Michael Cadiz – 2020 “Romanillos”

Description

Michael Cadiz is a Seattle, Washington, native, who moved his workshop to Graz, Austria, in 2016. He built his first guitar at the age of 15. He feels profoundly grateful for Robert Ruck, who invited him to stay for a while in his workshop to share his philosophy and approach to guitar building and from whom he learned a lot. Furthermore, he also received a great support from the Seattle builders Rick Davis and Greg Oxrieder. In 2016, he moved his workshop to Graz, Austria, where he successfully build guitars ever since.

Michael told us a few words about this beautiful guitar:

“This model is inspired by the traditional sound of Antonio de Torres and the unmistakable aesthetic of José Romanillos. More specifically, the plantilla and bracing is derived from the 1888 SE114 owned by Francisco Tarrega. It has a very typical deep F to F# body resonance, a dark and velvety warmth, as well as a direct presence and responsive color palette. I have been building variations of this model for years now and it has in most respects remained unchanged. In recent years, I’ve enlarged the plantilla and depth of the instrument just a touch from the original Torres instrument, which makes it a bit closer to a Romanillos or Hauser in size.”

For this guitar, Michael used a dark, homogeneous Madagascar rosewood of superior quality. The German Klaus Scheller mechanics with mother-of-pearl knob and hand-engraved silver plate underline the exclusive character of this model. In terms of sound, one uncovers a touching charm and sensitivity from the first note on. The beauty of the first string is striking and its sustain offers infinite possibilities to the guitarist. Overall, is it a very light and spontaneous guitar with a brilliant endless sound. The subtlety of the sound colours and the timelessness of its timbre places this guitar at the highest level of contemporary lutherie.