The Granada Guitar Festival is growing bigger every year. This year in addition to some great concerts and the building competition the city will host guitar-making courses as well. Master builders Manuel Cáceres and René Baarslag will run two different courses, the latter coinciding more or less with the programming of the guitar festival. Please read the rules carefully before applying.
Tag Archives: flamencoguitar
Exhibition Tour
A recent four-week exhibition in Granada organized by the Association of Guitar-makers made a very convincing case for a guitar museum in Granada. Granada has been a centre for the construction of stringed instruments since the 12 century, the city was home to some of the greatest innovators in the 19th century and today there are 50 makers working in the province. Can any other place say all that?
The video will give you an overview of the exhibition and the links will take you to each of the instruments that were on display. There is also a link to a some photographs by Alberto Juárez which were also included as homage to the original members of the Escuela Granadina. The gallery shows stills of the rest of the exhibition.
Homage to the original Escuela Granadina.
The guitar are linked in the order that they appear in the video.
José Pernas 1864
José Pernas 1838
José Pernas 1851
Agustín Caro 1824
Agustín Caro 1810
Nicolás del Valle c. 1850
Rafael Ortega c. 1890
José Ortega 1880
Bernardo Milán 1927
Andrés Quiñones 1887
Benito Ferrer 1900
J. Ortega señorita
J. Ortega c. 1900
Guitar-making competition August 2019
This year’s guitar-making competition will be diversified to include both flamenco and classical guitars with first, second and third place recognitions for each type. Here is a link to the competition rules where you can see that the deadline for application is July 15. The competition itself will take place from August 5-8 of this year. Meeting the contestants and seeing their hopeful faces is always a thrill as is hearing the final concert on the winning guitar. 
Antonio de Lorca for Sale
This is a guitar made by Antonio de Lorca, probably the last generation, for sale as is. The guitar is in Dublin but I have no more information about it. Contact the seller here.
You can read a bit more about the Lorca dynasty here.
Esta guitarra se encuentra en Dublin y se vende tal cual. Hecha por Antonio de Lorca, probablemente el de la última generación. No tengo más información sobre la guitarra pero puedes contactar con el vendedro aquí. 
Puedes leer más sobre la dinastía Lorca aquí.
Torres Comparison
I had some questions about the difference between two different Torres models which were available in my workshop for testing for a short time. After having three very good players put them through their paces here are the conclusions:
The SE70 is a bit easier to play and has a sparkle to it that the other one doesn’t have. It is really quite loud and you might even say explosive. At the same time you have to be careful how hard you push it. The basses are quite amazing and reminiscent of the original. This is the sort of guitar that you pick up and get excited about just because it is so very alive.
As for the SE153, the sound is slightly sweeter but also more controllable. The trebles have a fuller, thicker sound and it has more dynamics. According to one guitarist there is more sympathetic vibration from the guitar itself and from the strings. Sustain above the 12th fret seems to be better too. As a maker I like this one better because you can do more with it and I know from experience that it is not underbuilt.
The above is not surprising at all if you take into account the differences in construction between the two. The SE 70 is very lightly built, almost too much of a good thing. A thin top favours basses over trebles (usually) and is very good for volume. Two of the fan braces extend through openings under the lower transverse bar and possibly extend the vibrational area of the top. However, I strung it with D’addario J43 strings and that low tension makes a difference too. The saddle also might be a bit too low for its own good. It is worth mentioning that this is the very first copy of the SE 70 that I have made. On the other hand I have been making the SE153 copies for 15 years and have managed to achieve something really special and sophisticated. As you can see from the picture the SE153 is maple and the SE70 is rosewood; there might be a slight influence there too.