La Guitarra Valenciana

[willie]

Hello, I am brand new here and I have a question. When I was a boy in the early 60's, my father always dreamed of having a Guitar he reffered to as Valenciana. He would go on and on as if this was the holy grail of Guitars. After 34 years of steel string Guitars,I have recently been smitten with the Classical Guitar bug. I have the very best steel string Guitars Collings. I love them. My question as you may have guessed is what is this Valenciana Guitar. I cannot find such a brand, but I have found out that certain guitars are made in Valencia Spain. I wonder if there is a certain Guitar that he was reffering to. What was the best one of that time period, what about today what is the best Guitar coming out of Valencia Spain. Thanks.

[JSK]

Hi Willie -- Not sure if this helps (probably not), but I've got a 1983 Ricardo Sanchis-Carpio 2a (spruce/indian rosewood -- not the guitar pictured in the avatar up there) which was made in Valencia. I believe Sanchis-Carpio is better known (to the extent he's known at all) as a flamenco builder, but mine's a traditional classical. Although that's the only guitar I know made in Valencia, I suspect there are many others. What your pop was dreaming about is anyone's guess.

[oc chuck]

Just a shot in the dark....

go to Marc Silber Music
http://www.marcsilbermusic.com/

There is a Valenciana guiter. This one
sounds like a work shop or factory guitar
from Mexico.

also
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Valenciana/Unknown/10/1

Pretty good review for the money.

[MWA]

There is one on ebay. Item # 260209168739. These crop up from time to time there. Its hard to read the label so I can't tell if it was made in Mexico or not. However, the label looks like one used by Telesforo Julve of Valencia so it may be a guitar exported by them to Mexico. Or it may just be a Mexican builder copied the Julve label. Anyway, its up for sale and there is about an hour to go if you are interested.

By the way, a lot of guitars are made in the region around Valencia Spain. I believe the Alhambra factory is in the region.

[iberianwolf]

Yes, there are numerous guitar factories and workshops in and around Valencia but Alhambra isn't one of them.
They're located in Muro de Alcoy in Alicante province, a good bit south of and inland from Valencia.
Raimundo, Aparicio, Prudencio Saez, Vicente Sanchis Badia and Amalio Burguet are some of the better known Valencian manufacturers.

[MWA]

My map shows Muro de Alcoy in the Comunidad de Valencia about 60 miles from Valencia. I think that qualifies for my original statement of "in the region".

[El gato]

The "La Valenciana" guitars I know, were made in a factory back in the sixties in Mexico City for the music house"Veerkamp" right after Telesforo Julve died and his instruments could't be imported into the country anymore,they basically copied all the features of his guitars on this valencianas(label included but only on design). They are actually very nice guitars with all solid woods and nice rosettes and very resistant to extremes of humidity(Mexico city has a much better climate for guitar building than Paracho).Today, they are just crap!!, made in China and not sharing nothing of why they were almost mythical in those days, the models with spruce top and palo escrito body were top models and they are very hard to find this days.
I have one with black walnut and spruce top, nice sound, not a concert instrument by a long shot but a very honest clear sound.this guitar has a straight neck after forty five years of service, not bad for a cheapo!!; all shellac finish, all hand made. I have seen Julve guitar and when I compared both instruments, they were almost identical.(to be honest; la valenciana were better made than Julve's own work).