Last week I finished some work on a Manuel de la Chica 1970 and it has now gone back to its owner. The guitar was in excellent shape but needed some work and especially the owner wanted an expert opinion on a previous intervention and the stability of a crack which seemed to be starting. The first thing I do with a guitar like this is examine it completely and investigate its history and construction as deeply as possible. The first thing I noticed was that the entire guitar was built with white glue. I continue to to find that hide glue is the best glue for guitars the way I make them and have long held that it is superior in every way. This excellent instrument is making me step back from my fierce defense of exclusive hide glue use although I have no intention of moving to synthetic glues at this time. The guitar is extremely well made and gives the impression that, to quote Yuris Zeltins: “he made every cut with a samurai sword”. I think de la Chica brought a technical level to building that didn’t exist in Granada before him.

One of the discoveries I made examining this guitar is the tall brace under the bridge which at first made me think that someone had modified the guitar. However, upon further investigation it seems that Manuel designed the guitar with this element in mind and installed it from the beginning. Since then I have seen photos of two other Chica guitars with the same construction. I am very happy with the result in the look and sound of the guitar and to demonstrate it is Marcus Toscano with Manhã de Carnaval by Luiz Bonfá. He also brought his Marcelo Barbero guitar and hearing the two guitars together was very special.