Description

Pons Jeune ~1815 – finely crafted romantic guitar, by Louis-David Pons (Jeune – the younger) – it sounds truly amazing!

The Pons are among the most famous 19th century French luthier dynasties. Rene Lacote was taught by Joseph Pons. The inscription on the label of one of the first Lacote guitars reads : « Mr. Pons’s student ». César Pons (1748-1831), the father, worked in Grenoble. His two sons Joseph Pons (born in 1776), known as “Pons the elder” — and Louis-David Pons (born in 1785), known as “Pons Jeune”, settled in Paris.

This splendid guitar, built around 1815, is a rarity. It has a sruce top and maple back and sides. The fine tuners are replacements true to the original. It is in amazing condition for its age and has just a small repair on the top. The guitar plays great, with a straight neck and a pleasantly low action.
The nut width is 47 mm and the scale length 635 mm. It was bought from Sinier de Ridder and comes with the original invoice.

The guitar sounds fantastic and can easily compete with the best instruments from Lacote.
It has a very charming sound perfect for getting closer to the authentic sound of the music of such composers as Sor, Giuliani, Aguado, Legnani, Diabelli, Carulli, Coste and Legnani, just to name a few!
It has a clear sound, rich harmonics, striking highs and lovely basses. It is quite impressive that such a sonorous and fine instrument was built already more than 200 years ago.
The guitar additionally has a very natural, “woody” quality of sound, very stylish, refined and alluring. The rich, played-in quality of sound is something that can only be found in an instrument of this vintage. In the hands, it feels very expressive and responsive to the most subtle of changes in the players touch. The sound is absolutely magical from the bottom-end to the highest registers.