Item 01
Price: $230,000
Appraised Value 2016: $180,000
Appraised Value 2021: $250,000
SOLD
This guitar demonstrates all elements of the “Hauser mystique” – higher standards of craftsmanship, aesthetic purity, wonderful selection of woods, effortless playability, Segovia’s proclamation that his 1937 Hauser was the “greatest guitar of our epoch” and, especially, the beautiful, clear, powerful, colorful, and balanced sound of the instrument. This guitar is in excellent condition after 63 years of ownership by the noted professional guitarists Vahda Olcott Bickford and then Pepe Romero. Its sound is inspiring and unforgettable with excellent concentration and volume.
The soundboard is made from unmatched halves of spruce with grain spacing ranging from 28 per inch to 12 per inch. The wide (30mm) rosette has a central band of chevrons bounded by groups of green, black, brown and natural circles. The bridge is rosewood with large mother-of- pearl dots in each wing, and its tie-block is topped with a lustrous mother-of-pearl plate.
Back and sides are quartersawn Brazilian rosewood. There is rosewood edging and double purfling on the top, sides and back. Neck and head are carved from a single piece of African or Philippine mahogany, and the top of the head, shaped like those of Manuel Ramírez, is faced with rosewood with thin inlaid center strips of light wood and ivory. Landstorfer tuning machines, with the worm gears below the spur gears, are fitted. Grips are mother-of-pearl.
The ebony fingerboard has a zero fret which may contribute to evenness of sound because open strings are stopped by metal as are fingered notes. Hauser is one of the few luthiers who frequently used a zero fret, and made especially secure head to neck joints, usually with a labor-intensive V-joint, which could aid in this energy return. The single piece neck and head of this guitar is rare. Hauser angled the nut back towards the head almost perpendicular to the strings; an obvious attempt to minimize the nut stopping the strings. These energy transfer ideas contribute to the famous sound and carrying-power of his guitars.
The three harmonic bars have openings in them to allow struts on each side of the soundhole to pass through. Harmonic bars and crossbars have scalloped ends and the harmonic bars rest on side braces. The center seam of the back is reinforced with a lengthwise-grained mahogany strip. The top lining is of separate blocks and the back lining is of solid wood. Hauser signed the inside of the soundboard above the soundhole: “H. Hauser München 1934.”
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