I met James Lister at Cordefactum 2017 in Belgium but I know him better as moderator and helpful guru on the Delcamp Forum and instructor at the prestigious Newark College guitar-making programme. He was also very active in the Leonardo Guitar Research Project. When I heard that he had published a repair guide I was sure it would be well-written and very useful for guitarists and repair people. It took some time to find a Spanish vendor but Madera Guitarras now has it and my copy arrived a few days ago. It looks great but I have yet to dig into it. This article in its original location is full of links so check it out there.

As you may know, I make copies of historic instruments: one of the last guitars made by Antonio de Torres, the Santos Hernández that Segovia owned and donated to the Madrid Library of Music as well as others. This means that at any one time I might be making 4 different styles of guitar in one batch. I looked through my little black book this morning to see when the last time I made 4 concert guitars (no copies) at one time and it was in 2017. And before that was in 2013. I am very happy with this model and usually recommend it to players unless they are looking for a specific sound and aesthetic that the copies might provide. The guitar being played in the video is for sale at DKclassical guitars in Scotland.

This is the Torres bracing from the copy that I make of SE 153. You will find this pattern in guitars all over the world in slightly different configurations. The angle or “spread” of the fan struts might be widened or narrowed. The closing struts can be eliminated or shortened and as in my concert model the bridge area can be reinforced. Guitars made in Granada almost always use a very traditional construction which means that they are based on Torres or someone who followed Torres.

Speaking of Granada we are in the midst of the First Bienal de Flamenco de Granada right now. Antonio Campos Muñoz put together a great show on Sunday which was presented as a celebration of Granada guitarists and Granada guitar-makers. He put together a show with 8 different guitarists each playing a guitar made in Granada. This show also served as a presentation of a new “Guitar-makers route” which allows visitors to visit all of the workshops in the city and learn more about this wonderful tradition.

My holidays this year took me to the wonderful Ribera Sacra in Galicia. It is known for its wines but mostly for the beauty of the landscape including forests and tiny villages with stone houses. Sadly some of those villages and houses are abandoned as more and more people move to the cities. We had the great pleasure of staying in a very special place while we were there “O Castro Art Village” and I would highly recommend it both as a place to stay as well as an inspirational place to explore for artists of all stripes. Our host Davoud has done amazing things with the abandoned village of O Castro and we had a wonderful relaxing time. He also made some great meals for us. This project is centred around the idea that creators, teachers and leaders need a beautiful space to share their gifts. O Castro homepage.

I offer this guitar as my own creation, something that I have developed over the past 30 years. However, as you can see it is very traditional and really nothing new. The five fan struts are very Torres and the very low, thin reinforcement UNDER the fan struts is pure Granada. At the same time the air volume, dimensions and thicknesses have been modified over time to get the best sound possible. I charge more for the historic copies with their added costs and special decorations but this is the guitar that I am constantly trying to improve and so is the one that I tend to recommend.