Blancas are great fun to make and to play. I tend to put aside my lightest pieces of wood for flamencos and it really makes a difference. This one has come in under 1100g with strings and tuners. You can see below the final version of the rosette that I was so happy about. French polish really brings out the subtleties of it. 
Category Archives: Photos of my guitars
Availability
Every guitarist has specific needs (and even whims) and so needs a specific guitar. This is one of the reasons why Granada is such a fantastic place to come as a guitarist looking for a guitar. If you find you don’t fit with what Antonio Marín or Manuel Bellido are making there are a myriad of other makers within walking distance. I have found recently that making historical copies has been a great option for me but the fact that I never have all of my models on hand means that when visitors come they can only sometimes try the model that might best fit with their desires or playing style. Over the years I have welcomed many great players to my workshop but I have not always had the model of guitar I would have liked to show them and sometimes had no guitar available at all! I want to make sure that I have the full spectrum of my work available for audition when guitarits visit Granada. Here are a few I would like to meet again soon.
Marcin Dylla
Carles Trepat
Alex Garrobé
Alexei Khorev
Zoran Dukic
Gabriel Estarellas
Carsten Grondal
Edson Lopes
Aaron Larget-Caplan
and a long et cetera
So hopefully if my clients can be patient with their comissions over the course of this year and the next I will be putting aside one of each of my models: Santos copy, Torres SE 153, La invencible, my flamenco and my concert model. I think I will not bother with the 1900 Vicente Arias double back as that didn’t get much of a response and as for the romantic guitar no one is willing to pay 7000 Euros for that so it too is pretty much off the menu.
The first element in this “collection” is the 1924 Santos Hernandez, faithfully copied from the original which Andrés Segovia donated to the Musical Library in Madrid and is conserved there. Someone get the word out to Russell and Barrueco that now is the time to visit Granada. 😉
Getting started
The first step in making new guitars is choosing wood. I sorted through my stash of american rosewood and checked that my back and side matching was still to my liking and chose the wood for the next batch of instruments. I still have some very nice wood and just love getting it out, smelling it and seeing how it responds to the tools. I’ll be making three Santos copies and one maple Torres copy. I still make the Torres quite regularly but I might well end up making more Santos than Torres. Here are two photos of the latest Santos copy I made.
La Invencible – Parque de las Ciencias
As part of the the temporary exhibition entitled “Play. Música y Ciencia” at the Granada Science Park, the Granada Guitar-makers Association has a space which includes a live guitar-maker’s workshop and an display case for three guitars. We have been rotating the guitars so that all of the members get a chance to show their guitars. For the next three months my copy of Torres’ La Invencible will be on display. This is a true copy, right down to the silver plaque affixed to the headstock. 
La Invencible de Antonio de Torres – my second copy
I have just finished the second copy of the great Invencible. I am known for my copies of historic instruments and I think it has a lot to do with how extremely careful I am to record and reproduce every aspect. These Invencible copies represent a new level of fidelity right down to the color of the varnish and the wood used . A copy of the original silver plaque is afixxed to the head too. Of course the interior structure and the thicknesses are exactly the same as the original. 
