Vicente Arias 1875 Classical Guitar Plan

Information About the Guitar & Restoration Report by Ian Watchorn:

Below is an extract from an e-mail from the seller, regarding the history of the guitar.

Condition on Arrival:

The guitar was barely playable on arrival, mainly due to failed glue joints and seams both top and back. It has had an extensive and demanding playing life, doing some hard yards as a black flamenco in the early 20th century.

“The history of the guitar I can tell you the guitar came from the Canary Islands into Spain (Madrid) it was purchased by the owner’s father in the 1940’s and was played for some time in the family home and then used by the daughter to have lessons (in fact the daughter’s teacher commented on the beauty of the guitar) until being put away and only played very infrequently for the past 20 or so years. The owner was not a guitar player as such, but a lover of guitar music. He was on a trip to Malaga I believe when he heard the gypsy player playing this guitar and he was so taken by the sound of the guitar that he just had to buy it. So, he offered the gypsy player an amount of money (unknown) and the guitar was his.

The family can not offer any further information other than this past 70 or so years on it being with them. I did ask the family which luthier had worked on the guitar in the past and they couldn’t say.”

The guitar had never been opened but repeatedly repaired on back, sides and belly from the outside. Many of the repairs had failed and many were also of poor quality.

Some original rosewood was missing in the sides and had been filled with wood dust and glue. There were multiple areas of seam separation and repeated re-gluing of loose braces without proper clamping, etc. The belly had been fitted with 2 white plastic golpeadores. To do this, the finish had been removed and a lacquer brushed crudely over the whole belly and much of the sides and back.

The neck was in good order with slight marking from capos and the original pegs were present and functional. The original brass frets are quite low and worn, but still usable. There is some pitting of the rosewood fretboard in the lower positions. There were numerous cracks in the sides and back. The guitar is extremely lightly built and thus, quite fragile, but overall, has survived well and retained its tone.

Approach to restoration:

It was decided to return the guitar to playing condition whilst preserving the substantial original material inside the guitar. The instrument is in very good condition historically, due largely to the fact that it had never been opened.

Work Undertaken:

Remove back and boxwood purfling.
Remove all old repairs
Reglue all bars and liners
Align and reglue 25 cracks to rosewood back & sides. Multiple inlay repairs to rosewood sides.
Reinforce sides at repair points with silk paper Remove, repair and re-insert original label
Remove all old glue and unoriginal lacquer from belly, back and sides. Replace back and original purfling.
Repair capo damage to neck
Repair and reset original rosewood pegs.
Repair and retouch golpeador damage to belly – treble and bass. Revive original finish on back & sides – treat faded filler marks. Level original frets, reseat nut, make new classical style saddle in bone.

Restring with Pyramid gut strings as follows: Restring with Pyramid gut strings as follows:

Pitch = a’: 430Hz Stringlength: 650mm
Current stringing
e’ 0.62mm gut
b’ 0.76mm gut
g 0.94mm gut
d 1414 Pyramid Wound A 1426 Pyramid wound E 1436 Pyramid wound

Condition on Completion:
Acceptable higher tension stringing:
.64mm gut
.79mm gut
.97mm gut
1416 Pyramid wound 1426 Pyramid wound 1436 Pyramid wound

The guitar has responded very well to restoration and despite its extreme lightness, it is structurally sound and has a surprisingly large and rich tone.

Recommendations for care and use:

Due to the extreme lightness of the sides (0.8 – 1.3mm thick) and back (1.0 – 1.9mm) the instrument needs to be handled with considerable care. The sides are flexible in spots and old rosewood can easily crack, so I recommend not leaning any weight on the sides and careful climate control. The restoration was done at 35 – 45% rel. Humidity.

Stringing as recommended and a pitch of 430Hz should be manageable in the long term. If storing un-played for longer periods, drop pitch by 2-3 tones.