Amalio Burguet Model AB (2006) / Amalio Burguet model 1A (2005) EN

 

You will not meet them frequently but Andres Martin made 

a lot of stringed instruments in his life. He has therefore been

mentioned in the Jose Romanillos dictionary as someone who 

learned his craft with Julio Bustamante and Marcelo Barbero. 

He was influenced by Santos Hernandez and Domingo 

Simplicio. He taught his brother in law, Javier Rojo Solar. 

His workshops were at the Rollo 3 and at Calle Divino Pastor 

22 in Madrid. He died in 1977. Scale of this guitar is 660 mm. 

Width of the topnut is 53 mm.  Price: € 900,- case incl.

It must have been a lot of work to create a rosette like this...

And the same thing counts for the edge purflings.

              

                The scratch plate could point towards a flamenco model as

             does the cypres sides and back but classical Spanish music suits

              this guitar as well. Profound basses and a bit of the old school

              "wooden"  tone. A good example of this sound can be found on

                YouTube where Nikos Tsiachris plays a 1975 classical guitar

                    from his hand. The guitars' own frequency lies on a G#, 

                  about 104 Herz.

               

Here the signed label can be admired, stating that he already

was working at the Divina Pastor 22 location in Madrid.

To our believe the year written at the lower right on this

label mentioning the year 1960. Apart from that in the

inside of this guitar a stamp can be found on the upper

bout on the left side. Near the sound hole on the right

the guitar has been signed (by 2 persons?) and dated

1960 even being numbered 275 and no doubt within 

the handbuilt range we can confirm.

            

His graceful and immediately recognizable head, but also

showed here is the condition of the lower frets. Most of the

time an indication in what sort of condition the rest of the

fretwork is. He also used the typical Fustero tuners from 

that time. Fretwork has been levelled and polished.

                                              

Probably I will French polish the neck as it doesn't feel

that comfortable at the moment. Or leave it the way it is?

No, on the right it looks (and feels) much better. 

Nice inlay work all around this instrument proving that

it is far from an entry level guitar. But that has already

been confirmed by the rosette itself.

And the Fustero tuners with the typical knob form

from the early sixties. The D tuner probably had a knock 

as it is slightly bowed. I left it that way as it still works

to full satisfaction.

The Cypress back with only one small crack that already 

has been stabilized. Take a look at the lower right. Do not 

expect such imperfections to have a lot of influence 

on the sound.

And the front ands back of the head, reasonably free from 

damages. A new topnut was necessary. On later models

the small center point that sticks out, has disappeared.

That was prone to damages of course and as for me, I

would have that disappear as well but I know, not original

anymore. Moreover, Martin did this later in time so it is

confirmation for this guitar coming out of a certain period.

This picture has been added as I used the string 

savers to get an even better angle over the bridge-

bone but they were in fact not necessary. A crack

running from the left wing of the bridge has been

repaired and is stable now. No need to worry about

that as it still was closing. No tensions there!

Another example of Andres Martins' work can

be found on YouTube: a 1975 model. I must say:

its' sound wasn't that remarkable as it sounded

too modest to my ears. However, when placing

a new set of high end strings hat promised more

volume and high frequencies it gives a beautiful

balanced sound though still "old school".

A "Marcos Escano" labelled guitar - 1999 (Flamenco?). EN

The repaired Marcos Escano guitar from 1999. Though

an unknown luthier to this day, details are convincing

it to be a good instrument and very lightly built. What

could have been expected the guitar gives lots' of 

volume. Scale length 645 mm Width topnut: 50 mm.

And the few cracks in the soundboard have been 

treated to my satisfaction. Price 450 Euro's.

Hardly visible are the cracks here, Even after a 

close inspection. On the left just above the bridge 

you can see some traces of damage when I needed

to remove the bridge. As it was repaired by someone 

else in an earlier stage but done with the wrong glue 

the bridge came loose again. All stable now but the

amateur who did this should be ashamed....

A nicely sculpted head what betrays work of a real

woodworker. Everything is showing a high degree

of workmanship. Ebony fingerboard and newly made

topnut and bridgebone. Scale is 645 mm. Width 

topnut is 50 mm.

The back of the head with the reinforcement 

all the way up to the top of the head.

A nice cypress back with no frills but strange thing is 

that nice inlays are made on the sides, a bit unusual...

Almost undamaged after 25 years of service.

Frets have been redressed and can deliver service

for years to come.

I think the tuners to be from Alhambra as the prefix "A"

can be detected here on the left. You need to know that 

there actually is a prefix there! Clinched Axe holders

which certainly is a sign of good quality. Alhambra

delivered a lot of tuners to individual luthiers so that

explains the use of these high grade tuners on this 

guitar. Also the knobs can be switched if wanted.

And the tuners on the right side of this guitar.

The simple label and maybe this luthier didn't built 

that many guitars. We hope to find out in the future.

Recently we heard about a Marcos Escano who is a 

a quite successful musician in Spain. Most likely 

he gave it a try: Building guitars. He seems to be 

situated in Malaga. Maybe an opportunity to visit 

him as I'm frequently in that area.

The blocks on the right from the label are a 

reinforcement of the two halves of the back. A lot

of extra work as a strip of wood would have done 

the job as well. This must have been done by someone

who is accustomed to wood working.