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.
Pedro Talavera / Salvador Ibáñez guitar from 1900
To present this guitar I will do the accompanying text in English.
Very little can be found on the Internet and even AI only tells us
the story my friend, Ton Bogaard already wrote on his site:
guitarrasvalencia.wordpress.com where a lot more can be found
around the several luthiers that were active there. This example
certainly is one of them but when you know that a lot of parts
and even ornamentations were ordered at companies specialized
in this sort of "guitar additions" it remains difficult to give a
guitar its' final place and origin.
A "luthier" called Pedro Talavera could be responsible for the
building of this guitar but assumptions are already there that
these Talavera labelled guitars are coming from Salvador
Ibanez, Jose Parres or even Jaime Ribot. When the inner
wood work of those luthiers can be studied we can possibly
say a bit more.
To my opinion this is an outer heel form that the Valencian
luthiers often made during the existence of the Salvador
Ibanez workshop and later with his sons.
As I stated earlier sometimes a company gave exclusive rights
to an importer or exporter and to avoid legal problems a kind of
"fantasy name" not really existing, was put on a label.
For a 120 year old guitar it is remarkable that the soundboard
is completely crack free! Cleaning it and maybe give a few
layers of French polish will do the job.
These are some of the more severe problems I will have to deal with:
A lot of cracks in the back. Maybe veneering could be the solution.
Or replacing? I will discuss that the coming week with some people.
As there are too many cracks on the back I figured the first step would
be to remove the back and inspect all the glue work, also from the
soundboard. A very strange way of placing the glue blocks, though!
I will come up with more pictures regarding that move.
A rather wildly figured back. Beautiful for people that are less
interested into construction as these backs are more prone to
cracking. The rather "dull" figured backs will hold much longer.
The heel on this guitar however is more rounded as opposed to
the heel on the 1900 Siccas example.
You can click on this picture to study the beautiful inlays
of which only one piece is missing! Exactly this rosette can
be found on a Siccas sold Salvador Ibanez guitar from 1900
As often! Steel strings were mounted on this guitar.
Never do this as a steel string set will pull on the bridge
with almost two times the force, around 75 kilograms.
A centre inlay that stops when reaching the top.
Most of the time the inlay is all the way up! On the
Siccas sold Salvador Ibanez from 1900, the ornamen-
tation also hasn't been inlayed to the top of the head.
And here is the combination with the bridge that has been lowered
but can be restored to an almost original looking bridge of that
time. The soundboard has been equipped with a 5 fan bracing.
To date this guitar even more exactly: The inlay on this bridge
can be found most of the time on guitars around 1900. The square
outer ends were a bit later invariably replaced with rounded outer
ends. When the sons of Salvador Ibanez were in charge the return
to the square appearance was done. To be continued.
This picture has been taken from a YouTube video that
is about the restoration process of a Salvador Ibanez.
The slightly slanted transverse bars immediately will
raise questions, especially when luthiers are involved.
The label on the guitar on this picture also dates this guitar
to be from around 1900 as the exact year has been written
on this label. As the guitar here above is a so called
"Resonator" guitar, it has been mentioned on the label.
It would be better to give my guitar a 1898 - 1902
label when Salvador Ibanez also was busy on the
Bajada de St. Francisco 23. But at first I will be certain
this Pedro Talavera guitar is really coming out of
the Salvador Ibanez workshops.
And here the guitar, presented with its' back off.
It will be possible now to check all the glue work
but to prevent future problems some extra moves
have to be made. Though this top is completely
free from cracks as often most of the time some
problems at both sides of the fingerboard in the
soundboard may occur in the future, especially
when the transverse bar closest to the heel hasn't
been sturdy glued anymore. A small second bar
will be added. The sound won't change. I will also
equip the sides with some braces here and there
and inspect and if necessary, reglue some glue
blocks. A new glue strip for the back is of
course inevitable. According to the tradition
in those times it will be a non carved strip.
As I've mentioned earlier the slanted bars on the back.
Though the guitar possibly receives a new back in the
near future, I will securely replace these bars the way
it has been done on the old back. A possibility is the
veneering of a new piece of wood with this old back.
It is always advisable to keep the transverse bars on the
back (and front) a bit shorter as when temperature changes
are involved they will expand and thus damage the sides.
Only one repair on this side of the guitar, a bit clumsy done
with paper (!) but what is immediately noticeable are the glue
blocks. The alternate placement of the glue blocks I already
knew from the Telesforo Julve guitars but this is even more
work and possibly could have influence on the freely
vibrations of the soundboard to my opinion. A luthier
suggested it could have been done to strengthen the
soundboard as the edge inlays are quite big in width.
Alass, a bit damaged during the back removing process.
I can have it cured as a girlfriend of mine is really good
at digital repairing this label.
The form of the inner heel block can also tells us a
lot about who actually built this guitar. To my opinion
exactly the same as sculpted in Salvadore Ibanez
guitars of that time.
The endblock is much too thin to my opinion as are the
glue strips for the back. As this is the possibility to make
a real neck reset, glue work has to be done in a proper
way. By diminishing the distance inner heel / end block
you are able to change the angle neck / body and thus
you can create a very well playable guitar without
having to change the fingerboard and fretwork.
OK, on the picture it all looks still reasonable but in
reality I doubt if I can reuse it. When making a neck
reset the plantilla will be slightly different so I will
need some extra pieces to cure that. Maybe too much
work and what will be the result? I do not expect
a new back will diminish the sound qualities.
Some side reinforcements to prevent problems (and cracks)
in the future. Also an extra transverse brace has been placed
above the original one that is glued just above the soundhole.
When that brace loosens it more than often happens that
the soundboard is developing cracks alongside the
fingerboard. In present times most builders are placing
such an extra brace to prevent those damages due to the
tension in that area , most of the time even wider executed.
Also some soundboard braces have been reglued. Making
everything free from glue traces caused by spilling glue is
in fact not necessary but gives a much neater appearance.
I've made the glue strip for the back a bit more wide in order
to compensate the changed plantilla that occurs when removing
the back. Making a wider centre strip was an option that came
to my mind but then all the inner (original) woodwork around
that centre part of the back would have to be renewed.
It remains a bit strange: this way of placing the glue blocks
for the soundboard and in fact labour intensive. It must
have been an experiment from one of the workers at the
Salvador Ibanez workforce and maybe therefore this guitar
has been provided with a "Pedro Talavera" label (?)
As I was forced to make a neck reset some extra glue
surface on the endblock was advisable to my idea.
Therefore I've thickened that part a bit.
And yes, I've decided to keep the original Brazilian /
indian rosewood back as it is a part of this guitar and
history around the Salvador Ibanez workshop.
During restoration it is always good to make pictures.
So here the repaired back has been reinstalled, with a
serious neck reset in mind. It is a tedious process to do
it the right way. I had to make some extra tools before
I've glued the repaired back to measure the distance
between the heel and the endblock that was enough to
finally give this guitar a good playing action in the end.
Here and there it will be necessary to glue some splints
of wood to the surroundings to fill out the 'spaces" here
and there. The slightly wider glue strip for the back
enables me to reduce that to the minimum.
Some cleaning sessions with alcohol will clean the sound-
board before some final French polishing layers will be
applied. The bridge here has been remodeled as some-
one replaced a part of it but did that in a bit clumsy way.
However, it was a wise decision to built in a sort of
octave compensation to keep the guitar in tune,
especially in the higher positions.
The first layer of shellac liquid. Of course the final result on
both sides and back will be much darker and most likely in the
way it was when the guitar was just finished. Over time these
lacquers are becoming more yellowish in appearance.
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.
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