1965 Robert Bouchet No. 104 SP/CSAR

This 1965 Robert Bouchet is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar from Paris, No. 104 – owned by one player, a student and close friend of Julian Bream, from the time it was built.

In the video above, George Sakellariou plays "Away In A Manger" on this guitar.

No. 104: One Owner, and Julian Bream

Paris-based Robert Bouchet built just over 150 guitars in his lifetime – they are prized for their sound and appearance as well as for their rarity. This guitar, #104 from 1965 (as written on one of the internal back braces), has been owned until now by only one owner since it was built. He was a student and close friend of the late Julian Bream, who also famously played and recorded on Bouchet guitars for part of his career.

Jeffrey Elliott's 1983 Bridge Patch

This instrument is in excellent condition with only one hairline crack, just off the center seam between the rosette and bridge (repaired internally only with glue), and it was also "altered" in 1983 by Jeff Elliott at the recommendation of Bream. Jeff took out the thin brace running under the bridge and replaced it with a more traditional bridge patch in 4 thin pieces between the braces. All three (Bream, Elliott and the owner) chose to do this as they felt the sound was being hurt by the brace and were delighted with the resulting sound being freed up afterwards, believing that the guitar had now reached its full potential for sound. Jeff has done this kind of bridge-patch modification many times, including on his own guitars, including this one.

Sound and Playability

The sound of the guitar is absolutely marvelous and compares with any top Bouchet we've ever seen. The sound can best be described as having a dreamy elegance with an almost "creamy" texture to it – and the sensation of playing a guitar with this sound is very intoxicating and other-worldly. Playability is a dream with a slender and very comfortable neck shape with standard string spacing that allows the wider nut additional fingerboard on either side of the high and low E-strings to prevent "slips" during slurs and hammer-offs. Overall a fantastic example of a top Bouchet.

Robert Bouchet: From Painter to Guitar Maker

Robert Bouchet (1898–1986) was a Paris painter who became one of the most influential guitar makers of the twentieth century and the founding father of what is called today the "French school of guitar making". He took up the guitar in 1932 and became a friend of Julián Gómez Ramírez, a Spanish maker in Paris trained in the José Ramírez I workshop in Madrid, whose workshop he often visited. When he lost the guitar Gómez Ramírez had made for him, he decided to build one himself – in 1946, at the age of 48. In all he made only 154 instruments.

Founder of the French School

Bouchet's reputation quickly attracted some of the greatest players to his workshop: Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, Emilio Pujol, Oscar Ghiglia, Turíbio Santos, Manuel López Ramos and Julian Bream. His innovations, including the famous "barre d'âme" in the soundboard bracing, left a lasting mark on guitar making, and the guitars of Daniel Friederich and many later French makers grew from his school. Bouchets are in the top tier of collectible classical guitars, along with Antonio de Torres and Hermann Hauser I.

Books on Robert Bouchet

Alberto Martínez's bilingual book is the most complete look at Bouchet's life and work, and a 1959 Bouchet is among the guitars shown in Orfeo's "34 Classical Guitars in Life Size":

Robert Bouchet 1898-1986: Peintre & Luthier

Orfeo – 34 Classical Guitars in Life Size