Hernandez y Aguado – 1955 No. 115 ex Constant de Lusignan

Description

The two friends Santiago Diaz Martinez, better known as Manuel Hernandez, and Victoriano Aguado Rodriguez got to know each other while working together in a piano factory. After the factory closed, they founded their own company that initially focused on the restoration of furniture and pianos. They built their two first guitars privately between 1945 and 1948, which were also played and examined by Regio Sainz de la Maza. This was a very encouraging experience and the two friends decided to keep on building guitars. In 1948 Modesto Borreguero, who had worked in the workshop of the famous luthier Manuel Ramirez, joined Manuel Hernandez and Victoriano Aguado Rodriguez, and they started to increasingly focus on the making of guitars – with huge success. Famous artists, such as John Williams, Julian Bream, and Atahualpa Yupanqui played „HyA“guitars. With a total production of only 356 guitars, Hernandez y Aguado instruments are among the rarest and most sought-after guitars made in the twentieth century.

This wonderful guitar, built in 1955, is an exceedingly interesting and significant instrument. It belonged to Constant de Lusignan, a renowned French guitarist who studied at the Madrid Conservatory in the class of the famous Don Regino Sainz de la Maza. It is well known that the latter was an early supporter of Hernandez y Aguado’s work, and the fact that this early guitar was in the possession of his former student shows how much he believed in their exceptional talent and therefore trustingly supported them from the beginning. Constant de Lusignan played many concerts with this exceptional guitar, as is testified by a wonderful original concert programme that was handed over to us together with the instrument.

For his numerous transcriptions of music from the 16th and 17th centuries, de Lusignan also received the bronze medal of the Department of Stage Arts in France and the silver medal of the City of Paris. This is one of the earliest Hernandez y Aguado guitars to be offered on the market in recent years, and its fascinating background connecting the two legendary guitar makers HyA, Regino Sainz de la Maza and his pupil Constant de Lusignan, is unique.

This concert model by Hernandez y Aguado, bearing the number 115, has a very resonant spruce top and back and sides made of CITES-certified Brazilian rosewood. It is interesting to note that Hernandez y Aguado started numbering their guitars with the number 100. So, this guitar is the 15th one built by the famous duo and already has most of the features of the later concert models. An interesting detail is the scale length of a comfortable 65cm, shorter than the 65.5cm or 66cm that were common at the time. The condition of the guitar is stunning, as it is free of cracks. The guitar has been finished with a lacquer and it is not clear whether it is the original varnish. Although there are some spots on the back that look like fine hairline cracks at first glance, these are areas where the varnish has fallen into the pores of the Brazilian rosewood, a common occurrence. Structurally, this has no effect on the wood.

Soundwise, this guitar belongs to the great Spanish concert guitars of the mid-XXth century. Strong responsive basses, particularly ample and deep, and lightweight chanting trebles give this guitar a noble and elegant character. The notes are full of life and envelop the guitarist as well as the audience for a real trip back in time to Madrid in the ’50s.