1978 Manuel Velázquez CD/IN
| Year | 1978 |
| Top | Cedar |
| Back & Sides | Indian Rosewood |
| Scale Length | 650 mm |
| Nut width | 53 mm |
| Finish | French Polish |
| Country | USA |
| Luthier | Manuel Velázquez |
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Coeck "Nocturne No. 2" played by Jan Depreter on a 1978 Manuel Velazquez
Gioacchino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville: Overture" played by Dulcet Guitar Duo on M. Velazquez
Bach Prelude, BWV 999 - Reyes Gonzalez plays 1978 Manuel Velazquez
Description
This 1978 Manuel Velázquez is a cedar and Indian rosewood classical guitar – the Velázquez reproduced in the book “34 Classical Guitars in Life Size”, and one with a smile inside.
A Smiley Face Instead of a Signature
The guitar has two rare features. Its top is cedar, a rare treat from this maker. And the signature that normally appears on the underside of the top, above the soundhole, is missing – instead there is a little red smiley face. The label is 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.
The “Large Body” Period
Built during Velázquez’s “large body” period, with a more rounded plantilla and a slightly deeper box, it has a very big sound with extra power, while keeping his trademark clarity, balance and woody tone. The guitar was in excellent condition with no cracks or repairs; Yuris Zeltins fitted new frets for exceptionally easy playability. Jan Depreter, Reyes González and the Dulcet Guitar Duo play it in the videos above.
In “34 Classical Guitars in Life Size”
This guitar is one of the 34 instruments reproduced in Alberto Martínez’s book, with photographs and full-size drawings:
Background
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”:
