Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks,

I worked hard the last two days to get some food for thoughts finished for y'alls weekend.
In 2005 we spent a whole week with José Romanillos in Següenza, Spain close to Madrid to document the construction of a guitar he finished for his friend and luthier Josep Melo in Barcelona. In the first part José talks about how to select wood, the choice of tone wood for the struts (braces) and the validity of old methods. Here is why it is good to stick to tradition, instead of reinventing the wheel. This is right from the workbench. Please note, this was the beginning of a multiple day video shoot. We had not set up the second camera. I still wanted to capture his comments. I the upcoming sequels I will have nicer close-ups of José working. Still, Spanish "Guitar Making" at its best. José is one of the most humble luthiers we have ever met. Enjoy.

http://www.customguitarvideo.com/2009/09/25/jose-romanillos-01-2/

Cheers,
Holger

José Romanillos became famous by building the guitars for Classical Guitar Virtuoso Julian Bream. He his one of the last icons in Spanish guitar making tradition. He wrote numerous books about the Spanish guitar and the man who defined the classical guitar as we know it today, Antonio de Torres.

That's great, Holger. Thanks for posting that. Isn't he just great to listen to? He is such a gentle person, in his demeanor, that I find myself hanging on his every word. He is, truly, a master teacher. I find it interesting, too, that he and Somogyi, have some similar traits, in their thought processes.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Holger, thank you so much for posting this.

great post holger........

This video brings back fond memories of our visit to Jose's shop during the summer of 2007 while attending the guitar making course at the nearby Hermanos Maristas monastery.

Will you eventually be offering this (as well as the other 1980 Romanillos footage) on a DVD for purchase?

I'll buy it!

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

I am in the process of going through my raw-material and, at the same time, listening to people like you! We have learned from our two DVD's we have produced three years ago that the market is extremely small and diverse. (Which means: there are different viewer groups with different expectations AND it is a labour of love and does not feed my family. Please understand - I am talking about paying bills, not becoming rich. We are far away from ever recovering traveling cost.) I guess we are in the same boat with a lot of you guys! My wife and I still have the dream and vision to eventually create a "library" to preserve the knowledge and at the same time give the credit to the fine craftsmen who are behind the masterpieces.

I have at least about 15 hours of Romanillos footage. If I edit the "small talk" pieces and potty breaks in between, we still end up with about 13 hours of footage. The "normal" guitar player / fan / connoisseur would probably enjoy watching 45 minutes with the "highlights" of this footage. I understand that YOU guys probably would like to see the whole 13 hours, because there might be moments of José's workflow that tell more than 1000 words. There might be a sequence of "what is on the bench" or "what kind of jigs does he use" that could make all the difference.
I personally believe that material with thit importance should be left unaltered as much as possible. The viewer should simply decide what he / she wants to see or skip.

We are trying to find a way to finance our quest. (In other words, we are trying to pay bills while we are working on the material and sharing some of it.) There are a couple of options that might turn out for the better of the cause. We are applying for a state grant (educational film work) and we are trying to license some of the material to public networks. But it's not as easy as it sounds. This could give us a little "air to breath" and allow us to finish a DVD "side project" for you guys.

In the meantime I am doing my best to give you more "Food for Thought" every week. As I mentioned above, it is a labor of love and I (against some people's believe) do it because I am simply excited and fascinated, and I want to give back to the people who built these wonderful instruments, that made my earlier career possible!

Deepest Regards,
Holger

Thank you Holger. Believe me these videos are a real treat to watch

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Good stuff Holger, we all appreciate your offerings. I like the look into the shops and minds of your Luthier participants.

Keep up the good work
Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Holger,

A couple of options:

Break the big 15 hour packages into DVD sized chunks and sell them through itunes, like downloadable movies or TV programs?

Run a pay download site, like the internet's big business.

I hope you find a solution to your liking. The footage is really good.

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Holger,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

Many here very much appreciate your efforts and I'm sure would be happy to support your work through purchase of whatever you decide to make available.

Best