JOSÉ ROMANILLOS 06 | PANDORA’s BOX 02
(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted on: October 23, 2009
Posted in: Acoustic Luthier, Custom Acoustic Guitar, Custom Guitar Video, Featured, Video
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José Romanillos opens Pandoras Box, part two. Which fundamental note should the soundboard be tuned to? How low should it be? This is right from the workbench. Spanish “Guitar Making” at its best.
How do acoustic guitars change their sound over centuries? How much effect does the constant change in temperature and humidity have, what happens to the wood cell structure over time, how much influence had the playing on the guitar and how much have repair people tempered with the instrument. There is no way to properly answer these question since there is no audible recorded proof from a century ago. Just written statements. But even those are matter to subjectivity and the way of hearing has dramatically changed, too.
Still, it would be of the utmost importance for a maker today, to know what will happen to the tonal properties of his instruments over time. Many luthiers try to “build-in” the sound of the old classics in their guitars. Some get close. Which brings up another question: How will these new guitars sound, when they are a century old? Do they improve even more?
And this raises the final question! Did luthiers a hundred years ago compare to anything “vintage” or did they just try to go the next evolutionary step? I can’t help it, it reminds me of wine making.
This is the topic of the third José Romanillos Custom Guitar Video installment.
Enjoy!
José Romanillos became famous by building the guitars for Classical Guitar Virtuoso Julian Bream. He his one of the last icons in Spanish guitar making tradition. His guitars are among the most sought after classical guitars. José wrote numerous books about the Spanish guitar and the man who defined the classical guitar as we know it today, Antonio de Torres. We spent a whole week in Següenza, Spain close to Madrid to document his last guitar. In the first part José talks about how to select wood and the validity of old methods. This is right from the workbench. Spanish “Guitar Making” at its best.
