1997 Manuel Velázquez "Torres" SP/MP

This 1997 Manuel Velázquez “Torres” is a spruce and flamed maple classical guitar dedicated by the maker to Antonio de Torres, “the father of the modern guitar”.

A Dedication to Torres

Below the usual signed label, a second label is written by hand: “En conmemoración a Don Antonio de Torres, el padre de la guitarra moderna. M. Velázquez” – in commemoration of Don Antonio de Torres, the father of the modern guitar. The body is more compact than any other post-1965 Velázquez we have seen.

Maple and a Golden Glow

The sound has the trademark Velázquez qualities – a clean, pure tone and razor-sharp separation between voices – and the elegantly flamed maple adds a “golden glow”, a little more warmth than his rosewood guitars. The tuners are Rodgers with satinwood buttons to match the maple. The guitar was in pristine, as-new condition, without even playing wear.

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