Juan Orozco / Juan Roman Padilla ( 1928 - 2018 )

Presented here is my Juan Orozco model 10 guitar.

The series 8, 10 and 15 have been developed in a

collaboration with Masaru Kohno and Sakurai.

These instruments were produced in the Tama 

workshops. Even Tama had the same models on the 

market. For a more complete summary about the

history, just check one of my other Blogs: "Juan 

Orozco, dealer or luthier".

The label with the year of production and beyond that

on the left: 10 - U - 22  the first digits being the model

number. Juan Orozco was a New York based dealer

and luthier. Wild stories are spred that a lot of these

guitars were exported without any label and that im-

porters could stick a label inside it to their liking.

I doubt that! In a personal letter to me, Juan Orozco

confirmed this collaboration though the Kohno

company kept on denying it!

These guitars can be recognized by their double ebony

strip placed in the back of the neck. A Fleta designed

headstock which has been replaced around 1980 and

the slanted short sides of the bridge. As also was 

common in the Kohno guitars, the inner part of the

soundbox often was slighty sprayed (or laquered).

The Fleta head that can be found on the earlier Orozco 

guitars. The original tuners should have carved roses.

And presented here is the later headstock.

The lattice bracing used in these guitars can also be found

in the Kohno, Sakurai and Tama guitars of that period.

A nice rosette completes these guitars that were built

very neatly and posses a sturdy, powerful Kohno-like

sound. But remember, not all models were equal in

quality. I was able to buy a model 8, 10 and 15. The

model 10, though a little less in appearance was by far 

the best sounding guitar at that time. I still have it.

Juan Roman Padilla

Presented here is a guitar built by the Granada based

guitarreros Juan Roman Padilla. He is thought to have

consulted Eduardo Ferrer and Manuel de la Chica but
in fact was a self taught cabinet maker. He modelled
his guitars after the plantilla of Marcelo Barbero.

This instrument dates from 1970, a few years after

some Japanese businessmen (Kurosawa)  invited him 

to come to Japan to give instructions to the workforce 

of this big guitar company. Juan Roman Padilla 

refused: He sent his brother instead (1966). Scale:

657 mm Width topnut: 53 mm. Frequency soundbox:

F# which means 92,50 Herz.

As can be seen on this picture the condition of this 

instrument is rather poor: The lacquering suffers from 

humidity problems and this guitar has some repaired 

cracks in sides and back. The bridge needs to be replaced 

as it shows some cracks as well. Inside one brace on the 

back needed to be reglued. However the vital elements 

still are good and repairable! This guitars' own frequency

lies on the note G. That means it resonates the most 

around 98 Herz.

Presented here the original tuner side that was still present 

on this guitar. We've found the same ones on a Marin 

Montero / Bellido guitar from 1971 and a Manuel de la 

Chica guitar from 1967 but not on other Juan Roman 

Padilla guitars of that time!

The inner construction shows a lot of attention to detail.

It is therefore remarkable that the spacing for the tuners

is not symmetrical as can be seen by comparing the lower 

ends. And also the headcarving itself hasn't been done

 symmetrically as well. These imperfections will be

corrected as I'm planning to keep this instrument anyway.

Juan Roman Padilla passed away in Granada in 2018 and 

as far as I know and though being quite a bit older he still 

constructed guitars merely as  pastime. Remarkable is the 

very traditional 7 fan bracing (and 2 closing ribs) of the 

soundboard and the Torres way of bracing as a whole. 

This guitar is remarkably lightly built: The basses are 

very strong and rich in colour and the higher notes do 

speak easily as well though this guitar really tends to have

the older, more woody sound of the luthiers from around 

1900. This guitar is very quickly responding, allmost as a 

flamenco model and has a kind of "percussive" high end 

though not for every style of music. It will be brought 

back in a like new condition!

The same labels can be seen on later instruments made 

by Padilla and some of them are stamped partly on the 

label  and partly on the back.

All the laquer has been removed. I did this with 

good quality lacquer remover in order not to have

to sand down parts and make them thinner especially 

the soundboard. The remover can be only solved

in water with soap substantials or thinner.

Later I used an appliance against wood aging

that removed the uneven colour effects after

the removal of the lacquer.

It is a lot of work but the starting point for the final lacquering 

must be perfect in order to have a satisfactory final result.

According to Spanish tradition no fillers will be used at first

in order to fill the pores of the wood.

Though unlacquered I still dig these kind of pictures as

it shows us the pure wood before any treatments.

I decided to maintain the original bridge after treatment of

the two cracks. I made a kerf just alongside the cracks and

continiously inspected where they stopped and then glued

in two pieces of matching wood as far as was possible.

The plastic lining of the tie block where the strings are 

attached I replaced with pieces of ivory as the original 

parts were damaged and had a cheapy look.

A picture taken from the same spot. Soundboard and 

bridge have been relaquered already. As with wood: It 

still depends under wich angle you look at it to determine

the inserts. Sometimes they are clearly visible, sometimes

not. I'm glad I have kept the original bridge.

The front of the completely relaquered Juan Roman Padilla 

guitar. A new (ivory) nut and bridge saddle while the bottom 

on which the bridge saddle rests has been securely flattened out. 

The back that looks great again and while 

relaquering you are able to make some

minimal corrections regarding flatness.

A repaired and stabilized crack is hardly

visible but only when the laquer lost all

his solvents conclusions can be drawn.

As has been said allready I did some corrections regarding 

the symmetrical view of this headshape. The lacquering

is the logical follow up. New tuners have been added

as only one side of the original tuners still was present.

Of course I will take a close look around when I'm

in Granada these holidays. The topnut is rather wide but

that has everything to do with the way the gap was

made originally. It has a better fit now. This instruments'

own frequency lies on a G so around 98 Hz.

As is becoming clear with this picture Padilla not

only consulted Manuel de la Chica but copied the

headform of his guitars as well. The picture here

above is from a 1954 Manuel de la Chica guitar.

(With thanks to John Ray) This headform has also

been used by Antonio Marin Montero and the

Ferrer dynasty. Copying each others headform was 

in fact a sign of honor to the great luthiers that

started dynasty in some cities. In Malaga the head

of the Antonio Lorca built guitars is often copied 

by its' followers. (Take a look at the Eladio

Molina guitar here in this Blog.)

The rosette looks much fresher than before the

lacquer job. I like the typical use of the color

green the way the old guitarreros used to do.

Of course the fingerboard has been flattened

out while the frets are levelled and dressed. 

Juan Roman Padilla is known to have delivered

instruments to the Casa Ferrer shop that wasn't

mentioned that way when Antonio Duran was in 

charge. See for an original Duran guitar in this

Blog: A modest but skillful person.

Recent information learned that Antonio Marin as wel as

Manuel Bellido built some guitars for Juan Roman Padilla

for a certain period of time. Investigations must learn 

wether if that is the case with this example. I've already

found out that my Antonio Duran Ferrer guitar has

been built by Rafael Moreno Rodriguez. This was

not uncommon in Spain. This "Padilla" branded guitar 

has the same 7 fan braced top with two closing ribs.

I will mention some striking elements on the Antonio

Marin Montero guitars for the period just before and 

around the seventies.

- A rather square modelled inner heel that also can be found on 

instruments from that period made by Mr. Montero 

- The endblock that, quite remarkable hasn't been made out  of 

one piece of wood but three pieces that have been placed on

a 90 degree angle to each other.

- The double lining that divides the two halves of the back has

been done also on the heel covering plate on the A.M.M.

- The heel form on the Antonio Marin Montero guitars of that 

period is sharper than on the Juan Roman Padilla guitars.

- The inner strip that has been glued on the seam of the two 

halves of the back is made out of mahogany while Juan

Roman Padilla invariably uses spruce.

- The sleeves made on the head for the tuners are much wider 

on the A.M.M. instruments. The head is "double winged" 

there, while it was "single winged" on the J.R. Padilla.

- Fret ends on the A.M.M. are much steeper than on the Juan

Roman Padilla guitars.

- The string tie block on the A.M.M. has its' surface not parallel

to the soundboard. The J.R. Padilla has.

- Both luthiers worked with cedar for the soundboard and the

colour of the sides and back mostly match other instruments

from the same period.

- The stabilization pieces of wood on the sides for the transverse 

bars are placed in an identical way to the A.M.M. guitars.

- The A.M.M. guitars have a one piece outer heel while 

J.R. Padilla uses more pieces of wood for that part.

- Though there was only one side of the tuners present when I

bought this guitar the one side present can be found on the 

guitars of Antonio Marin Montero and not on the Juan 

Roman Padilla labelled guitars. 

- For a short time there was a collaboration between Antonio

Marin Montero and Manuel Lopez Bellido. They even had 

a label for that collaboration that lasted until approximately

1973. On this guitar the same original tuners were mounted.

- Around 1970 Antonio Marin Montero did some work for

Manuel de la Chica as the latter was ill at that time. The 

headform of the guitars of AMM at that time do resemble 

the headform of the guitars made by Manuel de la Chica. 

- Odd thing is even that an AMM guitar from 1971 has a 

rosette that is quite similar to that of a 1968 Manuel de

la Chica.

The rosette as it is on a Manuel de la Chica 1968 guitar.

AMM as well as Manuel Bellido worked for de la Chica.

Coincident? This is the rosette on a 1968 Antonio Marin

(Montero) guitar and indeed the outer ends of the rosette do

differ but "between the circles" it is exactly the same.

Other comments and similarities I researched can be found

on my Blog www.greatguitarsshop.blogspot.com

Vicente Parres / Juan Pons / Ibanez (?) Guitar / Thomas Prisloe Guitar

This simple guitar drew my attention as its'

sound was unbelievable: Though simply made with very

modest materials the Valencian builders often manage

to built good sounding instruments. In 1907 Vicente Parres 

appeared in the trade guides with a guitar factory (fabrica) 

at Carrera de Melilla, Traste 1 , num. 25 and with the

office (despacho) at Caballeros 55 bajo Valencia.

In the period 1908 – 1915 Parres y C.a. were at Carretera 
de  Melilla 23 and the shop was at calle Caballeros 55.
In the general catalogue of 1912, Juan Ponce, successor of

Parres y Compania, the workshop was at Calle Caballeros

55, Valencia. As the Felix Manzanera collection holds 

two guitars of these two luthiers they must have some 

importance in the Spanish guitar history.

This particular guitar has the old Parres head but the

the Pons soundhole decoration. For that reason I

assume it to be a somewhat later (under Ponce built)

instrument. Juan Ponce took over the business of 

Vicente Parres in Valencia. Though this guitar lost 

its' label there is one known label that says: 

Fabrica de Guitarras

de Vicente Parres

Fabrica: Carrera Melilla traste 1. no 25

Officinas: Caballeros, 55, bajo

Valencia (Espana)

Though really basic in construction I was really surprised by 

the sound of this instrument: Beautiful rounded, loud and with

a quick attack. That this was possible from a small plain guitar

like this with a ladder braced soundboard and mahogany

sides and back was astonishing. As for the soundboard it

isn't even straight grained but on the contrary, the quality of

the mahogany is really good. In the old Spanish tradition the

soundboard is glued to the sides by individuel spruce blocks.

This guitars' own frequency is on an A which means in Hz

around 110 Herz. That's where it resonates a bit more.

This is the typical head form that can be found on the instrument

made by Vicente Parres (1880) but that instrument has been

equipped with wooden tuning pegs as was usual at that time.

Another feature is the wooden nut in combination with not

using a zero fret. These tuners could be a later addition

though they appear on other instruments of around 1900.

The front of this head has been veneered with a mahogany

layer on the spruce (!) used for the neck. This use of spruce

for the neck is another move pointing towards the Valencia 

guitar makers. This neck is still remarkably straight.

Another remarkable feature is the placing of the tuners: The 

wurmwheel before the wurm as was usual until the period

1910 - 1920. Assuming that these tuners are the original ones

it is possible to place this instrument before  the ment period.

These bridges were common in the nineteenth century but

I didn't knew they were still used at the beginning of the 20th

century. No use of a bridgebone. Simply carved from

one piece of wood. These type of bridge can even be found 

on an Ibanez labelled instrument of the thirties and a later

Telesforo Julve guitar. Chances are big that all these

cheaper instrument from the well known Valencia builders

are coming from one and the same factory, at least a

 lot of parts!

Two other typical Valencia used features can be seen here:

The use of a softer, grey coloured wood for the fingerboard

and the brass fretwork of course. What happened with the

fingerboard wood puzzles me. I strengthened the finger-

board with a liquid, used for rotten wood. It is almost

like water so therefore the wood simply sucks it up.

On this picture it can be concluded that the wood used

for the top wasn't quarter sawn and the seam hasn't been

placed in the middle. The fingerboard had a greyish colour

and was a bit soft. In order to give it more strength, I decided

to "ebonize" it for a tighter fit of the new frets. To replace

the fingerboard would have been a possibility but that's 

too far away from this furthermore original guitar. And

on the other hand we must not assume that the big names

in guitar history built these entry level instruments all

by themselves.

The neck has been made of spruce as was done by more 

Valencian guitar builders. And believe it or not: Still 

absolutely straight. To my knowledge Telesforo Julve 

(Valencia) did this also on their student range guitars. 

Besides the fact that the neck was allready painted with

red lead paint (minium - initially ment to prevent rust on iron)

I wasn't aware of the fact that most cheaper guitars of that time

from Valencia were painted this way. It can even be a

guide  in determining the age of a guitar from Valencia!

 A small piece in the neck was simply rotten and had to

be removed. No big deal but the color red I changed into 

a darker brown. The curious heelform can be found on the 

Ponce guitars as well. This instrument can be dated around 

1912. There were different "Constructors de Guitarras" active

around 1900 and among them Telesforo Julve and Andres

Marin. The guitars of the latter and Parres / Ponce have some 

features in common but the plantilla sometimes differs.

This simple Andres Marin guitar can be found on internet.

Marin is also a Valencia based luthier and this plantilla

resembles that of the unlabelled guitar above. Moreover,

the label has been glued over the blocks that are placed

over the center seam of the back in the same way it has 

been done on the unlabelled guitar.

I've added a picture of a 1900 dated Andres Marin labelled 

guitar. The rosette appears to be exactly the same as on my

Pons / Parres / Ibanez guitar. Moreover the all wooden

construction of the bridge is similar: No bridgebone.

The old tuners have been mounted again though the 6th string

knob isn't working properly. Of course fresh strings and then

after a day: The sound.... It is unbelievable what comes out

of this relatively small box. Beautiful basses , loud and percussive

higher notes but with a sweetness I only heard from a

more simple Vicente Arias guitar. To my believe the space

between soundhole and bridge which is quite large and

without any fan bracing is responsible for this sound

together with the blocks that are used for gluing the top

to the sides and that are placed about 1 cm from each other.

Of course the bridge itself could attribute to the sound

but one should expect less sustain with this construction.

To make this instrument a concert instrument as it has

these qualities, a new fingerboard with a better fret

spacing would be advisable as the fret inserts are a

bit sloppy placed as is the bridge that I allready moved 

about 2 mm towards the soundhole. Intonation could be

better but tonecoulour and the way this guitar

reacts to plucking at different places is great!

I placed a label inside for people who want to investigate

after me: Parres y Pons but chances are big as well that 

this instrument comes from the Andres Marin workshops.

Just recently the collection of Felix Manzanero is showing

two Parres guitars and I need to say that this instrument

most likely falls into this category.

Some of the "rosettes"  found on these guitars slightly differ

but the rosette found on this Salvador Ibanez e Hijos guitar

is exactly like the one sticked on the guitar here above. It

is interesting now to look for more similarities. And they 

are there... Now and then these old guitars can be found on

two Spanish sites: Todocoleccion and Milanuncios.

E.g. the heelform is also the same as is the red painted neck.

And the bridge of course without any bridgebone just 

out of the same piece of wood used for the bridge itself.

On this example executed with the two Telesforo

Julve inlays although Salvador Ibanez e Hijos did

that already. Telesforo Julve took over that workshop.

The tuning pegs differ from the more common known

metal tuners. It could have been a later addition on my

guitar here above.

The plantilla resembles the "Parres / Ponce"  guitar as well.

Take a closer look at the two inlays in the stringtie block as

Telesforo Julve made that his trademark after having

taken over the workforce of Salvador Ibanez e Hijos.

Another similarity is the point where the two halves of the 

sides meet each other.

The headform and the tuning pegs, thougt to be orignal.

The paint on the neck "worked" what makes it obvious

that the neck was made out of one piece of spruce! That

was the case on the Parres / Ponce guitar as well and it 

was even "rotten" on a certain spot so I decided to repair

it and have it finished in another color as I thought that

ugly red color couldn't be original. But it is!

The Salvador e Hijos label that was used from about 1910 

onwards. People often wonder how a label can possibly be

damaged the way it is here. That has everything to do with

paper eating insects that are there when there's a lot 

of moisture.

The topnut made out of wood is another mark on these

guitars that were probably ment for the beginning student.

Probably also a simple ladder bracing. But what a sound!

Want to know more around this brand and in general

about the Valencia made guitars, just check this site:

www.guitarrasvalencia.wordpress.com

Thomas Prisloe Signature Model

A rather mysterious model from this New York based 

builder as Prisloe had some special series built in Spain.

They come under the name Pavan guitars and are built to his specs. 

But the label from this particular guitar states the soundboard to be 

produced by Mr. Prisloe himself. Well, the name has indeed been 

placed several times on the inside of the soundboard. Pricewise this 

guitar falls into another category as the more regular Pavan guitars

such as TP-10, TP-20 and TP-30. Another difference is the use of

Engelmann spruce (?) Prisloe uses for his own handbuilt models.

Some outer visible specific things on this serie can be seen

on this guitar as well. The ebony reinforcement at the back

of the neck and the headshape that is reminiscent to the

well known Torres design. Year of production: 2008. After

some mail contact things are becoming clear: It was a

needful move after having received some PAVAN guitars

with a cracked top. Mr. Prisloe states this to be in 2008 and

followed the procedure of building a new top himself for

about 6 times. A very explainable move and as the sound-

board still is the "heart" of a guitar it can be this good!

The headshape with some additional carvings which

is of course a classic one on Spanish guitars. The square

spaced room for the tuner rollers is a bit of a Fleta move

though more builders have used it in the past.

At first we thought the tuners to be from Schaller. They work 

very well! Mr. Prisloe states the tuners to be from Gotoh: 

Concert model. They work very smooth and in fact better 

than the Spanish Fustero tuners placed on most top concert 

Spanish guitars.

A narrow grained soundboard that is almost white, probably

due to its' life in the suitcase up until now. This instrument

is dated 2008 ( series 6 ) Engelmann spruce is more white

compared to Sitka spruce. But simple daylight already does

a lot to the color of the spruce soundboards over time.

Thomas Prisloe handsigned this label not withstanding the 

regular Pavan guitar labels that aren't signed at all.

The guitar body's own frequency lies on a G# which

means around 92,5 Hz.

Presented here is the soundboard bracing. Mind you, the

transverse bars still have to be placed on this picture of

course. Another remark has to be made as this soundboard

has been "arched" a bit. The advantage is that it becomes

stiffer and withhold the string tension better while making

the sound board thinner. Often called a "doomed"  top. The

two "closing ribs" Thomas Prisloe calls a "Chevron"

construction. The way the bracing has been done on this

picture is identical to the one used in the TP 30 model.

The prices for this model is about 1000 USD on the

second hand market. A 650  and a 640 mm scale 

model can be ordered.

Also the rosette deserves attention as it is a really 

tasteful one and finely executed. This rosette appears to

be exactly the same as on the Thomas Prisloe concert

guitars from 2008 ( Entirely built bij Prisoe in New York)

Some remarks can be made about this guitar. It has lots' of 

volume and it vibrates really well in the lower registers. 

The higher notes are there as well and even with a nice bass 

support probably due to the way Prisloe places his bracing 

on the soundboard: a 6 fan bracing with closing ribs but 

the bass and treble side are divided in exact two parts. The 

bass side having more struts (1) compared to the treble side.

The number "6"  on the label most likely is referring to at

least 6 PAVAN guitars that were delivered in his shop with

a cracked top. He replaced them with a soundboard entirely 

made by himself. Mr. Prisloe wasn't sure about the 

number of guitars he rebuilt in this manner. Another

example we found with the number 13 inside so this

process remains a bit of a mystery.

A nice shot of the GOTOH tuners with a visible screw

at the bottom of the plastic knobs. Thomas Prisloe started 

the Santa Fe Spruce company to provide other luthiers with

the so called Engelmann spruce soundboards.