I became a guitar-maker partly because I was good with my hands and a bit of a loner but like almost every maker, I was in love with the guitar. That is what really decides it for you. Again, I am perhaps in the majority in that I began to play and then got interested in building. In my case I became aware very quickly that I would never become anything as a player but just couldn’t stay away from the guitar. So, what else can you do if you play but will never be great? Well, if you love the guitar, want to be involved in your community and have a talent for organising, you could start a guitar festival or get involved in one that is already functioning. Let me explain where this thought comes from:

Classifieds: (REAL) Guitar Administrators Wanted

I read this post recently even though it was published some time ago and it really struck a chord. I know a few guitarists who organize festivals in order to get more concerts for themselves by offering other festival directors concerts in turn. As Alvaro Mendizabal hints in the post this only serves to increase the mediocrity of these affairs and guitar concerts in general. I will reccommend that you read the above post in Classical Guitar Review as he makes the case very convincingly. I can also leave you with two very successful festivals organized by guitarists who are very clear where their talents lie.

Guitar Festival in Petrer, Spain

Tampere Guitar Festival in Finland

This story starts with the discovery by Javier Riba of a Vicente Arias guitar in Granada and his subsequent visit to my workshop for my impressions of the guitar. My examination of the guitar and subsequent refret of the guitar led to two things, a copy of the guitar made by myself and an article in the Spanish Guitar Society’s (SEG) journal “Roseta” authored by Javier Riba and myself. This is one of the many reasons Leopoldo Neri asked me to collaborate on this year’s monographic issue on Segovia for Roseta. Here is the table of contents so that you can see just how interesting this issue is. Sorry, only available in Spanish. In september of 2014 and thanks to the information of Julio Gimeno, I decided on the 1924 Santos in the collection of the Biblioteca Musical “Victor Espinós” in Madrid. This guitar was donated by Segovia to the library in 1932. I was able to learn a little about Santos, Segovia’s true opinion of him and a lot about this particular guitar. Just to give the article a bit more substance I decided to draw a full-size plan and include it in the article. One full day with my specialty tools turned out not to be enough and i had to go back to Madrid at a later date to fill in a few blanks which came up after I started building my first copy. There is nothing like an acid test to tell you what you are missing. As with anything worthy, this issue took a long time to put together but it is finally here. The magazine itself has a copy of the plan at page size just for illustration but not nearly so useful as the full-size ones.

The plan I drew is the property of the SEG so I only have permission to send it to readers of this issue. Once you have your issue of Roseta you can write to me and I will send you the file which will allow you to print the plans. johnguitar(at)johnguitar.com The file was designed to be printed “as is” with no adjustments necessary although it never hurts to use a ruler to check the x and y lines on each page. My co-author Elena González made the final drawing using drafting software.

Copies can be ordered from the Reno bookshop in Madrid or you can become a member of the SEG and receive the issues as they come out in return for your membership fee. This is a double issue so the price is higher than usual. I have already made a copy of this guitar and I can say that the thicknesses and measurements of this guitar work very well. I am working on the fourth copy now and I think I will be making this model for many years to come.

Wednesday October 19 at 18:30 the latest issue of Roseta will be presented at the Music Library “Biblioteca Musical Victor Espinós” in Madrid. There is a complete list of the contents of this double issue as well as a bit about the event itself on the spanish guitar forum here. I was given permission to translate the article about Arias after that was published so I put it up on this site so maybe the same will be possible with this article.

Last year I was asked to participate in a monographic issue of the spanish musicology magazine Roseta, an academic journal dedicated exclusively to the guitar. My contribution is a detailed study of a Santos Hernández guitar housed in Madrid’s Victor Espinós musical library.  Perhaps my extensive work with historical guitars qualifies me especially for this task. The guitar is a fantastically well-preserved testament to the art of Santos Hernández and was donated to the library by none other than Andrés Segovia. The article includes a complete plan of the guitar, some photos and some history.

In related news I am almost finished with the french polish on the second and third replicas of this instrument and I have had some very positive feedback from the guitarists who have tried these copies “in the white”. I too am very pleased with how they sound. Of course I can’t talk about this guitar without once again applauding the exquisite taste Hernández had in rosette-making.

The special issue of Roseta should be available next week and I hope to be able to share some of it with you.

Paco Santiago Marin is one of the best-known makers here in Granada and an excellent artisan.  It is not often that the powers that be recognize the figure of the the craftsman in the shadows who is instrumental in the successes of the acclaimed musician but just maybe things are changing.  The Orquesta Ciudad de Granada will inaugurate its 2016/2017 season with the concert ‘Homenaje al guitarrero granadino Paco Marín’, 50 aniversario, on October 8, 2016. I will be there of course and hopefully the rest of the guitar-makers in town will show up to support this recognition.

Programme
I
J.S. Bach Cantata Wir danken dir, Gott BWV 29
Solista Ricardo Gallén
J. Rodrigo 3 viejos aires de danza
J. Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez
Solista Joaquín Clerch

II
J. Clerch Fantasía en los Jardines de Falla
Solistas Joaquín Clerch
Ricardo Gallén
Marco Tamayo
David Martínez

I. Albéniz- A.Guinovart 4 paisajes ibéricos

Orquesta Ciudad de Granada
Director Thomas Gabrisch
Intérpretes
DAVID MARTÍNEZ
JOAQUÍN CLERCH
RICARDO JESÚS GALLÉN GARCÍA
MARCO TAMAYO