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thermionic · September 2014

Idly looking at facebook on my phone one Sunday afternoon, I see my cousin is having a clearout and asking if anybody wants an old guitar:

Luckily I saw it and staked my claim before he gave it away, because there's a story behind this. Originally my uncle's, it was bought by my grandfather in 1963 when he worked in Washington DC. He travelled a lot with his work to South and Central America, and decided rather than flying down on his own as he usually did, he'd make a family roadtrip from Washington all the way down to Mexico City. My uncle (who must have been about 14 at the time) wanted a guitar and one of my grandfather's colleagues in Mexico suggested a local guitar shop - on the basis of the skills of the luthiers there I understand. Anyway, they came away with this:

I have no idea what it's made of, but the back and sides are light in colour. The neck is a massive baseball bat (no truss rod) but the body feels quite lightly braced.

It has suffered a crack in the heel at some point, which looks like it's spread to a split in the sides (both sides of the heel):

My uncle took it Andy's Guitar Workshop in London to fix the crack, I think it's reasonably stable now (I hope, anyway). The case is a bit musty and could do with a Shake & Vac, but the original receipt is in the case:

It's in a good playable condition, maybe only needing a scrape of the fingerboard, a polish of the frets and a set of new strings. I've never had a nylon-string guitar before, so any advice appreciated!

WezV · September 2014

probably cypress back and sides

thermionic · September 2014

Thanks @WezV - interesting. It's a little rustic and probably what would be called a "student model" but it's hand crafted and I'm pretty sure it's solid wood. When I first saw it a few years ago my impression was that it wasn't full sized, but it appears to be maybe a centimetre short of a dreadnought scale length. I don't know if "modelo espanol" implies a bit of a flamenco influence, or whether it's typical of the folk instruments of 1960s Mexico - I don't think it's refined enough to be called a classical.

Nice to have a nylon string guitar in my collection, especially one that's a piece of family history. I'm going to have to learn to play something typically South American on it!

ESBlonde · September 2014

285 is that dollars or pesos? If dollars, that was some guitar back in it's day. I don't know how pesos would convert from that time.

thermionic · September 2014

Pretty sure it was Pesos, it's definitely entry-level. Still nice though.

thermionic · October 2014

Amazing what an hour with a blade, some wet & dry, wire wool and Dunlop Deep Conditioner does to 51 years of grime:

thomasross20 · October 2014

Wow!!

usedtobe · October 2014

That's come up lovely!

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