1959 Hernández y Aguado SP/CSAR

This 1959 Hernández y Aguado is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar from the Madrid workshop of Manuel Hernández and Victoriano Aguado, with a label marked "2ª Época".

A 1959 "HyA" with a "2ª Época" Label

The printed label – "M. Hernández y V. Aguado, Constructores, Ribera Curtidores 9, Madrid" – carries the year 1959 and the handwritten words "2ª Época" ("second period") in place of a number. The exact meaning of this designation, which appears on some Hernández y Aguado labels, has never been conclusively documented. The guitar has the 650 mm scale, the carved headstock and the unusually thin rosette so typical of the workshop.

Sound

The sound of this guitar is just as distinctive as its appearance. The initial attack of the note is crisp and "snappy", almost like a snare drum, while the body of the note which follows is airy and lightweight. These qualities allow the player to achieve a high level of clarity and precision, especially in quick, busy music – while the instrument remains very expressive and lyrical in slower music.

Hernández y Aguado: From Pianos to Guitars in Madrid

Manuel Hernández (1895–1975) and Victoriano Aguado (1897–1982) met and became friends while working together in a piano factory. They eventually formed a partnership and set up their own piano (and furniture) repair shop in Madrid. As legend has it, their great interest in the art of guitar making was secured sometime in the 1940s, when they leased out some space in their shop to Modesto Borreguero (one of the famed Manuel Ramírez workers) and became intrigued with his guitar making skills.

A Unique Shape and Sound

Hernández y Aguado instruments remain unique in the canon of great makers – they have an almost pear-like shape (or as we say, the plantilla is "pregnant at the hips"), the interior is typically varnished just like the exterior, and they are decorated with unusually thin rosettes and ornately carved headstocks. Very responsive and musical, these guitars have been played throughout the decades by such greats as Regino Sainz de la Maza, John Williams, Julian Bream and, in more recent years, Graham Anthony Devine.