Paulino Bernabe “Royal”

Top: Spruce
Back and sides: Rosewood
Scale: 650mm
Origin: Spain
Price: SOLD

This fine Bernabe has found a new home, please contact me if you are interested in owning a Bernabe I would love to help you…

I always look forward to the first part of each year, as this is when my good friend Paulino often comes to the States and if I am really lucky, well he will hand deliver a guitar especially made for my shop. Such was the case recently, and Paulino brought with him another magnificent “Royal”. He was particularly proud of this instrument and beamed when I sat down with him to play it for the first time. This Royal has superior focus and projection, with trebles that clear, and precise, yet warm and inviting. Likewise the basses are robust and focused and they sing! The overall tone is magical, complex, warm, ‘Spanish’ of course but in a more contemporary and complimentary fashion. She rings like a bell when you want, or she can whisper and cry, a wide ranging and noble guitar. To own a Royal is to own arguably the finest guitar built in Spain today. As beautifully traditional as the Royal appears, it belies the fact that it is actually a very contemporary version of the traditional Spanish guitar. The doubled sides and Bernabe designed special modified fan brace system combine such that the modern attributes of volume and response are blended with the heart string pulling emotional character that traditional Spanish guitars are revered for.

The phrase “often copied but never equalled” must have been invented with Bernabe guitars in mind. It is so true. Many attempt to approximate the physical and tonal beauty of Paulino’s guitars but in the end, there are only real “Bernabe guitars” with all others being relegated to ‘Bernabe-like guitars”. There is simply nothing in Spain that equals a fine Bernabe. This Royal once again shows why this is so. Paulino begins building each guitar with a huge advantage. His supply of beautiful old aged woods is unparalleled. . Add to this decades of experience, shared between father and son, side by side, until the guitars of one became years ago indistinguishable from those of the other, and one begins to understand why these instruments are so special. Paulino reserves his oldest and most beautiful woods for the Royal guitars, a fact quickly confirmed by even a glance at the photo of the back and sides of this lovely guitar. The woods, artistic details and craftsmanship come together at a level few builders attain and result in the quintessential Spanish guitar of our time. Rodgers Tuners too and a top of the line Hiscox ‘Artist series’ case, the strongest Hiscox case made (a $600 case). As beautifully traditional as the Royal appears, it belies the fact that it is actually a very contemporary version of the traditional Spanish guitar. The doubled sides and Bernabe designed special modified fan brace system combine such that the modern attributes of volume and response are blended with the heart string pulling emotional character that traditional Spanish guitars are revered for. Flawlessly French Polished to a glass like finish as well.