The Antonio de Torres Museum has organized an exhibition “Five centuries of the Spanish guitar” with a guitar made by Thomas Durán as its central piece. I am looking forward to attending later this month if I can manage it. The main strength of the museum as I have experienced it is the temporary exhibitions as well the concerts and conferences organised by the Sociedad Guitarrística de Almería – Antonio de Torres. In this case the person responsible for the exhibition is the luthier Carlos González from Almeria.

This festival includes a competition for young players, masterclasses and some very interesting concerts.

Another incursion into my guitar bookshelves has reminded me of a book by a spanish maker: Jerónimo Peña Fernández. The title is “El Arte de un Guitarrero Español” and although it makes for an interesting read in Spanish , it is not what most people would expect from a method book and perhaps there are much better choices for the novice.

Above is a photo from that book showing a  bracing system that was surely his own invention. Lattice bracing that I have seen is made up of diagonally placed braces which cross each other but there are many variations on that theme. I remember reading somewhere how the Smallman type lattice came about but nobody mentioned this guy who has been building for 50 or 60 years. I don’t know when he started using this system but it was a long time ago. He is known all over the world and even seems to have a street named after him in his home town. In the book there are drawing of other systems some of which include diagonal braces.