1925 Francisco Simplicio Spruce/Fan Braced

Top: Spruce Fan Braced
Back and sides: Rosewood
Scale: 645
Origin: Spain
Price: $29,950

Ah Simplicio’s. Some of the sweetest most romantic sounding guitars I have ever heard have been Simplicio’s. I love them. You see them listed generally in the $40,000-$55,000 range give or take. Yet here is one for $29,950. Why?

The guitar has the lovely elaborately carved Ebony headstock, beautiful Rosewood back and sides, responsive Spruce top, and is imbued with the classic Simplicio voice, so why the unusually low price? Two reasons mainly, 1) The top was re polished by a local LA luthier who is a great craftsman, however in my opinion the glass like high gloss French Polish of Shellac finish he applied simply looks out of place on a 100 year old guitar. It is nicely done, great work, just too glossy really. And 2) The guitar has had, not surprisingly, a number of repairs for several cracks on the top and back, some cleated, some not, all have been stable according to the owner. That’s it really.

Structurally it appears sound, tonally it is lovely, the 645 scale is super comfortable to play, so if the repairs and glossy finish are a non issue for you, and you always wanted a Simplicio but did not want to break the bank, well this is the one for you. What many might refer to as a ‘players guitar’, sounds lovely but has a few visual ‘warts’.

Bottom line, a lovely sounding Simplicio for a fraction of what they usually cost.