Description
Vicente Arias 1896 – a very charming instrument that has a surprisingly great volume and a superb playability.
Vicente Arias (1833-1914) is, along with Antonio de Torres, one of the pioneers of the Spanish guitar making. His work is undeniably central in the development of the guitar throughout the 19th and 20th century. The refinement of marquetry on his guitars, the diversity, and modernity of their construction, as well as their incredible tone quality, incontestably introduce this guitar-maker as one of the most significant in Spanish guitar history of the 19th century.
Vicente Arias was born in Ciudad Real, in the south of Madrid. Such as Antonio de Torres, he started as a cabinet maker and was self-taught as a guitar maker. He probably started building guitars in 1860 and won many prestigious prizes around the world i.e. Buenos Aires, Madrid, Brussels, and Barcelona. Famous guitarists such as Francisco Tárrega and several of his students played on his guitars.
This is a superb and extremely nice sounding guitar by Vicente Arias. Even though the plantillas and bracing systems (and degree of ornamentation) Arias experimented with differed substantially from guitar to guitar, his reputation for producing a consistently beautiful quality of tone is likely the reason for his enduring legacy. And this guitar is a great example of this quality – it is simply exquisite for its quality of sound. While every note is rich in overtones, it retains an almost unbelievable degree of separation and clarity between voices. Due to its ultra-lightweight build, the production of sound is immediate, with an ample amount of tonal modulation and dynamic range. This guitar also boasts enormous power, which will immediately put to rest any rumor that old guitars don’t have much sound! It has been restored – several cracks throughout the body have been expertly repaired by Maximiano Fontiveros.
This guitar has a spruce top and rosewood back and sides. The scale length is 640 mm and the nut width 50 mm.
Overall, this is an expressive and impressive instrument by all measures from one of the most enigmatic builders in the ‘canon’ of the great historical makers of the past 150 years.
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