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