Yesterday, the guitar-makers of Granada all received official notification of the exhibition “Honores a la Casa Ferrer” to be held at the Fundación Rodríguez Acosta. The exhibition runs from October 11th to the 29th and is part of the Festival de la Guitarra de Granada. As far as I know the different generations of the family Ferrer will be represented as will those who worked directly with the owners. Most of the guitar-makers in Granada have learned from someone who in turn learned from someone who worked with Eduardo Ferrer but obviously those who had a more direct contact are fewer.  As I have written on other occasions there are many reasons why the standard of guitar-making is so high in Granada but certainly the great number of makers in Granada is due largely to the fact that Benito Ferrer, Eduardo Ferrer and Antonio Durán (owners of the Casa Ferrer over the years) hired so many makers.

Yesterday Aarón García Ruiz received a Ph.D. in History and Science of Music from the Universtiy of Granada. His doctoral thesis, entitled “La escuela granadina antigua de construcción de guitarras: Propuesta de un protocolo para el estudio de cordófonos” is a neccesary reference for musicologists and guitar-makers everywhere. I have not yet had access to the thesis but I hope to soon. I did attend the defense and was impressed with the amount of original material and the fierce support of the Granada school.

This thesis makes it very clear who is the true expert on the Granada school of guitar-makers and bridges the gap between musicologists and luthiers.

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1st INTERNATIONAL GUITAR MAKING COMPETITION ‘ANTONIO MARIN MONTERO’. GRANADA, 26-29 October 2017

September 30 is the last day for registration for participation in this competition. I personally am counting on this competition becoming an annual event just as the organizers are hoping. Given the prizes, this year’s offer seems to be intended for the younger makers and those wishing to get some more exposure to the market. However, there is no reason why in coming years could not follow the lines of the great instrument making competitions (Paris, Cremona) and become the international reference for great guitar making. Why shouldn’t Granada attract the biggest international names in guitar-making once a year? In the meantime, I have heard that quite a few makers have signed up already but as the limit is 50 participants there is still room for you to register.

We have all heard of the Pegheds mechanical pegs and some of us have tried them. My experience has been mostly good and clients are fine with them once they get used to them. Defective pegs were replaced free of charge when I had a problem.

I know the Wittner pegs have been available more recently but I had not seen them until now. They look good and don’t need to be screwed in which might be an advantage. Also no right or left pegs. I look forward to trying this set out but I don’t yet have a project to use them on.  I do like the feel of a flamenco with pegs mostly because of the lighter headstock.

Seguramente conocen el registro de artesanos promovido por las administraciones regionales de España. Hasta ahora muchos de nosotros en Andalucía hemos estado en contra de registrarnos por lo mal que lo han hecho hasta la fecha. No han seguido sus propias reglas, no reconocen a los verdaderos maestros como tal y favorecen a los que pasan el día de despacheo y papeleo en lugar de los que están trabajando en sus talleres o trabajando por el gremio. Particularmente indignante es la derogaciòn de los cartas de artesano históricos que poseían todos los guitarreros. Esta derogación se hizo sin avisar, sin comunicarla a los mismos artesanos y por supuesto sin hacerles cartas nuevas con el modelo vigente. Y ahora se jubilan sin posibilidad de aparecer en esas listas como lo que son: los más importantes del gremio. Es importante porque cuando la junta o el estado tome decisiones sobre la artesania deben contar con estas personas y con las asociaciones. Sin embargo, sólo entabalan conversación con los que están en el registro de asociaciones, tanto individuos como asociaciones.

Los títulos de artesano y “maestro artesano” no nos interesa pero sí nos interesa que cuentan con nosotros para hacer normas y leyes que nos afecte. Estamos hartos de ver como las administraciones ensalza a vendedores profesionales que solo quieren ver su nombre aparecer en público y se dejan orientar por ellos. Vendiendo guitarras hechas en fábrica y no por ellos mismos dan muy mala fama a todos los guitarreros . Ahora los funcionarios nos han dejado muy claro que la único forma de efectuar algún cambio es haciendo presión desde dentro, no nos hacen caso si no estamos en su listado.

Por todo esto varios guitarreros (serios) hemos decidido apuntarnos al registro e intentar trabajar para mejorar este sistema. De momento el registro sólo muestra dos entradas recientes de Granada pero desde el primero de agosto varios guitarreros más y yo estamos registrados. Yo ya tengo mi carta y supongo que pronto actualizarán el registro en la página web.