Santos Hernandez – 1930

Description

Santos Hernandez (Madrid, 1873-1943) started an apprenticeship very early in Valentin Viudes’s workshop and then moved to José Ortega’s Granadinian workshop. After moving to a few other workshops and serving as a soldier for Spain, he eventually took over Enrique Garcia’s position in Manuel Ramirez’s workshop in 1905.
His involvement in the building of Andrés Segovia’s famous 1912 Manuel Ramirez sealed his reputation as an extraordinary luthier. He opened his first own workshop in 1921 after having worked for Manuel Ramirez’s widow along with Domingo Esteso.

There are guitars that have an incredible appeal and this is definitely one of them. Despite being over 90 years old, this Santos Hernandez is in very good restored condition. It has a crack along the center joint on the top that only required gluing, as it is stabilized by the center bar inside the body. There is a smaller crack at the lower rim of the top below the bridge and another on the lower right side of the top, as well as on the bottom. All of them are glued and stable and do not require any wooden cleats inside the soundboard. There is a small repair at the headstock and the shellac has been touched up in the past.

According to the previous owner, the guitar belonged to Regino Sainz de la Maza, who gave this Santos Hernandez to one of his students. The precious woods used and the elaborate bridge indicate that this was a special order for a rather particular customer. It is always an extraordinary honor and great pleasure to be able to play Santos Hernandez’s guitars and offer them to other guitarists. After all, they are not only historically significant instruments, but also fascinating in terms of sound. This 1930 model has a warm sound character and is especially captivating because of its clarity, brilliance, and separation. It is a great treat to play, as it responds very well and the wide range of timbres offers many possibilities for shaping the sound.