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Who was the most widely recorded guitar builder before WWII? March 13, l997 Santos Hernandez Santos Hernandez was born on November 1,l874. At the age of 10 he was an apprentice in a shop that made clothes for the Catholic clergy. Then at the age of 12, he began working in the guitar shop of Valentin Viudes Jr. Somewhat shortly after he was working in the Ortega shop, following his continued apprenticeship in the taller of the Sons of Gonzales (whose father was Maestro to Jose Ramirez I starting in l870). In l893 he entered military service (artillery). After a stint of 2 1/2 - 5 years, depending on the source of information , he entered the taller of Manuel Ramirez in 1898. He stayed there until Manuel's death in l917. In l912 he built an 11 string classical for Antonio Gimenez Manjon. Manjon offered Manuel Ramirez substantially less for the guitar though it was a special order. Manuel was disgusted with Manjon's ridiculous offer and the guitar remained unsold. Somewhere between the time it was originally constructed and 1916 it was converted back to a 6 string (not being a lot of buyers for 11 string models that one can play J. S. Bach compositions at original pitch). Andre Segovia In 1916 Andres Segovia came to the Manuel Ramirez shop hoping to rent a concert guitar for his upcoming recital in Madrid. Upon hearing Andres bring out the glorious tones from the guitar, Manuel offered the instrument as a gift telling Segovia "Go out in to the world and make my works better known by your marvelous playing" In 1924 the gift from Manuel was in need of repair but Manuel was dead 7 years by then and Segovia went to the Santos Hernandez shop at Aduana 23 in Madrid. Whereupon Andres was to learn all this time that the guitar had been made by Santos himself -Santos being the foreman of Manuel's shop at the time. Santos wanted to put his own label on the guitar and Andres refused saying only "Put a label inside that states you repaired it." To which Santos replied "My initials SH are to the right of center to identify that I made it though the label says Manuel Ramirez." This was the instrument that Andres Segovia was to begin his glorious recording career just 3 years later in 1927. He recorded 20 songs on this instrument until in 1937 Andres began to use a Herman Hauser I guitar. Hauser took every opportunity to measure this 1912 Manuel Ramirez by Santos when Segovia would be concertizing in Germany. This viewing of the 1912 Santos went on from about 1923 -1936, but Hauser also took in to account his occasional viewing of Miguel Llobet's 1860 Antonio de Torres. So the "greatest guitar of our epoch" to quote Segovia was a combination of a Santos and a Torres. Ramon Montoya One of the earliest flamenco virtuosos was Ramon Montoya. He was born on November 2,1880. Though born in Madrid faraway from Andalucia, he grasped the ability to play flamenco so that by the time he was 14 he was employed in a Madrid cafe to accompany cantantes. His virtuosity grew as fast as his fame. His recording profile begins at about 1910 more or less. He was active until about 10 years before his death in l949.The cantantes that he accompanied were: (listed by artist then quantity of songs)
Nino Ricardo Our next immortal figure is Nino Ricardo. He was born in Sevilla on July 1,1904. At 13 years of age he began playing in the Salon Vigil in Sevilla. In 1924 he began his long career by accompanying La Nina de los Peines and her brother Tomas Pavon. Nino Ricardo was to be extremely influential guitarist having his fingerprints in the playing of Paco de Lucia. He died on April 14,1972. The great cantantes he accompanied were: El Chato de Valencia 2 Carmen Florido 2 Guerrita 2 Nina de Jaen 4 L. Lavao de Parades 2 El Limpio 8 Manolo El Malagueno 6 Manolo Manzanilla 4 El Mochuelo died in 1937 unknown quantity of about 350 songs Nino Olivares 6 Pepe El Moro 2 Palanca 10 El Pena hijo 24 Pericon de Cadiz 7 Platerito de Alcala 8 La Andalucita 12 El Cojo Luque 6 Manuel Vallejo 10 La Nina de Los Peines 41 Tomas Pavon 12 Pepe Marchena 18 Manuel Centeno 10 Jose Cepero 24 Nino Isidro 14 Nino de Alcala 12 Paco Mazaco 10 Bernardo El de Los Lobitos 11 Nina de Gloria 13 Nino de La Huerta 12 Nino de Alfalfa 6 Pepe Pinto 72 Paco El Boina 8 Emelio Abadia 4 Nino de la Calza 8 Canalejas de Puerta Real 42 Rafael Canete 4 El Carbonerillo 23 Cepero de Triana 8 Currito de San Julian 11 Curro de Utrera 2 Nina de Puebla 9 Rafael de Jerez 2 Antonio Rengel 16 Nino de la Ribera 2 El Sevillanito 4 El Sevillano 40 Juanito Valderrama 56 Nuanito Varea 20 Nino de Velez 2 Nino Villanueva 8 So this brings us another 650 recordings done on a Santos Hernandez Flamenco guitar. Manolo de Badajoz The next figure of extensive recordings is Manolo de Badajoz. He was born in the city of Badajoz in 1892. He was a disciple of Javier Molina and Don Ramon Montoya. Manolo died in Madrid in 1962. The important Cantantes that he accompanied were: Nino de Alcala 2 Nino de Almaden 3 Nino de Alora 2 El Americano 40 La Andalucita 6 Angelillo 18 Andres Heredia (EL Bizco) 4 Pepita Caballero 4 Lola Cabello 2 Nino de Cabra 12 Nino de la Calza 6 Canalejas de Puerto Real 6 Nino de Caracol (Manolo ) 8 El Carbonerillo 19 Estrellita Castro 2 Manuel Centeno 15 Jose Cepero 16 El Cojo de Pomares 4 El Corruco de Algeciras 6 El Cuacua 1 El Chato de Jerez 1 El Chato de Valencia 2 El Chato de Las Ventas 24 Luis El Chulito 2 Encarna la Finito 2 Nino de la Flor 10 Paco Flores 2 Nino de la Fuente 6 Nino de Fuentes Andalucia 6 Rosario Garcia 8 Nino de Gloria 14 El Gorito (de Triana) 10 Gracia de Triana 10 Guerrita 10 Herrerito 2 Miguel Herrero 2 Nino de la Huerta 60 Isabelita de Jerez 8 Nino Isidro 10 El Limpio 6 Nina de Linares 10 Bernardo de Los Lobitos 2 Pepe Marchena 4 El Malagueno 8 Paco Mazaco 8 Pepe El Molinero 8 Paquita Moran 4 Nino del Museo 4 Mariquita Ortega 2 Palanca 16 Nina de Los Peines 12 El Peluso 18 El Pena hijo 34 Jesus Perosanz 34 Pepe Pinto 28 Nina de la Puebla 22 Jose Rebollo 10 Antonio Rengel 3 Nino de la Ribera 4 El Rojo de Salamanca 2 El Sevillanito 2 Jose Suarez 8 Nino de Talavera 4 Juanito Varea 10 Nino de Velex 8 These listings comprise 636 recordings on a Santos Hernandez Flamenco guitar. Luis Maravilla Next on our journey of those who used a Santos is Luis Maravilla. He was born in Sevilla in 1914. He and his wife Pilar Calvo were the principals in the 1952 motion picture "Duende yY Misterio". But well before that time he accompanied the following artists: Pilar Calvo 2 El Cojo de Huelva 2 Jose Greco 2 Roque (Jarrito) Montoya 4 El Gafas (Manolo) 2 Luis also recorded 4 guitar solos- Danza Oriental, Tanguillo de Cadiz, and 2 Zambras. This adds another 16 recordings on a Santos Hernandez Flamenco guitar. Javier Molina Javier Molina was born in Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz) in 1868. He probably played in more Cafe Cantante environments than anyone else due to the time in which he was born (1868). A notable singer that he accompanied was Manuel Torre for 4 songs. Guillermo Gomez Besides Andres Segovia another classical guitarist that recorded solos was Guillermo Gomez. He was born in Malaga in 1880 and moved to Mexico City in 1900. He recorded before Segovia I believe. I tend to think of Guillermo as a contemporary of Augustin Barrios. Guillermo played and published Flamenco & Classical solos. He recorded for 3 different companies a total of 20 songs on his Santos Classical guitar. He might be called the Tarrega of Mexico. Guillermo had seen Tarrega play in Sevilla in 1897. Guillermo's most well known student was Francisco Salinas. Salinas held a professorship at the Conservatory of Mexico City from 1935 onward. He also recorded at least 12 songs-mostly original compositions of his Maestro. I have in my collection one recording by Salinas "Arpa de Oro & Tu Recuerdo", both Gomez compositions. I cannot verify that he used a Santos. Francisco Salinas's main inclusion in this article is that he will best be remembered because his most famous student was the recently deceased Jesus Silva. Jesus became a student and friend of Andres Segovia in 1933. Silva later went on to teach in the North Carolina School for the Arts. So our composite totals of recordings on a Santos Hernandez Classical or Flamenco guitar before the death of Santos in 1943 are as follows: Don Ramon Montoya 789 (includes 24 solos) Nino Ricardo 650 Manolo de Badajoz 636 Luis Maravilla 16 Javier Molina 4 Andres Segovia 20 Guillermo Gomez 20 ------------------------------------- 2135 Paco de Lucena had a prodigious student Rafael Marin who in 1902 published a Flamenco method in Spain. Rafael played a Manuel Ramirez flamenco guitar but at that time Santos had already been working in Manuel's shop for 5 or 6 years. As to who actually made Rafael's guitar your guess is as good as el mio. Coming next week In Granada there is a street named Cuesta de Gomerez. There are at least 6 guitarmakers on that street. Who did they learn from?
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