(S.Sgroi) Silvestri guitars / Vicente Sanchis / Suzuki / Takeharu GT 500 / Hiroshi Tamura P50

In fact the first Silvestri I've came across. As you can't

hold everything you get your hands on, it has been sold

and in fact I was completely forgotten it!

In fact a very odd model with those two small holes in 

the soundboard on either side of the big soundhole.

The rosewood sides in the lower bout makes it

special as well. It has been supported with a tail-

piece so this was in fact suited for metal strings.

A black painted neck and head but probably still

reinforced with a central placed rosewood inlay.

Another feature that allways is there: The black

cloth piece for dampening the strings.

I haven't been able to find a label but I think this model

to be quite a bit older than the model here beyond. So

my guess is it could be an Ermelinda Silvestri guitar.

This model is presented here in its' unrestored condition.

As the bridge hasn't been properly reglued the soundboard

can be relaquered as well. The kind of lacquer used here

"cristallizes"  over the years and can be easily removed.

The inlay around the soundhole and along the edges

is all made of wood so no stickers and the fingerboard

has been cleaned allready here as are the frets.

As the frets are showing some file traces a 

leveling job in fact was necessary as well.

The so called "zero"  fret I left untreated. The neck could 

have been relacquered as well as this kind of varnish used 

tend to colour the neck in an ugly way but I just left it there.

This label has been used by Ermelinda Silvestri as well.

I don't know about the small label underneath it where

Silvestri states it to be built in the Spanish way. What has

been ment by that remains a mistery as the so called Spanish 

fan bracing simply isn't there: There are two transverse bars

between the bridge and the soundhole and a kind of a 

wooden bridgeplate underneath the bridge.

The bare wood that has been cleaned allready as is

the rosette here. Securely flattening out the bridge

area is a must for a tight fit for the bridge on the 

soundboard. The soundboard is solid spruce. Back 

and sides are made out of mahogany. A rosewood

bridge and fingerboard have been mounted on

this guitar that has a 645 mm scale.

Vicente Sanchis Model 34

A nixce and well built "intermediate" guitar that also

can be found on the "reverb" site. The condition of

this guitar is very nice and it is immediately playable.

Model 34 and year of production 1986. It is known that

also built for several other luthiers and music shops.

The only "minor" on this one: A chip of the heel covering

disappeared. These small repairs can in fact easily been done

by a player by simply putting a heating iron on the wood that

covers the heel. Then it can be removed quite easily and after-

wards making a new one to glue in place.

An ivory bridge saddle also completes this one.

Simple but well working tuners.

A nice rosette completes this guitar.

Suzuki 3067

To be honest I was a bit disappointed after purchasing the

first Suzuki guitar as I heard some promising comments

on these Japanese guitars from the 70 / 80. The first 

example wasn't fitted with a solid top. This one is and

I must say: Much, much better. Finely crafted, it will 

serve the advanced player who is not willing to spent

hundreds of Euro's.

The back that is in a remarkable good condition.

The label that attests the model number and the so well

lay out used for the sought after Suzuki's.

As a little more elaborate model the bridge has been

upgraded with a fancy string tie block.

Straight neck and easy playabilty.

The top wood can be studied here!

Good fretwork!

Some inevitable playing damage to the fretboard.

The Ramirez style headstock.

Takeharu GT 500

These Takeharu guitar has been built with the 

utmost care and a lot of information can be found 

on the internet regarding this brand. Still affordable 

but for how long?? Cedar topped and sides and back

are made out of Brazillian rosewood (veneered)

 A picture of the stunning back. Also the ebony reinforcement

can be seen on this picture. Beautiful straight neck!

The head that hasn't got any flaws.

The label that has been signed by star classical guitar

player Yamamoto. The Kiso Suzuki company built

this beautiful instrument. Just take a look at Harmony 

Central User reviews to see what owners have to

say and think about their Suzuki or Takeharu.

The sides that beautifully match the back.

Hiroshi Tamura P50

Guitars that were produced in the seventies and eighties.

These instruments are not that widely known as e.g. the

Masaru Kohno or the Juan Orozco guitars but they are

in fact soundwise no less. Very well built with even a 

lot of similarities to the afore mentioned luthiers.

Ebony fingerboard and a 655 mm scale has been used 

for this guitar that posesses a remarkable sound 

reminiscent of a real concert instrument. Regarding

the veneered sides: Let us not forget that Jose Ramirez

even veneered his concert 1A model on sides and 

back. He experimented a while by using solid

rosewood on a few of these models. I was able

to compare the two different models. The solid 

rosewood example had a slightly darker sound

but differences were very small.....

Veneered back and sides that appear to be Brasilian 

rosewood to me but a very narrow grained solid

soundboard that has been strutted very traditional:

A seven fan placed pattern with two closing struts.

The top has been glued to the sides with blocks

the way the Spanish luthiers tend to work.

This guitar  hasn't been taken care for in a proper way

by looking at the damages on the right. These cosmetic

flaws will be treated in the near future as this 1972 guitar

further survived time in a remarkable way.

A gracefully designed headstock and the odd thing here

is that the standard distance between the axes of the

tuners, 35 mm, is not present here. The former owner

had to make a move to some very cheap and poor

working individual tuners when the original tuners

were not in a working order anymore. Strange thing

is also that a rather cheap plastic topnut was mounted

as well on this guitar. I've changed it into an ivory

one of course with a proper spacing. The tuners will

be changed as well to good working ones.

A simple but satisfying solution was to place pieces

of messing between these tuners that were sawed at

first to be able to mount them properly. Now tuning

is on parr with the standards of this guitar.

Some marks can be determined here as well in the

soundboard but on a rather  cheap guitar as the "lower"

P50,  the choice for a Brasilian wood bridge is quite odd. 

A new bridgebone has been placed as well. Inner gluework 

is very neat but no inner heel has been provided with this 

instrument and in that way you could compare it with the

Juan Orozco model 8 guitar though the Tamura has more 

qualities regarding sound. Just check the Blog I made 

about the Juan Orozco guitars regarding Japanese guitar 

models and their way of pricing them. A model P 50 from 

1972 could be easily compared with a model P 100 from 1978.

From a Japanese source I found out that the two Tamura 

brothers did have a disciple: Mitsuru Tamura is one of the 

founder of Asturias guitars, he is an interesting character, 

a national athlete on clay shooting and a noted golfer and 

bowler as well as a great player.

Salvador Ripolles / Manuel Romero Macias classical 1995 / Manuel Romero Macias flamenco 1990

The Salvador Ripolles guitar I was able to require

recently. Not for immediate real playing purposes 

but it should be considered as an investigation

around Valencian guitars. This is an above entry

level instrument of which the 5 fan bracing and a 

little more elaborate rosette attests. Scale length 

of this guitar is an easy playable 645 mm.

The soundboard exists of two parts. This is more than often

otherwise (Three parts) and it is medium to fairly wide grained

But apart from a tiny crack upper left its' condition is good.

That means it is straight and the soundboard hasn't "bellied" 

behind the bridge. The bridge has been badly reglued with

the wrong glue and on the wrong place. Moreover it appears 

to have been too heavily executed so I will change that.

When you remove a bridge mostly you will damage the lacquer

which is inevitable. For that reason I removed the original "spray" 

as it did become too brittle and being quite a bit older it crystal-

lizes and will give ugly traces when scratched.

The back has some cracks as does the lining but that 

all can be cured. Some deeper carvings in the neck

that will disappears as well when relacquering this

guitar. The fingerboard was painted black but by 

removing this layer the fingerboard seems to be

constructed out of walnut. Quite hard.

The wood used for back and sides does resemble the typical 

"flame" of wenge. A hardwood that was quite expensive in

those times while walnut was readily available.

Not very symmetrical but provided with good tuners,

the so called RAED tuners that can also be found on

some higher end Telesforo Julves. Also for the head-

plate wenge seems to be used.

The "soft wood" construction of the outer heel that can be 

found quite often on Valencian made guitars, simply to speed 

up the process of production.

A label that hasn't been discovered up until

now. We think it to be from the fifties.

A closer view at the RAED tuners. These tuners

are riveted on the base plate and not "bowed" out 

of the same piece of metal.

Want to know more around this brand and in general

about the Valencia made guitars, just check this site:

www.guitarrasvalencia.wordpress.com

Manuel Romero Macias

Manuel Romero Macias is a Sevilla based Guitarreros

and at this moment he is retired and his son took over the

business. The workshop is in Montellana (near Sevilla)

A nice shot of the sides that shows us Palo Santo the way

you only can find it on the 19th century guitars (chocolate

brown) as opposed to the more common orangy colour they 

provide today. The materials used are premium quality 

but the final touch on this guitar could be better.

This is a recently obtained guitar made by the Sevilla

based luthier Manuel Romero Macias. I never had the

opportunity to try out one of his guitars so it was a buy 

in the blind. However, the woods used are that nice and

only these Fustero tuners mounted made it worth to

buy it anyway.  A special technique, called "Damascening",

the highly prized specialty of Toledo, inlaying gold leaf 

into an engraved iron base plate, has been used here by

the Fustero company. Spruce top and Palo Santo used for 

sides and back. This guitarreros built his guitars after

Santos Hernandez and used premium materials.

You can see on this picture that the back is a

beautiful piece of Rio and allmost as can be

expected it does match the sides. 

The graceful head of this guitars that has been veneered with

Palo Santo the way he uses it in the sides and back of this

guitar: A perfect match. Strange thing is that the top nut

was a bit too long for its' slot. I made  a new one out of

ivory and did that for the bridge as well.

This builder could be more highly rated as the finishing

of his instruments lets something to be desired for.

A strange move on all of his guitars is the split neck.

So there is a seam in the middle what in fact means 

there was more work. It could have been done for 

stability reasons as it goes all the way up through the 

head. This guitar is provided with a 650 mm scale.

As can be seen on this picture the Fustero tuners.

The Fustero firm is out of business since 2010.

They were located in Barcelona and were famous for

the engrave work done on these tuners and the 

superior materials used. They still are available

but be prepared to have to pay a lot of money.

Mr. Manuel Romero Macias used a fairly plain label.

which he allways signed with the addition of the month

and year. The interior workmanship is not that high or

immaculate but he focused on sound and that is where

these guitars shine! Though the depth is rather small on 

these instruments, the basses are firm and rich. The spruce 

top adds enough clarity to the treble strings. The top has 

been handsigned inside. After replacing the frets with

higher and more "substantial" fret wire the tone improved

dramatically. More sustain as also the original fretwork

could have been done better. Manuel Romero Macias

worked together with his son until recently. His son

now has taken over business under his own name: 

Manuel Romero Iglesias.

Manuel Romero Macias (Flamenco)

Presented here is a flamenco model I recently bought.

Someone else picked up this instrument and the Fustero's

were gone: They were not in working order the seller

told so he removed them. A bad way of doing business!

What you are showing in your ad must be there of course!

Manuel Romero Macias is using first grade woods so

the fingerboard is ebony as I hoped for. Still the

frets look a bit odd to me and will be replaced.

The back of this instrument is still in good shape.

And this side too.

I knew about this damage but that can be cured in a better way.

With cypress as a wood it even can be an option to remove one 

half of the guitar. The soundboard has one crack that needs to be

redone as far as I can see. No big deal. Besides that the 

soundboard is still fairly straight.

The typical way of gluing together the two halves of the back

can be seen here. Luckily enough the model is his hand built 

one that answers to his highest standards. And the tone of his

instruments is mostly surprising in any way! As can be expected

a typical flamenco response: quick and dry and a nice addition

to the collection as a whole.