Last week a friend came by with a guitar that needed repairing. I agreed to have a look and advise him but I didn’t really have the time to do the work on it. It was a late 80’s Manuel Reyes and the action had been modified by the previous owner. The saddle and nut were shimmed, the bridge was lifting which might have been the reason why the break angle was too low. In order to “fix” that someone had filed grooves in the saddle. The fingerboard was a bit concave (radiussed inwards) and the frets were a bit uneven probably due to that. A hairline crack had developed next to the fretboard too. Someone else did the work in the end and I think he was happy with it. He played it a bit before the repair and I was surprised at how boomy it was. I have experienced a few Reyes before and had never heard that. The owner is Alberto Cuellar, I hope to tell you more about him and his work in China soon as I have asked him to write something for me here. Another interesting thing I learned from this visit is that I need another solution for making videos.
Category Archives: People
The Legacy of Antonio de Lorca
The following is translated from the pertinent sections of “La Guitarra Malagueña-Cinco Siglos de Historia” by E. Rioja 1989. This information is probably found in one of his books but in this case the source is the catalogue of an exhibition of the same name. Musicologist Eusebio Rioja wrote the only book about the guitar makers of Granada back in 1976 and has established himself as an expert on the Spanish guitar especially with regards to the makers of Andalucia.
Antonio de Lorca Garcia
Antonio was born to Asensio (a carpenter) and Florencia in the Spanish city of Cartagena in 1798 and baptised in the parish church of Santa Maria. At the age of 20 he moved to Malaga where he was registered as living at number 13 Carretería street. He married Francisca Pino, became a widower early on but not before having five children: Dolores, Pilar, Encarnación, Antonio and Carolina. He died in 1870.
His reputation as a guitar maker must have been good and he seemed to have no economic problems. There are records of servants working at his home and a long list of journeymen in his workshop. Among them were: José María Torrens, José Salido, Antonio Pomar, and Salvador Castellón. In 1848 he was awarded a silver medal by the “Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País in an exhibition on the presentation of “a guitar with excellent voices”. This maker begins a dynasty which carries on with his son Antonio de Lorca Pino, his grandson Antonio de Lorca Ramirez and through Francisco Dominguez (guitar maker in the workshop of Lorca Pino) and his son José Dominguez still working today in Muro de San Julian street. (José Dominguez died in the 90’s and left no disciples)
Domingo Prat, and some of the labels on Lorca’s guitars, claim that the workshop was founded in 1803 but given his birthdate of 1798 that seems highly unlikely. In any case the relevance of this line of guitar makers is unquestionable, given the information above as well as the mention of Lorca in the following publications:
Francisco Bejarano, “Guitarrerías”
Sebastian Souvirón, “Historias del siglo XIX”
Manuel Blasco, “La Málaga de comienzos del siglo”
Antonio de Lorca Pino
This maker learned from his father and supervised Francisco Muñiz, Vicente Salido, Francisco Molina, the already mentioned Francisco Dominguez and of course his own son Antonio de Lorca Ramirez. Domingo Prat writes of Lorca Pino the following:
“Lorca Pino, within the world of guitars, guitar makers, and guitarists he moved in, knew how to make his workshop a meeting point and place of study and critique where Torres, (Julian) Arcas, and (Juan) Parga and many others often visited. We could say that among instruments and music the shavings fell down giving rise to multicoloured preludes. Lorca Pino was a distinguished player, a student of Parga who in 1893 dedicated to Lorca his Opus 10 Capricho sobre las murcianas, his first concert rhapsody. Juan Parga’s guitar that appears on the cover of his published works was built by Lorca, his guitarist disciple in 1889.”
Antonio de Lorca Ramirez
He continued the family tradition but increased production and included lower quality instruments in his offering.
A cd with one track on an original Lorca
A cd with duets on a Lorca copy
Antonio de Torres 1892 SE153
The original is from 1892 and is number SE 153 as you can see from the label. I saw the original for the first time at a concert and workshop given by the owner Carles Trepat here in Spain. We talked and I looked at and listened carefully to the guitar privately. The idea to make a replica matured over the next year and we arranged to meet to take measurements and photos. In the end I had to travel from Granada to Lerida (near Barcelona) to meet with Carles because although he had been in this area he was busy with concerts and masterclasses. I convinced my master Rolf Eichinger to make the trip with me because I felt I needed his vast knowledge of historical instruments and how to read backwards from what you see on a 100 plus year old guitar. So many things can change like arching, neck angle and even thicknesses over time. We spent almost an entire day with the instrument and I took careful notes and these and other pictures. We reconstructed the original arching of the guitar taking into account the angle of the top where it meets the sides at different points and disregarding the actual arching present today. We took thickness measurements and tried to account for the final sanding and tried to spot repairs and refinishing. The typical situation of slightly thinner perimeter usually indicates the above and not a desire by the maker to leave that part thinner. 
Rolf was always obsessed with the harmony and aesthetics of the body shapes of the great makers’ guitars and his extensive experience in reconstructing those curves with compas and rule allowed me to make an accurate mold which made for a symmetrical and blanced body form; original but without the typical variations which are usually present in historical instruments.
My intention with this guitar is to make a perfect copy and at the same time to get as close to the sound of the original as possible. I think to do both is impossible because of the time that has passed since 1892. In order to get closer to the sound of the original I work slightly thinner and try to use my oldest and lightest-weight wood. 
I even try to use similar looking top wood. My philosophy of the copy is that the aesthetics and measurements should be the same but when it comes to techniques and methods which are not evident in the guitar I don’t trust what the “experts” claim were the methods of Torres. Rather I think that the closest we can come to his methods is to follow the tradition he helped establish and to use those techniques still alive today.
Anything I have modified has been to make the guitar a better tool for the musician. Things like: some of the frets were not perfectly placed and the bridge compensation was not right on the original, since my guitar is thought to be very comfortable I carve the neck to a similar shape on this model, I make a small lip on the back of the bridge as added insurance against the bridge lifting. The weight of the original was 1225g and the weight of my first copy (maple) was 1232. That was just chance but it was satisfying. I don’t worry about a specific weight or body frequence the way some makers do but I do try to keep the guitar light. This guitar has taught me so much, I find myself needing to invent methods to achieve certain effects (on the rosette for example) and then I realize that Torres MUST have done it the same way so I have invented nothing.
I am sure you are familiar with the technique of placing a light bulb inside the guitar to see the fan bracing. However, with very old guitars the top is not nearly so translucent so I had to doctor this shot a bit to get the fans to show up clearly. They were perfectly visible for the purpose of making my drawing but the original photo was not suitable for posting.
Here is a video of Trepat playing the original.
Andrés Segovia Competition
Here is the official news in Spanish. For 28 years now the town of La Herradura on the coast of Granada province has hosted a competition for guitarists under 35 which bears the name of El Maestro himself. We went down for the finals last night and heard four versions of Fantasia para un Gentilhombre by Rodrigo. I liked the Romanian Mircea Stefan Gogoncea (better sound as well as better playing) but the jury (made up of professional guitarists unlike myself) chose Gabriel Bianco from France and his Smallman. I must admit that there was a problem with the oboe during M. Bianco’s performance and he might have played better under different circumstances. As a matter of fact the piece he played after the prize ceremony was excellent. The photos were taken with no flash of course and from quite a ways back but the press got some good shots so look them up if you are interested. Second prize went to Gogoncea and third went to Anton Baranov from Russia.
One thing I found quite interesting while perusing the programme was the list of past winners. It reads like a who’s who of the classical guitar world. If there are any typos blame it on the OCR software.
CERTAMEN – 1985
1°. Desierto.
2º. D. Wulfin Lieske (Alem. Federal).
3°. D. Carlos Trepat Domínguez (España).
IICERTAMEN-1986
1°. D. José Fernández Bardesio (Uruguay).
2°. D. Wulfin Lieske (Alem. Federal).
3°. D. M°. Esther Guzmán Blanco (España).
III CERTAMEN -1987
1°. D. M. Esther Guzmán Blanco (España).
2°. D. Marco Schmidt (Alem. Federal).
3°. D. Eduardo Baranzano Fernández (Uruguay).
IV CERTAMEN -1988
1°. Desierto.
2°. D. Claudio Marcotulli (Italia).
3°. D. Geert Classens (Bélgica).
1 CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Desierto.
V CERTAMEN.1989
1°. D. Francesco Moccia (Italia).
2°. D. Eduardo Baranzano Fernández (Uruguay).
3°. D. Carmen M.a Ros Abellán (España).
D. AIex Garrobé Marqui (España).
II CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN —
1°. Desierto.
VI CERTAMEN -1990
1°. D. Joaquín Clerch (Cuba).
2°. D. Francisco Cuenca Morales (España).
3°. D. José Guerola Casas (España).
III CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Zul de D. José Manuel Fernández (España)
VII CERTAMEN -1991
1°. D. Edoardo Catemario (Italia).
2°. D. Fabio Pedroso Zanon (Brasil).
3°. D. José Guerola Casas (España).
IV CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Magie de D. Nuccio D’Angelo (Italia)
VIII CERTAMEN -1992
1°. Desierto.
2°. D. Satashi Oba (Japón).
3°. D. Anders Karlsson (Suecia).
D. César Hualde Resano (España).
V CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Desierto
IX CERTAMEN 1993
1°. D. Franz Halasz (Alemania).
2°. D. Denis Azabagic (Bosnia – Herzegovina).
3°. D. Zoran Dukic (Zogreb – Croacia).
VI CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Força de D. Juan A. Moreno (España)
X CERTAMEN -1994
1°. Desierto.
2°. D. Denis Azabagic (Bosnia – Herzegovina).
3°. D. Margarita García Escarpa (España).
VII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Melisma – Jondo de D. José María Benavente (España)
Xl CERTAMEN -1995
1.° Desierto.
2º. D. Denis Azabagic (Bosnia – Herzegovina).
3.° D. Christian Saggese (Italia).
VIII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Talea de D. José Manuel Fernández (España)
XII CERTAMEN -1996
1 .° D. Zoran Dukic (Zagreb – Croacia).
2.° D. Christiari Saggese (Italia).
D. Denis Azabagic (Bosnia).
3º. D. Michael Kujawa (Alemania).
IX CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Entoada de D. Alexandre de Faria (Brasil)
XIII CERTAMEN -1997
1°. Desierto.
2°. D. Giulio Tampalini (Italia).
3°. D. Antonio Duro Herrera (España).
D. Enrique Solinís Azpiazu (España).
X CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Regreso a Jan Mayen de D. Enrique Igoa (España)
XIV CERTAMEN – 1998
1°. D. Ricardo Jesús Gallén García.
2°. D. Christian Saggese.
3°. Desierto.
XI CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Sonata Porteña de D. Luis Eduardo Bravo (Argentina)
XV CERTAMEN – 1999
1°. D. Christian Saggese (Italia)
2°. D. Dejan Ivanovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
3°. Desierto.
XII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. La misma Luz de Entonces de D. Marco Smaili (España)
XVI CERTAMEN – 2000
1°. D. Goran Krivocapic (Yugoslavia).
2°. D. Grzegorz Krawiec (Polonia).
3°. D. Mauricio Díaz Alvarez (México).
XIII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Five Pieces de D. Virginio ZocateIli (Italia)
INTERPRETACIÓN : D. Dejan lvanovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
XVII CERTAMEN – 2001
1°. D. Dejan Ivanovic (Croacia)
2°. D. Ramón Carnota Méndez (España).
3°. D. Jérerny Jouve (Francia).
XIV CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. El Jardín de Lindaraja de D. Eduardo Morales Caso (Cuba)
INTERPRETACIÓN : D. José Javier Navarro Lucas (España).
XVIII CERTAMEN – 2002
1°. Desierto
2.° D. Roman Viazovskiy (Ucrania).
3.° D. Fotis Koutsothodoros (Grecia).
D. Ramón Carnota Méndez (España).
XV CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Westward Voyage de D. James Lentini (Estados Unidos)
INTERPRETACIÓN: D. Ander Ciernen Oien (Noruega)
XX CERTAMEN – 2003
1°. D. Ander Ciernen Oien (Noruega).
2°. D. Rarnón Carnota Méndez (España).
3°. D. Roman Viazovskiy (Ucrania)
XVI CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Hechizos de D. Mauricio Arenas Fuentes (Chile) INTERPRETACIÓN: D. Rornan Viazovskiy (Ucrania)
XX CERTAMEN – 2004
1°. Desierto.
2°. D. Alen Garagic (Bosnia).
D. Marco Tarnayo (Cuba).
3°. D. Isabel Montesinos (España).
D. David Martínez García (España).
XVII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Alter Ego 1 de D. Evis Sarnrnoutis (Chipre)
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: D. Jan Depreter (Bélgica)
XVIII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN – 2005 1°. Retorna de D. Javier Farías Caballero (Chile)
XXII CERTAMEN – 2006
1°. D. Andrey Parfinovich (Rusia).
2°. Desierto.
3°. D. Shani Invar (Israel).
XIX CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Crornático de D. Jorge Miguel González (España)
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: D. Andrey Parfinovich (Rusia)
XXIII CERTAMEN – 2007
1°. D. Bertrand Pietu (Francia)
2°. D. Esteban Espinoza Norarnbuena (Chile)
3°. D. Juan Ignacio Rueda (España)
D. Dirnitri lllarionov (Rusia)
XX CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
lº. Homenaje a Frank Martin de D. Antonio Domínguez Buitrago
(España)
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: D. Alesandro Benedetelli (Italia)
PREMIO JJ.MM. D. Andrea González Caballero (España)
XXIV CERTAMEN – 2008
1º. D. Otto Tolonen (Finlandia)
2°. D. Gustavo Costa (Brasil)
3°. Dña. Paola Requena Toulouse (España) D. Ah Arango Marcano (Cuba)
XXI CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN
1°. Temple y Puya de D. Héctor González (Cuba)
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: D. Otto Tolonen (Finlandia)
PREMIO JJ.MM. : D. Jerzy Chwastyk (Polonia)
XXV CERTAMEN -2009
1°. D. Dimitri Illarionov (Rusia)
2°. D. Gustavo Costa (Brasil)
3°. Dña. Iva Nezic (Croacia)
XXII CONCURSO DE COMPOSICIÓN: Desierto
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: Jerzy Chwastyk (Polonia)
PREMIO JJ.MM. : Dña. Anna Likhacheva (Rusia)
XXVI CERTAMEN – 2010
1°. D. Emerson Salazar (Chile)
2°. D. Gustavo Costa (Brasil)
3°. D. Jerzy Chwastyk (Polonia)
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: D. Emerson Salazar (Chile)
PREMIO JJ.MM. : D. José Casallas (Colombia)
XXVII CERTAMEN – 2011
1°. D. Renato Serrano (Chile)
2°. D. Esteban Espinoza (Chile)
3°. D. András Csaki (Hungría)
PREMIO LEO BROUWER: D. Renato Serrano (Chile)
PREMIO JJ.MM. : D. Luis Guevara (Chile)
PREMIO DE COMPOSICIÓN: Desierto
Public Radio
The national classical radio station here in Spain has a programme on Sunday nights dedicated to the guitar. Last week they played music from the two albums that Javier Riba has recorded. The first one, with music from Albeniz was recorded with my Torres copy and the second one with music written for Andrés Segovia was recorded with the 1900 Vicente Arias.