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.
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!
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 p icture taken from the same sp ot. Soundboard and
bridge have been relaquered already. As with wood: It
still dep ends under wich angle you look at it to determine
the inserts. Sometimes they are clearly visible, sometimes
not. I'm glad I have kep t the original bridge.
The fron t of the comp letely relaquered Juan R oman 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 rep aired 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 headshap e. The lacquering
is the logical follow up . New tuners have been added
as only one side of the original tuners still was p resent.
Of course I will take a close look around when I'm
in Granada these holidays. The top nut 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 .
- Juan Roman Padilla uses a 7 fan bracing with no closing ribs.
Antonio Marin Montero used this fan bracing with closing ribs.
- 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
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
ap p eared in the trade guides with a guitar factory (fabrica)
at Carrera de Melilla, Traste 1 , num. 25 and with the
office (desp acho) at Caballeros 55 bajo Valencia.
In the p eriod 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
de Melilla 23 and the sho
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:
As there is no address mentioned here it is more likely
that Juan Ponce was a more a kind of a salesman.
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.
I've included this picture as the rosette has been executed
in the same way as the Salvador Ibanez e Hijos label. No
coincidence of course as Telesforo Julve took over the
Ibanez workshop. You might wonder how long they kept
on producing this model, though the tuners might give a
clue here in how old the guitar in question is: The wurm
and wurmwheel on the guitar presented here have been
placed the other way round as has been done in earlier
times. Generally from 1910 / 1920 onwards they did it
the way up until present times.
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!
And presented here is a similar guitar on the site from Reverb
They are stating that this fguitar is from 1880 but I doubt that.
Want to know more around this brand and in general
about the Valencia made guitars, just check this site:
www.guitarrasvalencia.wordpress.com
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