Juan Roman Padilla (1970)

The classical guitar built by Juan Roman Padilla in its'

unrestored condition. A lot has to be done to get

this instrument at that point but I think it is worth

all the trouble. Indian (?) rosewood back and

sides, cedar soundboard and ebony fingerboard.

The bridge was cracked probably due to the use of

metal strings. Inserts have been made to solve that

problem in order to preserve the original bridge.

The back of this instrument that most likely suffered

from humidity problems and some cracks.

One side of the good quality tuners is missing so

at first I tried this instrument with some cheap tuners

but after having heard the tone this guitar produces,

I decided to mount good quality tuners on it.

The label Juan Roman Padilla most likely uses on all of

his instruments. In fact he was a self taught luthier but

received some tips from Eduardo Ferrer and Manuel

de la Chica who both also lived and worked in Granada.

This guitar has a very traditional seven strut fan bracing

with two closing bars the way Antonio de Torres did and

later Santos Hernandez, Marcelo Barbero and numerous

other guitar builders. Juan Roman Padilla's father who 

was a good musician had contact with Barbero and Juan

learned a lot from this iconic luthier from Madrid.

After an intensive restauration process this guitar shines

again both in appearance and sound. The real connaisseurs

will remark that the tone will change, especially the first year

as the solvents have to disappear out of the laquer.

Especially on rosewood this may take an even longer time.

The higher frequencies will become even more clear.

A bit of a flamenco like approach makes this instrument

producing a direct tone and forceful basses.

Recent investigations is pointing towards another luthier

from Granada, the celebrate Antonio Marin Montero who

was building guitars at the end of the sixties for Juan 

Roman Padilla. The latter most of the time relied on the

expertise from the luthier in question to built a guitar

acoording to his ideas. Therefore some typical structural

inner woodwork should be there that is similar to the 

work of Marin Montero at that time.  I will mention some 

striking elements on the Antonio Marin Montero guitars 

for the period just before and around the seventies.

- A rather square modelled inner heel that also can be found on 

instruments from that period made by Mr. Montero 

- The endblock that, quite remarkable hasn't been made out  of 

one piece of wood but three pieces that have been placed on

a 90 degree angle to each other.

- The double lining that divides the two halves of the back has

been done also on the heel covering plate on the A.M.M.

- The heel form on the Antonio Marin Montero guitars of that 

period is sharper than on the Juan Roman Padilla guitars.

- The inner strip that has been glued on the seam of the two 

halves of the back is made out of mahogany while Juan

Roman Padilla invariably uses spruce.

- The sleeves made on the head for the tuners are much wider 

on the A.M.M. instruments. The head is "double winged" 

there, while it was "single winged" on the J.R.Padilla.

- Fret ends on the A.M.M. are much steeper than on the Juan

Roman Padilla guitars.

- The string tie block on the A.M.M. has its' surface not parallel

to the soundboard. The J.R. Padilla has.

- Both luthiers worked with cedar for the soundboard and the

colour of the sides and back mostly match other instruments

from the same period.

- The stabilization pieces of wood on the sides for the transverse 

bars are placed in an identical way to the A.M.M. guitars.

- The A.M.M. guitars have a one piece heel while J.R. Padilla

uses more pieces of wood for that part.

Other comments and similarities I researched can be found

on my Blog www.greatguitarsshop.blogspot.com