ricksguitarnews

ricksguitarnewsSorry I haven’t posted any news lately. My wife Anthea gave birth to our second boy Felix last month. Mother and child are doing well.

Other new arrivals are a 2000 Spruce Dan Kellaway, 2004 Cedar John Price, 2004 David Argent, 2005 Cedar Gerard Gilet, 2005 Cedar Kim Lissarrague and a mint 1973 José Ramirez.

I’ve been spending the weekend restringing and setting up a couple of the 19th century guitars I have for sale. I fitted nylgut strings to a Parisian Gand guitar. This time capsule took me back to 1830’s and like HG Wells character I was surprised by what I found.

Firstly the butterfly tuners work so well, what a great idea that has been lost to the guitar world, although I wonder if it wasn’t an inspiration for the Floyd Rose locking nut.
The neck on this guitar is very slim and has more in common with a contemporary electric guitar than a classical. The volume also surprised me; this guitar is louder than many contemporary classical guitars.

The Gand is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship with Spruce top and satin wood back and sides. It features a double top construction where the maker lines the back with a spruce soundboard to add stiffness and increase projection.

The second guitar I restrung was the 1850’s English Panormo copy.
This guitar is a very robust instrument so I used contemporary strings Savarez Corums standard tension. It inspired me to play Sor's Mozart variations. This guitar also features stunning Brazilian Rosewood with double top construction and the famous Rance 1850 tuners.