Archive for February, 2012
Pepe Romero Jr. – Guitar #30
Here we have guitar #30 from our celebration of Pepe Jr.’s 200th guitar. Guitar #30 is rosewood and spruce and, as Pepe Jr. tells us, the spruce came from Miguel Rodriguez and may be as much as 100 years old. After Pepe Jr. and Sr., Pepe Sr. tell us about the guitar, Pepe Sr. plays an excerpt from the Aranjuez. The concert was recorded by Jon Connolly of Avid, and we used a lot of his video footage as well, so a big thank you to Jon for all his help.
Here’s Marc Teicholz playing Paolo Bellinati’s “Un Amor di Valsa” on a 1930 Domingo Esteso at our ‘Valseana’ concert. Marc originally recorded this piece on the ‘Valseana’ CD playing a different Esteso from 1927.
From Lee Ritenour and friends – Lee Ritenour actually got the Ramirez ‘Centenario’ that he used to record the ‘Six String Theory’ album with from GSI.
LEE RITENOUR & DAVE GRUSIN ANNOUNCE GLOBAL MUSIC COMPETITION in 4 instruments including GUITAR!
Call-out to non-professional GUITARISTS! We want you to submit video at www.sixstringtheory.com for your chance to win Berklee College of Music Scholarship, Yamaha instruments, a shot at a Concord Records deal and more! Amazing opportunities for a professional music career with priceless access and incredible prize package value.
Guitar Entries will be accepted in the genres of Rock, Blues, Jazz/Fusion, Acoustic, Classical/Flamenco or Country.Rhythm Section Entries will be accepted in the genres of Jazz, Fusion, Rock, Blues or Contemporary. Competitors are required to send an online video submission at www.sixstringtheory.com
Graciliano Perez just sent me this video of Vicente Amigo trying out his new guitar – a cedar and rosewood flamenco. Vicente has a few of Graciliano’s guitars at this point, and I’ve been bugging Graciliano to get me some video, and here it is. We should be getting our first blanca from Graciliano this week or next, and I’ll be sure get some video of that.
We’re celebrating Presidents day with huge discounts for one day only! From midnight to midnight on Monday, February 20, take 10% off any guitar web order up to $10,000 (max $1000 discount) or 30% off any accessories web order up to $1000 (max $300 discount). At checkout, simply enter coupon code PRESDAY2012GUI for a guitar purchase, or PRESDAY2012ACC for accessories and your discount will be reflected in your cart.
We met Ricardo Giuffrida at the Marc Teicholz concert a few weeks back, and I remember him telling me that some of the great Brazilian guitarist/composers had serious day jobs. In particular he mentioned that Guinga had been a dentist (I had no idea). Then it turns out that Ricardo is also a doctor who plays (Ricardo is from Brazil, so maybe it’s a Brazilian thing) and he doesn’t just play a little. So when he came back to the showroom last week we had to shoot some videos of him playing some great Brazilian classics and one of his own compositions, which is pretty impressive. So here are some great videos of Ricardo, doing what he does when he’s not doctoring.
We are proud to announce that as Jean-Noël Rohé’s exclusive US dealer, we are within days of receiving our very first instrument from him, his fiftieth guitar. Although we agreed to this collaboration about 2 years ago, after I had been to visit him in Strasbourg (at the advice of both Daniel Friederich and Dominique Field), Rohé insisted that he take the extra time necessary to work out a few subtle design changes to ensure that he would be sending us the best guitar he is capable of both envisioning and building. Well, that time has now come and we are very excited. Photos attached are of the actual guitar, which he will string up tomorrow and ship to us next week. Demand for his instruments is already soaring worldwide, primarily because of his early and strong support from both Daniel Friederich and Dominique Field who both see him as the leader of the next generation of French luthiers. He also made a huge impact when in 2004 he was awarded the title “the Finest Craftsman in France” (Meilleur Ouvrier de France – M.O.F.), and after the publication of a glowing review by Clément Follain in the French magazine “Guitare Classique”. Although still very young, his guitars already have the great majesty and authority normally commanded by instruments produced by the most rarified of veteran maestros who have years of experience behind them. This is a rare opportunity to introduce a fine builder of this caliber, and we look forward not only to this guitar, but also to the many years (and guitars) still ahead of us.
-David Collett
Here’s Marc Teicholz playing Mendelssohn on a 1921 Santos Hernandez at our ‘Valseana Live’ concert a few weeks ago. The first piece is his arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, Op. 19, no. 6 “Venetian Gondola Song No. 1″ and the second is his arrangement of string Quartet #1, Op. 12 “II. Canzonetta”.
Here’s something we don’t get everyday – a maple body alto lute (not that we get other sorts of lutes all the time…). It’s built by Michael Haaser of Dresden, Germany, and should be arriving soon, as Michael has just finished building it. Hopefully we’ll find a good lutenist in town and shoot a video when it comes in.
When we had all eight guitars in the showroom for our Marc Teicholz concert we had Felix Salazar, who is responsible for all of our photography, take a little extra time with the guitars to get not only what we think of as ‘product shots’, but also those great shots he does for the big panels on the home page of our site. Felix did an amazing job, so we wanted to show off the guitars a little. Below are some of the ‘panel’ shots, and you can click on the guitars’ names to go the page and see them from all angles. In the order in which Marc played them they are: a 1921 Santos Hernandez, a 1930 Domingo Esteso, a 1952 Hermann Hauser I, a 1971 Daniel Friederich, a 2007 Edmund Blochinger, a 1936 Ignacio Fleta, a 1969 Miguel Rodriguez ‘Churchdoor’, and an 1867 Torres. I should note that while all of these guitars were sold at one point by GSI, none of them is currently for sale
