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.