1951 Manuel Velazquez SP/CSAR

The rarest of the rare? As often as the guitars of Manuel Velazquez are compared to Hauser I, how often do you find a Velazquez that was actually built during the lifetime of Hermann Hauser I (1882-1952)? Well, here we have one! The last time we knew of a guitar from this period was about 25 years ago, when we had this very guitar! That is just how rare these are. It was actually paired with a sister/twin guitar - both of which had originally been commissioned from a wealthy New York family before coming to us over 50 years later. We sold both guitars right away of course, so it is a real delight to see one of them back here again after a quarter century.

As can be seen from the photos, this is a beautiful early and full-sized concert guitar built by Manuel Velazquez. And as we have repeatedly experienced with this makers work, especially from his earlier period like this instrument, how amazing it is to see just how close Velazquez instruments are to Hauser instruments from the same period. Not just in appearance but also in style of sound - great clarity and separation between voices, perfect balance and a natural, beautiful, "woody" quality of tone. It has a slightly compact (yet sturdy) build, with a firm sound that is strongly reminiscent of the "teutonic" style as developed by Hermann Hauser I - dense and focused (and very lyrical) trebles balanced with sturdy, anchored basses which are the trademark tonal qualities of this style. Playability is very easy thanks to the comfortable shape and contour of the neck. It has one crack in the back that was repaired 25 years ago (with 3 internal cleats) by Yuris Zeltins and remains in perfect, stable condition. Otherwise this is overall an extremely beautiful and well preserved instrument by arguably the most important and legendary North American maker to date.