These pages show my guitars and ukuleles and other string instruments
This is one of my latest guitars.
It's a 10 string Salvador Cortez and maybe you think
this came from Spain ?
No..... made in China ! but it is in fact a marvelous guitar.
Took more then a year to get it as every time it was canceled due to the quality criteria made by the (yes spanish!) builder.
It came with a marvelous case.
Mostly I use this guitar to play old lute music ( the G turned down to F# ) .
Yes I also have a real Renaissance lute- as you will see - but the hard thing with the lute is the tuning.
It takes more time to tune then you have time to play it !
Also the lute has "movable" frets and you really play it in a different way then a guitar altho a lot lute-playing-guitarists play it as a guitar.
(guitar "p" before "i" while playing lute "i" before "p" so the thumb "p" inwards)
I will come to that later when I am talking about the lute .
Tuning of this 10 string guitar :
A B C D E A D G B E
There are many different tunings for this guitar and the late maestro Narciso Yepes had a few differnt ones he used .
It's a 10 string Salvador Cortez and maybe you think
this came from Spain ?
No..... made in China ! but it is in fact a marvelous guitar.
Took more then a year to get it as every time it was canceled due to the quality criteria made by the (yes spanish!) builder.
It came with a marvelous case.
Mostly I use this guitar to play old lute music ( the G turned down to F# ) .
Yes I also have a real Renaissance lute- as you will see - but the hard thing with the lute is the tuning.
It takes more time to tune then you have time to play it !
Also the lute has "movable" frets and you really play it in a different way then a guitar altho a lot lute-playing-guitarists play it as a guitar.
(guitar "p" before "i" while playing lute "i" before "p" so the thumb "p" inwards)
I will come to that later when I am talking about the lute .
Tuning of this 10 string guitar :
A B C D E A D G B E
There are many different tunings for this guitar and the late maestro Narciso Yepes had a few differnt ones he used .
Ricardo Sanchis Carpio 1-AF
This is my "brother-in-arms ".
I take it everywhere when I go on trips all over the world.
It is a flamenco guitar build in 1984.
It is solid cedar and has a marvelous sound.
As the wood is very thin I had some severe problems with it .
The bridge almost came off but is now very well repaired .
Also it just tripped over and the complete sides and heel were broken .
The back had collapst because of the drought also marvelously repaired by the same man that repaired the bridge and later the sides .
I attended a flamenco coarse from Paco Peña in 1982 and used my classical guitar then.
This is my "brother-in-arms ".
I take it everywhere when I go on trips all over the world.
It is a flamenco guitar build in 1984.
It is solid cedar and has a marvelous sound.
As the wood is very thin I had some severe problems with it .
The bridge almost came off but is now very well repaired .
Also it just tripped over and the complete sides and heel were broken .
The back had collapst because of the drought also marvelously repaired by the same man that repaired the bridge and later the sides .
I attended a flamenco coarse from Paco Peña in 1982 and used my classical guitar then.
Juan Orozco -8U
My classical buddy
It is said (and forgive me if I am wrong !) that Orozco made these last 8U guitars when he was living
in New York before he sold everything to a Japanese company .
It is a "heavy" classical guitar and it has a thick sound board making it sound warm and deep with incredible bass.
As you might see the top is damaged by my nails as I used this guitar also to learn flamenco and there was no 'golpeador' .
Luckely , as I wrote before ,the soundboard is quite thick .
Again a marvelous guitar to play classic music on.
*some years ago the bridge collapsed and the top had a big
hole in it.
It was remarkable repaired and now has a totally different top.
The photo was taken before this happened.
My classical buddy
It is said (and forgive me if I am wrong !) that Orozco made these last 8U guitars when he was living
in New York before he sold everything to a Japanese company .
It is a "heavy" classical guitar and it has a thick sound board making it sound warm and deep with incredible bass.
As you might see the top is damaged by my nails as I used this guitar also to learn flamenco and there was no 'golpeador' .
Luckely , as I wrote before ,the soundboard is quite thick .
Again a marvelous guitar to play classic music on.
*some years ago the bridge collapsed and the top had a big
hole in it.
It was remarkable repaired and now has a totally different top.
The photo was taken before this happened.
Cerlino
Ooops this is an oldy as this was my first guitar !
Yes I should have it restored as the bridge came off.
The guitar is about 50 or more years old and was given to my oldest sister as a present when she passed her exams ...but she didn't like it ..so I GOT IT!!!
Unbelievable I could play on it .
It has a thick round neck and it was almost possible to put a finger under the (steel) strings without
touching the fretboard !
Yes now I know it would be marvelous to use it as a "slide"guitar.
Ooops this is an oldy as this was my first guitar !
Yes I should have it restored as the bridge came off.
The guitar is about 50 or more years old and was given to my oldest sister as a present when she passed her exams ...but she didn't like it ..so I GOT IT!!!
Unbelievable I could play on it .
It has a thick round neck and it was almost possible to put a finger under the (steel) strings without
touching the fretboard !
Yes now I know it would be marvelous to use it as a "slide"guitar.
Dieter Hopf octave guitar april 1974
This is my cutie .
Very small guitar with a solid top .
The sound ,as it is (almost) 1 octave higher , resembles the sound of a mandolin.
Bought it from a student or we changed guitars ( I had a Hagstrom classical guitar called Isabella) .
He had put 'Schaller " tuners on to it so it was completely out of balance because of the weight of the tuners !
I use it mostly to play classic music on it....but hey it is also marvelous for slide or strum or...or...
This is my cutie .
Very small guitar with a solid top .
The sound ,as it is (almost) 1 octave higher , resembles the sound of a mandolin.
Bought it from a student or we changed guitars ( I had a Hagstrom classical guitar called Isabella) .
He had put 'Schaller " tuners on to it so it was completely out of balance because of the weight of the tuners !
I use it mostly to play classic music on it....but hey it is also marvelous for slide or strum or...or...
Morris B 704 12 string.
Morris ( Morideira ) Japan made some marvelous guitars in the 70ties.
It is said they also made some LP models for Ibanez in that time.
This is a nice guitar but really heavy to handel.
In that time it was about 500 euros or so ( lot of money for a guitar!)
The guitar came in the musicshop where I worked at that time with the head broken and I bought it for about
15 euros ...glued it myself and it still plays the hell .
Yes you need working gloves to play this baby .
It has a laminated top.
Morris ( Morideira ) Japan made some marvelous guitars in the 70ties.
It is said they also made some LP models for Ibanez in that time.
This is a nice guitar but really heavy to handel.
In that time it was about 500 euros or so ( lot of money for a guitar!)
The guitar came in the musicshop where I worked at that time with the head broken and I bought it for about
15 euros ...glued it myself and it still plays the hell .
Yes you need working gloves to play this baby .
It has a laminated top.
Grand Suzuki FG-150
This is what is called a "folk" model little bit smaller then a dreadnought .
It has a deeper 8 shape.
I use this beauty for open tunings ( after checking on the Line 6 Variax 700 see "weird guitars") and slide .
Maybe it should also be put at the "weird guitars" page because as the strings get worn out more and more the sound gets better specially for slide guitar.
It has a nice neck and the with is between a nylon guitar or a steel string .
It has a laminated top.
This baby has balls !!
This is what is called a "folk" model little bit smaller then a dreadnought .
It has a deeper 8 shape.
I use this beauty for open tunings ( after checking on the Line 6 Variax 700 see "weird guitars") and slide .
Maybe it should also be put at the "weird guitars" page because as the strings get worn out more and more the sound gets better specially for slide guitar.
It has a nice neck and the with is between a nylon guitar or a steel string .
It has a laminated top.
This baby has balls !!
Juan Salvador Model 3
This is a small classical guitar with a solid top.
I use it for south american music but also for children that take their first lessons with me .
It has a nice sound but be sure not to use old strings !
This is a small classical guitar with a solid top.
I use it for south american music but also for children that take their first lessons with me .
It has a nice sound but be sure not to use old strings !
Boeing Model 120
Yes guess like you I thought they only made airplanes but this is really a guitar and ( luckily)
the 2 have nothing to do with each other.
This guitar is all made from the best tri-ply .
No seriously .
Cheap guitars don't have to sound cheap !!!
Never NEVER !! think that a very expensive guitar will sound good and marvelous and it will make you play like Santana; Eric Clapton;Andres Segovia ;Pace de Lucia or what ever famous guitarist and a cheap guitar is bull.
This is not true !!!
I have played on a guitar of $ 150.000 in one of the most famousts guitar fabrics in the world (serious) and it sounded like crap .
It was probably made for a rich asian customer that would put it behind thick glass so no one ever would play on it.
There is only 1 thing that makes your guitar sound well and that is YOU !
Back to this guitar ..yes it sounds really marvelous even if it's "cheapy".
Shadow pickup in the bridge ( 900 or so ? long time ago )
You can still see the spot where I "glued" a very expensive rubish pickup on the sound board .
Yes guess like you I thought they only made airplanes but this is really a guitar and ( luckily)
the 2 have nothing to do with each other.
This guitar is all made from the best tri-ply .
No seriously .
Cheap guitars don't have to sound cheap !!!
Never NEVER !! think that a very expensive guitar will sound good and marvelous and it will make you play like Santana; Eric Clapton;Andres Segovia ;Pace de Lucia or what ever famous guitarist and a cheap guitar is bull.
This is not true !!!
I have played on a guitar of $ 150.000 in one of the most famousts guitar fabrics in the world (serious) and it sounded like crap .
It was probably made for a rich asian customer that would put it behind thick glass so no one ever would play on it.
There is only 1 thing that makes your guitar sound well and that is YOU !
Back to this guitar ..yes it sounds really marvelous even if it's "cheapy".
Shadow pickup in the bridge ( 900 or so ? long time ago )
You can still see the spot where I "glued" a very expensive rubish pickup on the sound board .
Yamaha FG-180
Oh? you have a Martin D 0000 what ever ?
I have a Yamaha FG 180 !
Between 60 and 70s Yamaha wanted to start a war against all the expensive guitar companies like Guild,Martin, Gibson .
No they didn't win but in that time they produced some very beautyful cheap guitars .
Cheap because they tried to have the price down while making marvelous guitars .
Martins have a fuller sound ( massive top or totally massive ) but yes ...they cost 100x more but only sound 10x better
Yes this one is an oldy but it sounds like it was bought yesterday .
0:12 strings sounds best
Oh? you have a Martin D 0000 what ever ?
I have a Yamaha FG 180 !
Between 60 and 70s Yamaha wanted to start a war against all the expensive guitar companies like Guild,Martin, Gibson .
No they didn't win but in that time they produced some very beautyful cheap guitars .
Cheap because they tried to have the price down while making marvelous guitars .
Martins have a fuller sound ( massive top or totally massive ) but yes ...they cost 100x more but only sound 10x better
Yes this one is an oldy but it sounds like it was bought yesterday .
0:12 strings sounds best
Juan Cortez 3/4
It is an old small guitar .
Guess it's from the 80ties .
Has a solid top but the fret work is very bad and also the fretboard.
The body is small but deep giving it a funny basy sound .
Nice for playing chords
It is an old small guitar .
Guess it's from the 80ties .
Has a solid top but the fret work is very bad and also the fretboard.
The body is small but deep giving it a funny basy sound .
Nice for playing chords
Paloma MG 102
Extremely cheap Chinese children guitar
Took of the 5th and 4th string and tuned it to Ukulele tuning.
I use this one to experiment with ukulele tunings
Extremely cheap Chinese children guitar
Took of the 5th and 4th string and tuned it to Ukulele tuning.
I use this one to experiment with ukulele tunings
Alhambra 4P
Marvelous guitar and bought it in Spain some years ago.
Just had to have a guitar in Spain when visiting a friend of mine so
I didn't have to take a guitar and case with me every time I went there.
But this year I replaced the guitar with a lesser guitar ( Juan Salavador 2C)
because I loved to have this one at home .
Alhambra make really very nice guitars and sold a lot of them when I
worked in a music shop many many years ago.
Marvelous guitar and bought it in Spain some years ago.
Just had to have a guitar in Spain when visiting a friend of mine so
I didn't have to take a guitar and case with me every time I went there.
But this year I replaced the guitar with a lesser guitar ( Juan Salavador 2C)
because I loved to have this one at home .
Alhambra make really very nice guitars and sold a lot of them when I
worked in a music shop many many years ago.