Nicolas Lamoureux – 2022 “1962 Robert Bouchet”

Description

Nicolas Lamoureux is an up-and-coming French luthier with an outstandingly promising future. After studying music and classical guitar at the Nancy Conservatory in the late 90s, Nicolas Lamoureux turned to his other passions: Photography, cinema, animation and architecture. For about ten years, he worked as a 3D graphic designer in Paris on feature films, commercials, animated films and architectural illustrations. During this time he returned to playing classical guitar and became interested in the great masters of guitar making through collectors, books, concerts and records. He became more and more interested in certain emblematic guitars and the alchemical effect that gives these instruments such a strong tonal personality. His curiosity and ambition led him to build his first instrument, the quality of which motivated him to continue. Encouraged and advised by Dominique Field and Thomas Norwood, he left Paris and settled as a guitar maker in Corrèze, in the centre of France. Since then, Nicolas Lamoureux has been building top-quality concert guitars that can now be found in many French conservatories and in the hands of remarkable musicians. It is therefore a pleasure to welcome Nicolas to the family of luthiers represented by Siccas Guitars.

This guitar is a fascinating instrument and a true masterpiece. It is a full fidelity copy of a Robert Bouchet guitar we sold in our store a few years ago, number 87 from 1962, and everything about it is superb. The accuracy of the woodworking is remarkable, and the sound is simply stunning. It is the first guitar we commissioned from Nicolas Lamoureux, and we were thrilled from the first note. This instrument has incredible balance and sustain. The trebles as well as the bass sound fantastic, but the most impressive thing is that the midrange is just as prominent. This is a rare characteristic to find and gives the guitar ideal balance. In addition, the powerful sound volume and easy playability are characteristics of a complete concert guitar rooted in the French guitar making tradition.

Here are a few words of Nicolas Lamoureux about this fantastic instrument:
“When one is interested in French classical guitar making, it is obvious and almost indispensable to study Bouchet’s guitars in-depth, first for their own qualities – both aesthetic and acoustic – and then to understand the influence they had on the major luthiers who succeeded him: Daniel Friederich and Dominique Field.
In addition to the measurements of a precise plan of one of his guitars, here number 87 from 1962, I have tried to reproduce some of the details that make Robert Bouchet’s instruments so special:
In particular, the 90 degrees fit of the sides into the neck (a small aesthetic flaw that is the signature of all his guitars), the way the neck is assembled “in the air” without the help of a mold, the special joint between the neck and the headstock, the exclusive use of animal hot-glue and the use of “arathoon” shellac varnish for the finish.
This model benefits from the famous ” barre d’âme ” which strongly influences the vibratory response of the guitar’s top. Impressed by the high notes and long sound of his 1828 Lacôte, Bouchet had the idea of adding a long transverse spruce bar under the bridge’s saddle to his traditional fan-shaped bracing (from Torres). The result is a very precise and balanced sound.”