Quite recently I was contacted by a film-maker and a guitar-maker (both american) about a project they had begun which would bring them to Granada to film a guitar being made here along with some footage which was to deal with the history of Granada and the spanish guitar’s deep, deep roots here.   I felt that even though the focus didn’t seem to be on the Granada guitar, the makers and their history, if I could push it that way just a little it might be worth our while.  In this spirit I agreed to lend a hand where I could.   Here is the project website where they can tell you their own story.  The film-maker is Sky Sabin and the guitar-maker is Steve Connor. The film will be very interesting without a doubt but there will be plently left to tell in the documentary about the Granada makers which remains to be made.  Any takers for that job?

Mother-of-pearl can add something very special to the decoration of a guitar but working with it is a pain.  You can’t scrape, plane or chisel it and it can’t be incorporated into projects like making ten rosettes at once.  As I have so often said before, the successful craftsman relies on efficency to make a half-decent living and to make enough instruments to allow him to become more profficient.  One way around this problem with M.O.P. is to use a spacer.  I have posted photos before of my strips that I make of with the central motif.  I can slice the strips off and bundle them with the herringbone and veneers and install them in one go.  The plastic spacer is popped out once the top is thicknessed and the M.O.P. can be glued in and sanded down flush.

I was approached recently by someone who wants to sell this guitar and had asked at Casa Parramon for an appraisal of this instrument.  She was told to contact me and I asked to see it.  The guitar belonged to an aficionado who really knew his guitars and had two Santos and a number of other great guitars.  This family was host to Alirio Díaz, Regino Sainz de la Maza and other great guitarists when they were in Granada.  These are the evenings of music that sparked the interest of a young Antonio Marín Montero. It is not surprising that this guitar was chosen among many as it is a great one.

Manuel de la Chica is often touted as the best maker that Granada has ever produced and while I don’t necessarily agree with that I do place him very high on the list.  It should be stated, however, that some part of his later production was made up of guitars made by Antonio Marín and Manuel Bellido which de la Chica sold under his own label (according to Marín and Bellido).  He may also have done that with Germán Pérez Barranco and Francisco Manuel Díaz as they were disciples of his.  De la Chica was to a large degree self-taught but claims to have examined the guitars of Santos Hernández and based his early work on those instruments.  Richard Bruné’s observations that de la Chica’s guitars were often given false labels so that they could be sold as Santos guitars lends support to this.  I have seen a number of guitars by both makers and the similarities are striking.  Those makers here in Granada who remember de la Chica hold him up as standard of organization, craftsmanship and inventiveness; the hallmarks of the artisan. For a bit more on the man who made this guitar see this newspaper article from 1947.

This guitar was expertly restored by Manuel Bellido some years ago to deal with two cracks in the top and one in the back.  The geometry of the guitar is healthy and I think will continue to be a very playable instrument for many years. Update, this guitar has been sold.

These cases come with two carrying straps and can be ordered with the case cover at extra cost.  I don’t think they have a Spanish distributor yet so I bought mine from the UK dealer.  They are very light and certainly solve two of the problems with guitar cases.  Most other cases will pass the shock of a drop straight to the guitar but these don’t have any firm contact points with the guitar so most of the shock will be absorbed.  The crush strength is very good too although something very heavy will still flatten it.