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Madrid guitar builders with help.
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Echi
Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013
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RE: Madrid guitar builders with help. (in reply to sartorius)
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Yunah Park and Angel Benito Aguado are of course active as guitar builders. I forgot to mention them (as many others). Many ex Ramirez luthiers started a kind of collaboration with the attempt to reduce the costs: For instance I was told that Tezanos prepares the necks for many luthiers and sells them for around 100 euro each (plus the cost of the wood), someone else makes rosettes, a couple of varnishers do the job for everybody but Contreras etc.. Beside of that there are some brands more successful than others and in case they need a surplus of production in Madrid it's easy to find well trained builders that want to get paid by the piece (often in black). . I was told Tezanos and Perez were very involved with the Bernabe' guitars. Then there is this strange Spanish thing: when a master retires you discover that some other luthier was "helping him" for the last ten years ( Arcangel guitars by Caceres or Hernandez y Aguado made by Marcelino Lopez Nieto, as he declared at Orfeo magazine). in this sense Anders is absolutely right. It wouldn't be possible to work as one man shop but for the favourable circumstances and the good demand. Until half of the eighties there was a huge request for the guitars made in Madrid (and for instance companies like Ramirez had in his book dozens of employees) while after Segovia departure the market slowed down for some years. Once Ramirez, Contreras, Bernabe' or Conde etc were generally considered the top you could get, while today many people dream for other things: an hi-tech or a old school (Torres, Hauser etc) guitar. Nonetheless there is still a good request and IMHO the average quality is very good. I'm very happy with my guitars made in Madrid. Some luthiers (the first name that come to mind are Benito Aguado, Manzanero , Palttner, Lopez niego or Josè Romero) do everything but the varnishing.
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 17 2017 7:21:56
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Echi
Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013
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RE: Madrid guitar builders with help. (in reply to sartorius)
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in the case of the Madrid school the Josè Ramirez way had a big influence. The top journeymen of Ramirez in the company best age (Antonio Martinez, Paulino, Felix and Manuel Contreras) were accustomed to build from 3 to 4 guitars per month (being paid per guitar finished). They could select the tops among those already jointed and thicknessed (usually at 2.8 thickness) and the necks. Other people would have provided the rosettes and done the varnish. When the main journeymen started their own career, it was kind of natural to follow the same method in a bigger scale. They all knew each other and decided for a sort of collaboration. For instance Felix Manzanero in the first years as independent shop, used to build around 40 guitars per year. He could do it as he had a substrate of people providing services and products, which made easier to make a business. The things later changed and the same Manzanero gradually drove to a one man shop (with the help of his son); as a consequence in the last 15 years of his career he used to make around 10 guitars per year. The same thing could be said for many other makers. Arcangel, Aguado, Plattner, Nieto are definitely artisans. Ramirez, Contreras, Bernabe', Conde and maybe Pedro de Miguel could be better defined as small companies. Arcangel and Conde would deserve a different chapter.
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Mar. 17 2017 10:50:33
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