goods (especially when it came to the custom measurements). My order got delayed by a couple of months since they have a huge backlog of orders, and to make up for it, they gracefully offered to pay for shipping, which I found was a nice gesture.
I am attaching 3 pictures... the first two are of my guitar. Jose Antonio sent me these pictures when the guitar was ready in their shop. The third picture is my guitar's twin, which is owned by Vicente Amigo... same woods, and built at around the same time as mine (mine was build right before Vicente's according to Jose Antonio), measurements are however not the same.
I will try to upload a video of me playing the guitar so that you guys can get an idea of how it sounds and feels like.
Gracias!
Saludos,
Avi
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Dec. 17 2013 15:56:16
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avimuno
Posts: 598
Joined: Feb. 9 2007
From: Paris, France
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RE: 2013 Graciliano Perez Cedar/Rosewood (in reply to tele)
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quote:
If I'm not mistaken, vicente playing a reyes made the prices rise alot, same thing might happen to perez guitars with couple years. I would guess that at the moment their are prices are very reasonable.
Vicente playing a Reyes definitely contributed to increasing the demand (and therefore the price) for these guitars, but there are other factors to consider. Beyond Vicente consistently being seeing playing and recording with a Reyes, many great players play Reyes guitars (Tomatito for instance); and Manuel Reyes, who was already considered one of the finest when Vicente ordered his own guitars, has built up his reputation as one of the finest luthiers alive throughout a long building career, it did not happen overnight.
Vicente being seen playing Graciliano Perez guitars will definitely help them get their name out there, and I have definitely noticed an increase in their prices. I paid less for my guitar than what they are charging now, but bear in mind that I had ordered it more than a year ago... the exact same guitar goes for €3,500 now if you order directly from them. Jose Antonio told me that they will increase their prices again at the end of 2014. The fact is that they are able to do so because the orders keep coming in, and Vicente being seen playing them is certainly helping. And of course their guitars are good too, it's not just pictures of Vicente holding them which are selling these babies.
I don;t know how much they will be worth in a couple of years, I have no intention of selling mine... but I must admit on being glad to have gotten my order in before the prices really exploded.
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Dec. 17 2013 16:42:37
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avimuno
Posts: 598
Joined: Feb. 9 2007
From: Paris, France
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RE: 2013 Graciliano Perez Cedar/Rosewood (in reply to avimuno)
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Thanks guys! It is indeed a very nice guitar and I like it a lot.
You're right tele, the price is reasonable considering the quality you're getting, and "exploding" might have been too strong a word  .
You could get the exact same guitar I got for €2,000 about 15 months ago. The blanca was then going for €1,800 if I remember correctly.
It was obvious that Graciliano and Jose could not keep practicing these prices, considering that these are handmade artisan guitars. And to be fair, the prices they practice are very good if you ask me, even now... As I said in my review, their guitars are very nice! But what I was trying to say was that the prices were being driven up very quickly indeed... maybe too quickly, they would have almost doubled in less then 2 years (and that's if you buy directly from them). This is why I said that I was happy to have ordered mine before their prices really started going up.
Saludos!
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Dec. 18 2013 5:05:05
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