Item 27
Price: $40,000
Appraised Value 2016: $40,000
Appraised Value 2021: $80,000
This guitar, circa 1910, is built in the manner of Torres and is so well-constructed that it’s doubtful if any other luthiers of the period could do such good work. The fakery is executed so well that only Ramírez, with his consummate luthier skills, comes to mind as a likely maker.
The soundboard is made from matched halves of quartersawn spruce with close grain spacing of 52 per inch near the center graduating to 20 per inch at the edges. The plantilla is larger than most known Torres guitars. The rosette is stylistically Torres in colors, glue lines, wood widths and patterns. The dimensions and precision of the grain-of-wheat elements show craftsmanship that few luthiers of the time could execute. The rosewood bridge is more like those of Ramírez than Torres; the tie-block is lower and the cross section of the wings is more uniformly rounded compared to the flattened top surface of Torres bridge wings. The tie-block is capped with bone but the bone cap has been polished and thinned at the ends, thinning that appears purposely done to simulate wear and age, since the string holes do not show comparable wear, and ends of the bone cap are not wear points anyway.
The three-piece back is of cypress with seams reinforced with lengthwise-grained mahogany strips, as was often done by Ramírez, whereas Torres almost always used cross-grained cedar or paper strips for reinforcing back seams. The sides are cypress and differ markedly from those of Torres. These sides are 1.5mm thick while Torres’ sides are consistently 1.0mm thick. The excellent surfaces on this guitar are consistent with Ramírez’s work, superior to that of nearly all other early 20th century guitar makers. Five repair cleats, visible through the soundhole, are glued to the inner back “repairing” two non-existent cracks. There is no tactile indication of cracks even after over 100 years for the woods to settle and shrink and no cracks are detectable visually under magnification. The glue squeeze-outs from the cleats exactly match squeeze-outs from original construction meaning that the cleats were glued at the time the guitar was built. This is likely fakery because for Manuel Ramírez to use cracked soundboard wood on a new guitar is almost unthinkable.
The neck, including the heel-block, of Spanish cedar is typical Torres in shape, construction and even pencil marks. The fingerboard is of ebony with medium-height frets. The 656mm scale, now measuring 655.5mm, of this guitar was rarely, if ever, used by Torres who favored 650mm for his guitars with larger plantillas. The fret positions, fret wire and fret finishing (with file scratches) all match other 656mm Manuel Ramírez instruments, as do details of fingerboard finishing such as cross-grain sanding scratches, filled worm holes and edge treatments.
The head is of Spanish cedar with a three-arched top pattern cruder than Torres would ever execute. A set of roller holes has been filled and a second set drilled which, at first glance, indicate replacement of worn out tuning machines. However, Ramírez may have deceptively filled the first set of holes (which do not match any known roller- and screw-hole spacing of the time) and drilled a second set to make the guitar look older. The present machines are of early-1900s vintage. The head is faced with dyed wood.
The soundboard bracing is the seven fan-struts with bottom diagonals pattern associated with Torres and adopted by Ramírez in most of his own work. Pencil lines almost always drawn by Torres on the soundboard to locate the struts are not present. Also not present are the very shallow inadvertent saw cuts in the sides made when Torres would cut away pieces of back lining to clear the crossbars. The interior is too perfectly surfaced for it to be done by Torres, who always used a toothed scraper for final finishing, but would be routine for the Ramírez workshop. The glue color and squeeze-outs are consistent with that of Ramírez’s work.
The guitar is in good condition, having some coarsely repaired soundboard cracks and, as mentioned, some contrived repairs. The guitar looks to still have its original French polish of shellac finish with some spot refinishing on the soundboard. This is a guitar to which no further repairs or refinishing should be done to prevent inadvertently erasing any clues to its past.
This “Torres” by Manuel Ramírez has a smooth, vintage Spanish sonority. It can be louder than a Torres and can keep a sweet full tone at all volumes. The guitar is sensitive to a player’s intent making interpretation a natural part of the playing. It’s a players’ instrument that any one of the famous journeymen in the Ramírez workshop would be proud to correctly label as his own.
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