Santos Martinez Gitaar Type SM650 en Type ES-09S (?) / Audex Valencia guitar (Project)

Santos Martinez type SM-650 ECA

  

These guitars seems to be hardly obtainable here in the 
Netherlands. So most likely the brand name has been
invented by a local importer somewhere. Equipped 
with a position and Fishman electronics with even a
built in tuner. Most of the time these  under saddle 
pick ups are not that good for a proper tone but I'm
still figuring things out to overcome this problem.
Contact with the bottom of the bridgebone sleeve
is of the utmost importance. Price: 325 Euro's.

This guitar has been provided with a solid spruce top
so no complaints about that. Sides and back seems to
be Ovangkol wood. I've already changed the bridgebone
into a better one. Scale is 645 mm which gives a very 
easy playability. Width of the topnut is: 53 mm.
Frequency body: low A so around 110 Herz.

An undamaged head but that counts for the guitar

as a whole. In like new condition. But someone even

meticilously corrected the exact pitch there! The 

original topnut must have been glued as there is 

some slight damage at this point while making a

better nut but really nothing to get worried about.

Not noticeable but a nice rosette anyway that

completes this guitar that has been built very

neatly. The two edged string tieback will preserve

the bridge from any damage caused by the

tension of the strings.

The Ovangkol sides and back is a beautiful addition

on this guitar. Both back as the neck are completely

free from any damages.

By clicking on this picture you can get an even 

closer look at the back and the central inlay strip.

Often damages are there as people tend to put

the guitars' head against a wall. No damages

here and you can swap the black knobs if

you like another color better.

A lot of possibilities with this Fishman built in preamp

as there is a tuner, notch filter and a 3 way e.q. at your

disposal.  Moreover you also are able to blend the

under saddle pick up with the built in microphone.

Gold plated tuners? Hmm, not sure about that.

But they do their job well.

And a label that announces the exact model number.

You will miss that on the next Santos Martinez here

but that one wasn't bad either!

Type ES-09S

Vreemd natuurlijk dat er een typenummer vermeld staat

waarachter dan direct weer een vraagteken geplaatst wordt.

Dat heeft alles te maken met het label verderop en de ty-

pische kenmerken aan deze gitaar in vergelijking tot de

modellen die momenteel her en der aangeboden worden.

Uitleg volgt nog. Maar in zeer goede conditie en eigenlijk

niet gebruikt laat dit model zich moeiteloos vergelijken

met het duurste model uit de serie van Santos Martinez.

VERKOCHT

Bijzonder zijn natuurlijk de houten bindings op deze duurdere

modellen maar in tegenstelling tot het huidige ES-09S model

zijn zij- en achterkant wel degelijk uit massief hout gemaakt.

In dit geval is Indiaas palissander gebruikt voor de klankkast.

Een nette rozet en prima fretwerk mag misschien in

deze categorie verwacht worden maar dat is zeker niet 

altijd het geval. De bindings langs de hals zorgen ervoor

dat je nooit last zult krijgen van uitstekende fret-

einden. Een vaak in de winter voorkomend euvel.

Een andere bijzondere feature is de twaalfgaats kam,

eveneens niet aanwezig op het reeds genoemde model.

Voordelen? Veel snellere en betrouwbaardere montage

van de snaren. De snaren maken daarnaast een betere 

hoek over het kambeentje omdat ze niet omhoog

getrokken worden door de lus in het oude systeem.

Het label vermeldt ook geen model nummer maar de

bouwkenmerken en gebruikte materialen wijzen duidelijk

op een instrument uit het hogere segment. Neem alleen

maar eens de prima geschaafde Spaanse hiel in deze gitaar.

En ook de vorm van de kop heeft een verandering

ondergaan. Verder een netjes uitgesneden topkam.

Altijd even de 2e snaar weghalen om het ontbreken

van ook maar enige fretwear te kunnen laten zien.

Prima mechanieken maar dat heb ik al eerder mogen ervaren 

met mechanieken uit China. Met name de zogenaamde Bouchet-

mechanieken werken erg nauwkeurig en draaien licht.

Ze gaan er prat op geen kunststof maar houten bindingen

aan te brengen op hun instrumenten en het dient gezegd:

Een waardevolle en mooie toevoeging in de afwerking.

De electronica ditmaal ook niet van Fishman maar van

het merk Shadow. Vergis je niet: Deze "Classic" set kost

los al over de 200 Euro! De microfoon moet ik nog

aan de praat krijgen maar eigenlijk werkt het under

saddle pick up al zeer naar behoren.

Mooi getekende achterkant en volgens mij is hiervoor 

geen ovangkol gebruikt maar Indiaas palissander,

bovendien massief van uitvoering in tegenstelling

tot de zij- en achterkanten van het model ES-09S.

Ook de achterkant van de kop, vaak gevoelig voor schades

ziet er onberispelijk uit. Een erg netjes gebouwd instrument

dat ook puur akoestisch zijn mannetje staat.

Audex Labelled Guitar (Valencia)

  

This Valencian made guitar before and after the restoring 

process. I will explain what had to be done and though these

student guitars were overlooked in the near past there seems

to be more interest in them nowadays. However the amount

of work (and costs) it requires in fact is not rewarding if

you need to have it done by a luthier. The final sound

always remains a surprise. This example is really above

expectations. Warm, colorful and a great balance though

it misses the brilliance and volume of a good concert

instrument. But for small venues? Not bad at all!

  

Presented here is an early sixties intermediate model from 
the Audex shop. They didn't produce guitars themselves
but had them made elsewhere in Valencia. I have to find 
out where. The soundboard has a 5 fan bracing and the
rosette has been executed more luxury. But even in those 
days (early sixties) the real concert guitars were already
provided with a wider neck. Therefore this guitar must 
be considered as a nice intermediate student instrument.
Width at the topnut is 50 mm and the scale is 650 mm.

  

The guitar is provided with a nice back but strange detail

was that there is no center strip on the inside of the back.

They glued some broad but flat pieces of wood over the 

seam of the two back halves. I filled the hardly detectable 

seam with some wood glue to strengthen parts.

  

Nothing special has been done to the back furthermore but

it is obvious that the polishing compound did his work.

The own frequency of the soundbox lies on a B (which

means around 123 Hz.)

As the lacquer used in those times crystallizes over time, 

I figured it would be better to have all the lacquer removed 

on the string tie block as the tension of the strings are causing

unwanted traces. So the bridge will be lacquered afterwards.

Most entry level Valencian guitars had a black painted bridge.

This one is made out of rosewood.

What often happened was the kind of sloppy way they 

mounted the heel. No big deal as the sides fall into the gap 

made for a sturdy fit but in fact it simply shouldn't be there. 

The Valencia way of constructing the heel partly with a

softer wood such as spruce hasn't been done here. On

the higher grade models the whole outer heel was 

executed out of hard wood.

The same thing on the other side. I will try to 

place and glue a small splinter of wood in the gap.

   

The tuners need to be cleaned and while doing so 

I will correct the sleeves for the strings fit a bit. The 

topnut is way too high and the plastic it has been made

out of, has been detoriated. A new topnut is a must 

here. The headform is exactly the same on the Roca 

guitars I found on the internet. The site of jedistar is 

a very useful tool regarding information around the 

various luthiers.

A remark can made made around the metal rollers used 

here on the tuners as that is pointing towards a  somewhat 

earlier model, probably made around 1960.

  

Topnut and frets are gone. I removed the copper

(too square!) frets and thus I'm able to correct the 

neck / body angle though it wasn't that bad. Small

traces of nail use in the lowest positions can be 

removed now as well. On the right the guitar

neck as it is now.

 

The Audex label was even provided with a stamp: 

"Made in Spain". But furthermore no type number has 

been mentioned. But seeing the elaborate rosette it 

falls into a higher category.

 

  The tuners do not look that spectacular but they are

clinched to the base plate and moreover they work securely

with no play on them even after such a long time.

Once cleaned they already look much better!

 

The topnut didn't even fit well and among other

irregularities, this must have been the reason the 

Japanese factories took over this business.

 

An extra half 19th fret will be mounted for the demanding 

pieces and I will clean the rosette but I will leave the sound-

board the way it is. The old lady may show some traces...

Oiling the fingerboard is a must of course, in fact before

the new frets are mounted. The lacquer on these sixties

Spanish guitar solves a bit in pure alcohol which in

fact gives a much better appearance. A polishing process

afterwards is a must. I use "Nicko" very fine polishing

liquid for the last process.

I found this guitar on Jedistar, a great site for finding 

information around guitar factories and luthiers in

electric as well as the acoustic field. They are showing

a "Roca" labelled guitar with exactly the same rosette

on the guitar here above.

Presented here is the "Roca" labelled guitar with exactly

the same rosette and not only that, the bridge and the 

headform also appear to be identical. So this problem 

is solved around the origin of the Audex labelled guitar.

As for the age, this label was used by the Roca plant 

between 1959 - 1964. That also explains the use of 

metal rollers for the tuners used on the Audex guitar.

The Roca labelled guitar is presented here. On the site of 

Jedistar a high end Roca guitar is presented as well, above the

guitar that is showed here. They made guitars "for everyone".

That was their philosophy. Some more information....

José Roca Navarro started his business ROCA

from the remains of Marinnieta. Marinnieta used 

to be the business of María Dolores Marín Soucase 

(granddaughter of the great guitar builder Andrés 

Marín). José Roca was married to Dolores from 

1945 till 1957.

When José took up the guitar production in 1959 

the market for guitars was picking up to skyrocket 

in  the 60’s. José quickly expanded the production 

with electrical guitars and amplifiers. Besides that he 

started to adapt the guitar materials and production 

methods to lower his production costs to achieve 

lower selling prices. It looks like ROCA is one of

the factors for the race to the bottom of Valencian 

guitar productions. In his interview, José states 

that everyone should be in reach of his guitars.

The range of his instruments was big (everyone 

could find a guitar of his choice) it included bandurrias,

 laúds and concert type of guitars as well. The annual 

volume boosted from 3.600 pcs in 1959 till 25.000 in 

1965, with the main destination Valencia and Spain.

Production locations were in Turís and Xirivella. 

Valencia-city housed the shop, some despatch and 

the office. Wether José did business with Mijubal 

in Turís is not known.

With many thanks to Ton Bogaard who already

did a lot of investigations and is always willing

to help. Just visit: guitarrasvalencia.wordpress.

And Inge and Jan of course who also supplied

some extra information. Inge cherished this guitar

but growing older she is not able to play the guitar

anymore. I've showed them the restoration results! 

Some lacquer work, adjusting some sloppy wood-

work, cleaning the tuners and last but not least new 

frets instead of the too square and roughly filed 

original copper fretwork. As the fingerboard wood 

was not that dense I had to glue in these new frets.

And just recently I stumbled onto another brand that

in fact is closely related to the Jose Roca brand: The 

Francisco Bros (and later only "Bros") labelled guitars

learned their craft in the factory of Jose Roca and

Maria Dolores Marin.