Line 6 Variax Modelling guitar / Antonio Lorca guitar

A really revolutionary addition in guitar making has to

be added to the collection. Line 6 allready made amps that

were able to imitate most of the well-known brands.

This guitar comes close to some of the electric guitars

that wrote history. Though the feel and sound of, say a good strat

still is different to me, this instrument is really usable!

The addition of the Fender stratocaster neck gives this instrument

enough stiffness and comfort of playing.

For playing in an allround band these guitars are great!

Antonio Lorca Guitar

Little can be found about this brand that seems to have

been produced in Valencia (Spain) by Guitarras Mervi.

This is a model 23 that is claimed to be a concert classical

guitar. It certainly has the features to my opinion as the

choice of materials places it in the higher regions and

certainly its' sound which has a touch of flamenco in it that
is typical for most of the Valencia based luthiers.
Compared to the Japanese built instruments the Spanish
guitars often show a rough and ready approach which shouldn,t
be there on an instrument in this pricerange. However the
inner construction is of good quality and the production
approach in lacquering these instrument (industry sprayed)
doesn't allways has influence on the tone in a negative
way: The harshness of this lacquer even has a positive
effect on the brilliance of the higher notes to my believe.

A picture of the back with the small reïnforcement

(ebony layer) in  the neck. Indian rosewood has been

used for back and sides as well. All solid.

Being an instrument with a 645 mm scale, which is

remarkable, its' playability is really good. In combination

with the great tone and flamenco like bass response possibly

due to the "Valencia"  approach it makes this instrument

a keeper. I'll have to investigate to which extent this

instrument resembles the Malaga made Lorca guitars

but it could be as well that the way of building has

nothing to do with these remarkable instruments.

The headstock has been veneered and carved a little.

Odd thing is that the fingerboard has a small ebony

insert on the right side of the first fret spacing.

Probably something went wrong during production.

The workmanship on the top nut was a bit crudely

done with the strings lying a bit too deep in the slots.

Besides lowering the nut to solve that problem the string

spacing was really OK. The bridge saddle has been

replaced with an ivory one for even better sound

results. The playing action has been optimized as well.

The label that suggest a hand written signature that only
can be found on the higher end level guitars. You can
check this on the Jedistar site where a label is showed
without any signature. Though the Indian rosewood for
sides and back and the ebony of the fingerboard isn't
of the highest quality, this instrument has a narrow grained
soundboard with the so called medullar rings which
is thought to be a sign of good quality.
The Lorca brand carries the models 8, 10, 12
(study guitars) 14 and 16 (recital models)18, 20, 22
and 23 being the concert guitars. The model 24, 25
and 26 are supposed to be completely handbuilt and
are the so called luthier models. This brand seems to
be no longer available but the 2007 pricelist can still
be found on the internet at Music-Direct-Shop.
In 2011 liquidation of the Guitarras Mervi factory
has been announced when you google with:
"Guitarras Mervi" though I recently received an E-mail
in which I'm invited to contact them: info@guitarrasmervi.es
Joaquin Garcia Fernandez (born 1929 Romanillos)
worked as an advisor for Guitarras Mervi.