1958 Manuel Velázquez No. 13 SP/CSAR

This 1958 Manuel Velázquez is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar built in New York, No. 13.

No. 13

The guitar has the scroll label he used for the rest of his career – “Manuel Velázquez, Constructor de Guitarras, New York” – dated by hand and signed “Manuel Velázquez” across the center, numbered #13. Slightly compact yet sturdy, it has the firm sound of the “Teutonic” style of Hermann Hauser I – dense, focused trebles balanced by sturdy basses – with great clarity and a natural, woody tone. The materials are beautiful: dark, straight-grained CSA rosewood and an aged spruce top with lovely bearclaw markings.

Condition

One crack in the top, running between the bridge and the foot, goes all the way through and is repaired with a splice on the outside and one cleat inside; the center seam between bridge and rosette also has a splice, and a surface crack in the lower bout, bass side, was glued from the outside. The guitar was refinished, probably many decades ago, judging by its dark patina and the newer wear on the body and neck. The back and sides have no cracks or repairs. Goran Ivanović plays it in the video above.

Manuel Velázquez: An American Master in the Spanish Tradition

Manuel Velázquez (1917–2014) was born in Puerto Rico and made his name in New York, where his workshop at 420 Third Avenue became a meeting place for leading guitarists. He was perhaps the greatest American luthier to build in the European tradition, and his guitars yield nothing in craftsmanship or sound to those of his Spanish and German contemporaries. Over a career of nearly eight decades – in New York, Puerto Rico, Virginia and Florida – his instruments were played by Andrés Segovia, Julian Bream, Pepe Romero, Rey de la Torre and Sabicas, and by musicians far beyond the classical world, from Earl Klugh to Paul Simon and Keith Richards.

The Velázquez Sound

Velázquez guitars are most often compared to those of Hermann Hauser I and Hermann Hauser II – not only in appearance but in the style of sound: great clarity and separation between voices, perfect balance, sparkling trebles over steady basses and a natural, beautiful “woody” quality of tone. Most of his guitars follow this compact, Hauser-like model; in the 1970s and early 1980s he also built a larger, more rounded body with a deeper box and an even bigger sound. His son Alfredo Velázquez, who learned the craft in his father’s workshop, continues the tradition.

Books on Manuel Velázquez

A 1978 Velázquez – a guitar that later passed through our hands – is reproduced in Alberto Martínez’s book “34 Classical Guitars in Life Size”, and a 1955 Velázquez from the Russell Cleveland collection appears in “The Classical Guitar – A Complete History”:

34 Classical Guitars in Life Size

The Classical Guitar – A Complete History