1996 Manuel Velazquez fan braced

Top: Spruce/fan braced
Back and sides: Rosewood
Scale: 650mm
Origin: USA
SOLD

Manuel Velazquez, originally born in Puerto Rico, but later built here in the US, was one of the finest US builders, along with Robert Ruck, probably the two greatest US builders to date. While Bob was a dear friend who visited me often, Manuel was more of a ‘phone friend’ and in later years his son Alfredo as well.

I recall a conversation where the story was relayed about the unfortunate theft of a number of signed Velazquez labels years ago, some of which have showed up on Velazquez copies. This made Manuel incredibly sad, mainly because he could not believe human beings would do such a thing. That is what made him such a lovely person. He believed in people. And his guitars showed that love of humanity.

Manuel told me to always check under the soundboard for signatures to be sure it was a genuine Velazquez! Well this guitar is genuine and a lovely expressive instrument in superb condition.

The Top is incredible Spruce tight grained with a plethora of medullary rays, and the Rosewood back and sides are equally fine. The instrument is in near new condition with only a few very light marks here and there, barely noticeable really.

This instrument is classic Velazquez, lovely expressive voice, with superb clarity and excellent evenness across all registers, with nice sustain and actually volume that is a bit surprising for a traditional fan braced guitar.

One of my clients so fell in love with Velazquez guitars that he created a documentary about him, a link to the shorter 10 minute version is on this page.