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Posts: 1704
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
Two videos from 2013 have surfaced
In 2013 I sent Gerardo Nuñez a guitar that I made for him and he made me a video of him playing it in front of his class--only the video was inadvertently cut short after a minute. I could tell it would have been great.... I let him know and he made me another video, which was nice but not as nice as the other would have been. (Those are on the home page of my website.) Then this week, Stu--our Stu--let me know that he had some videos from that class and I am happy to present them here. Thank you so much, Stu.
Hey cool Ethan! So glad I had them... When I mentioned it originally I was then suddenly worried I wasn't gonna have them or they'd be corrupt or something but not at all.they look and sound pretty good. Eh? Testament to your fantastic workmanship and gerrys playing.
When I watched the clip on your site the other day... I was taken back to that moment because I remember at the time finding his pronunciation of your name quite funny in his accent.
I kinda knew your name from the foro at that time and when he said....'Etaaan Doiwwtch' I remember having a little chuckle.
Anyway nice memories. And it was nice looking back through some of the videos and material I recorded in sanlucar that year and previous years.
So Ethan, did you send Gerardo a guitar as a gift? Or was it commissioned? Robert Ruck was there that year right? Did you send it over with him?
Really pleased I could send these videos onto you man
Posts: 1704
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
RE: Two videos from 2013 have surfaced (in reply to Stu)
quote:
So Ethan, did you send Gerardo a guitar as a gift? Or was it commissioned? Robert Ruck was there that year right? Did you send it over with him?
I don't know what Robert Ruck was doing; I hadn't met him yet. No, I sent it at great expense and then had a battle with UPS because after it was sent they claimed my measurements of the package were wrong and that it had actually been in a box measuring something like 24x24x24 inches and wanted even more money. I also made sure that the Spanish taxes and duty, which were considerable, were pre-paid by me. (Funny how we in the USA can buy a guitar from Spain without those costs...)
I had contacted Gerardo and asked him if he would accept a guitar from me and make me a video and some pictures of him playing it for me, if he liked it. He seemed happy to oblige (but when I asked for another video he was in the middle of grape harvesting...). He didn't commission it.
I think he got the pronunciation of my last name spot on. It's the same as in the name of that other country in Europe. When I was in Spain for a year in 1970-71, no one could pronounce Ethan. That's why I became Mario.
I also made sure that the Spanish taxes and duty, which were considerable, were pre-paid by me. (Funny how we in the USA can buy a guitar from Spain without those costs...)
I checked and retirement age in Spain is 65 (people have to work for 37 years to qualify), there’s free basic healthcare - and also private healthcare - and the work week is about 37 hours. What does the Spanish gov do with the money collected from these added costs? VAT = 21%.
When I bought my spruce/Brazilian "doble tapa" (actually a double back) from Manuel Contreras padre in June or July, 1991, I paid in pesetas. VAT was coming in the next year, maybe Euros as well.
Don Manuel told me he was raising his prices in 1992 by the same percentage as the VAT.
"Why is that, Maestro? The guitar has been denoted an essential part of Spanish culture, and is exempt from the VAT."
"Everything else is costing me more, so I have to earn more," he replied.
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think I saw a photo of you two at something on here maybe? 
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