New guitar...pending
I wasn't planning to post anything on this topic until there was something to post. Gary surprised me by moving at hyper speed and gave me reason to post earlier than expected.
My friend Gary has taken up guitar building. He's been pressing me to order an instrument from him for a little while. Well, I really didn't need and really hadn't budgeted for another, but he made such a generous offer on installment payments that I couldn't refuse.
I admit to having rather old-fashioned tastes in instruments. As one might expect of somebody who likes guitars, I have several. However, in spite of favoring "classical" music, I don't have any instruments of an overtly Spanish paradigm (the closest is a Paracho-made Hill Munich Model which is patterned after Germany's Hauser...building in the general Spanish paradigm of Hauser's time). My initial thoughts were to have Gary copy a first-epoch Torres and back it in maple. That's clearly Spanish in origin, but would suit me nicely in being a little off the beaten path by today's standards.
...But then I remembered Panormo. For those who don't know, Louis Panormo was an Italian guy living in England and building guitars after the Spanish paradigm of his time, early-mid 1800s. I've been fortunate to have played two originals, and I like them. I finally settled on the Panormo and thus will still be a little removed from directly Spanish-like guitars. Here's Rob MacKillop (aka musicintime) playing an original Panormo in the collection of Edinburgh University:
Much of Panormo's concert-quality work was backed in Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). I would like a rosewood, but:
1. Brazilian is endangered,
2. pre-ban stocks are dwindling and thus hugely expensive (I'm not at all in love with the Brazilian tradition and mystique; I don't feel the additional expense is remotely justified), and
3. there is almost certainly much more cheating on illegal new harvest than admitted (to which I definitely would not want to contribute).
I opted for a Central American rosewood species, cocobolo (D. retusa). I saw some beautiful old growth of the species in the virgin forests of Costa Rica. I am a real fan of the look of the timber: strong, inky figure on a rich, gold-orange field. The panels Gary procured for the back plate are extraordinary with multiple layers of multi-directional figure overlaying each other.
Panormo built a guitar for Huerta in 1828 (Huerta became Panormo's son-in-law that same year). Huerta's guitar carried an interesting and luthieristically advanced asymmetric fan bracing that really intrigues me. Mine will be similarly braced.
Now on to something of substance to report. Over the weekend, Gary e-mailed to tell me he'd already started and will be documenting the build on his site. Check this out!
My friend Gary has taken up guitar building. He's been pressing me to order an instrument from him for a little while. Well, I really didn't need and really hadn't budgeted for another, but he made such a generous offer on installment payments that I couldn't refuse.
I admit to having rather old-fashioned tastes in instruments. As one might expect of somebody who likes guitars, I have several. However, in spite of favoring "classical" music, I don't have any instruments of an overtly Spanish paradigm (the closest is a Paracho-made Hill Munich Model which is patterned after Germany's Hauser...building in the general Spanish paradigm of Hauser's time). My initial thoughts were to have Gary copy a first-epoch Torres and back it in maple. That's clearly Spanish in origin, but would suit me nicely in being a little off the beaten path by today's standards.
...But then I remembered Panormo. For those who don't know, Louis Panormo was an Italian guy living in England and building guitars after the Spanish paradigm of his time, early-mid 1800s. I've been fortunate to have played two originals, and I like them. I finally settled on the Panormo and thus will still be a little removed from directly Spanish-like guitars. Here's Rob MacKillop (aka musicintime) playing an original Panormo in the collection of Edinburgh University:
Much of Panormo's concert-quality work was backed in Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). I would like a rosewood, but:
1. Brazilian is endangered,
2. pre-ban stocks are dwindling and thus hugely expensive (I'm not at all in love with the Brazilian tradition and mystique; I don't feel the additional expense is remotely justified), and
3. there is almost certainly much more cheating on illegal new harvest than admitted (to which I definitely would not want to contribute).
I opted for a Central American rosewood species, cocobolo (D. retusa). I saw some beautiful old growth of the species in the virgin forests of Costa Rica. I am a real fan of the look of the timber: strong, inky figure on a rich, gold-orange field. The panels Gary procured for the back plate are extraordinary with multiple layers of multi-directional figure overlaying each other.
Panormo built a guitar for Huerta in 1828 (Huerta became Panormo's son-in-law that same year). Huerta's guitar carried an interesting and luthieristically advanced asymmetric fan bracing that really intrigues me. Mine will be similarly braced.
Now on to something of substance to report. Over the weekend, Gary e-mailed to tell me he'd already started and will be documenting the build on his site. Check this out!