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This guitar has just over 2 hours to go on bidding. 20 bids, reserve lowered, but not met yet. There are some great pictures of this instrument. Maximize the images, and look at the detail. Hand made, not machine made. Something to aspire to. I wish I had $20,000 I didn't need.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2003-Jose-Romanillos-Classical-Guitar_W0QQitemZ180320429118QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item180320429118&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

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Waddy

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Whew I got my bid in on time.

Amazing guitar. When I went to Healdsburg there were soooo many amazing guitars there. You move from one booth to the next and each time you see one, you think "Wow, that is the most amazing guitar I've ever seen." So much incredible talent + hard work refining their craft.

Darrin

Heh, the kids don't need college, right?

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

This one is going to have a flurry or activity in the last 5 minutes I'll bet - still over an hour to go.......

The last few minutes may be fun to watch. Wish I knew who the bidders were. Wish I was one of them. Wish money grew on trees. Wish....................................................... !

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Waddy

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Nice.........This guitar was made right around the time that Jose' retired so we may actually be looking at Liam's work here.
In chatting with Liam a couple summers ago at the course in Spain, I asked how many guitars a year he was building, "eight" was his answer.
Thus this is a rare guitar by that standard and a lovely one by any standard.
As we closed our guitars, Jose' signed them on the inside........I guess that is best I'll be doing at having a guitar with his signature..........

www.guitarsbydavidlaplante.com

I'd say that's a pretty nice way to get his signature. I'd settle for a signed copy of his book on guitar construction. Or, just the book, even without the signature.

David, I believe I read, somewhere, another forum, that it is Liam's work. He, obviously, is a chip off the old block.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Yes it is definitely Liam's work, but none the worse for that. I was talking to Charles Ramirez about it this afternoon, he has a similar Romanillos guitar. I believe that the price reflects a lot on the name though, but that is always the case. Would I have spent $20000 on it? Well I have played Charles' Romanillos on quite a few occasions, I guess I'd say it was in the top five guitars I've played. And, of course, unlike most guitars, it should hold its collectible value. But $20000? Oh well I guess something is worth what someone will pay for it.

Great guitar though.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Folks here should take a close look at this............

It's an excellent example of a guitar that has real character........

Nice pictures. Every detail of the guitar is so well done, I've always loved the Romanillos rosette, the lines and symmetry of the headstock are just great.

Well, someone was willing to pay $20,000. for it (nearly) but I suspect the reserve was a lot higher than that.
Last I heard the prices for these new was pushing (or over) the $30,000. mark............

Just ended at $19,110, and the reserve was still not met.

I saved off all the pictures. I couldn't let those go. Too good an example of fine hand work. I noticed that he does not pore-fill his rosettes. I thought that was interesting. It also appears that he seals the inside of the guitar, or maybe that's just the picture. if you save off the rosette picture, and zoom in, you can see the inside, and the label pretty well. The third thing I noticed is that he uses a parallel grain back strip vs. a cross grain one. David, I believe you mentioned that feature to me.

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Waddy

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I asked Jose' about that, he said that he preferred it because if the back dried out to the point of splitting, he'd rather have it be along the join as opposed to somewhere in the middle of the plate.

I saved the pics too.......here is a pic of my latest in progress.......as you can see, I find this sort of thing inspiring as well.

I love the purfling. What do you do, just glue up all your waste wood and cut it in strips? I know it's more sophisticated than that.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Colin, did you ever record that old English job you liked so well, or do you have any recordings on origional old guitars?
Does the museum ever loan them out, like they would a violin, so they can be "played in" a bit??

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

As a repair person, i urge all of you to NEVER USE PARALLEL GRAIN BACK STRIPS!

I have repaired lots of back cracks in the middle of the plate, nothing too hard or fancy about this.

I have also repaired a couple of $$$nice$$$ classical guitars by respected makers with parallel grain back strips having cracks right through the back and back strip. These are a serious hassle to repair correctly. It is either dig out the old back strip through the soundhole, fix the cracks, reinstall cross grain strips between the braces, again through the soundhole which is hard for the ones near the tailblock OR remove the back, which makes all of those steps easier but comes with its own set of problems.

Sorry to be intense about this, but any repair guy would rather fix a crack in the middle of a back plate than deal with cracks straight through the back and back graft.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

$20,000 would be a steal for that. Even at 30k they're impossible for a dealer to keep in stock for very long.

David - very nice job on the purfling. I really want to explore that as well.

On the Romanillos in the auction, every once in a while there is a lozenge/diamond in that row of colors. Nice, subtle touch.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I noticed that, and wondered if it was intentional or arbitrary. In a couple of spots, you can even see where one of the little diamonds was cut through, so it is not complete. That's why I asked if they glue up a lot of "extra" parts or off cuts with various thicknesses of veneer, then cut strips. The little lozenges are part of the rosette design, so maybe they had extras. I'm sure it's all planned, but why cut through the middle of the little design?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy, are you talking about on the head? I bet Liam thought no one would notice! Ha Ha

Such a minute point, I'd have certainly have used it.

Overall, the lozenge/diamond is definitely intentional. Its "bookmatched" going up the back strip.

Another nice thing about that Romanillos is the slight wedge profile to the head inlay.

Very fine looking example there.

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Thanks Joshua,
Personally, I haven't tackled the lozenge quite yet........I'm not a total glutton for punishment......!
What I think should be mentioned here is that all the colors we're seeing in the Romanillos are natural wood.
Of course as you know, Jose' and Liam hand plane these out of lumber.......it's a shame that there aren't better selections of veneer available out there from the usual luthier suppliers. There is a big veneer dealer close to me in MA.....I'll have to go over at some point and pick through their odd lots....

Best!

I totally agree about the veneer. Sure would be nice to get some of the more interesting ones in different thicknesses, too.

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Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I have a question, in the close up of the head stock is the nut tapered? I have never built a classical guitar is this for intonation purposes? Just curious.

Mark

The nut is a wedge and fits snugly. The end of the fingerboard should still be parallel to the frets.

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Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Gotcha, I really couldn't tell which way it tapered. Thanks
Mark

It doesn't take much of a taper to make it work. His is tapered more than I thought it would be.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars