PROFESSIONAL MODELS 2013 MADE IN SPAIN

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1 PROFESSIONAL MODELS 2013 MADE IN SPAIN

2 A new concept of sound and playability

3 José Mª Vilaplana Son of José María Vilaplana Vilaplana, equally luthier, and one of the founders of Manufacturas Alhambra, has an extensive experience in building guitars since he started in this exciting profession of Luthier at the early age of 16. After gaining experience in various tasks within the company, at the age 28, coinciding with the move to the new facilities, a new workshop was built to reach two different objectives: first building their own guitars which were marketed under the José María Vilaplana name and secondly, the development of new models, testing, prototypes and special orders, such as guitars of 8 and 10 strings. Within the range of experiments, some of them are already part of the Alhambra Guitars museum and we have to mention, in a special way, guitars with lower hole, double hole, double top and double internal side. Equally, there are many bracing designs with different sizes and arrangements.

4 José Mª Vilaplana His first instruments were built with 656 mm. scale and it was quite normal to get orders to build guitars with 660 mm. scale. Over time, although he still allowed orders with 660 mm. scale, the scale was standardized and now it is 650 mm. As an expert, he knows how important is the influence of the finish on the sound and he has always treated carefully the finish on his guitars, using a mixed finish in which the early stages were done with a brush, by hand, in order to cover the wood pores and achieve uniform surface on which to apply. In a second phase, another finish is applied by a varnish gun. In that way, all parts of his guitars are varnished while the top which is still varnished with the traditional Shellac. His good taste to make everything perfect together with an exquisite finish of his guitars makes possible to please the most demanding professional guitarists. His knowledge has been passed on to the current Luthiers generation.

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6 MAIN FEATURES - Bracing design inspired in Torres System. - Special design of the kerfed lining. - Top selected by José Mª Vilaplana based on the tone. Available in Red Canadian Cedar (Thuja Plicata). - French Polish on top. (In the future, available under request full guitar). - Machine head Rubner. - Back and sides: Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia Latifolia). - Spanish Cedar neck (Cedrela Odorata). - Ebony fingerboard (Diospyros Crassiflora) % wood.

7 José Miguel Moreno José Miguel Moreno (Spain) began his musical studies with his father. He developed his career as a self-taught person, specializing in historical performance with original instruments of that time or reliable copies. He is unanimously considered in this field as one of the largest global benchmarks nowadays. He has performed at festivals and music centers in Europe, Australia, Asia and America and his numerous recordings have received the most important awards provided by the critic and specialized magazines.

8 Apart of this successful career as a guitar performer he has been making his own instruments, especially traditional folkloric instruments like Vihuela and lute. This knowledge and spirit brought him to develop new inventions in order to look for the perfect sound. His studies of sound engineer allow him to judge the improvements he was introducing in the different instruments he was making. The join with Alhambra is giving him the possibility to make such developments much faster, with more consistency and world wide diffusion.

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10 MAIN FEATURES - Top selected by José Miguel Moreno based on the tone (wood sound projection). Available in Red Canadian Cedar (Thuja Plicata). - Lattice bracing adjusted by José Miguel Moreno to optimize power harmonic throughout the frequency range. - French Polish on top. (In the future, available under request full guitar). - Machine head Exagon. -Back and sides: Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia Latifolia). -Spanish Cedar neck (Cedrela Odorata). -Ebony fingerboard (Diospyros Crassiflora) % wood.

11 Mengual & Margarit Javier Mengual joined Alhambra Company in August 1972 when he was 16 years old. As soon as he started working, he felt curious about many of the different works done in the guitar manufacturing process, so he got a higher degree in the different areas of the company: Sawmill (where every single piece is crafted), varnishing, sanding and polishing process are familiar to him. In 1988 Jose María Vilaplana was looking for someone else to work into his personal workshop. There, he learnt from Jose Maria Vilaplana and he started to wholly make the guitars at the Luthier level. Since then, almost 25 years has passed and all of them have been getting experience and knowledge from hundreds of professional guitarists.

12 Mengual & Margarit José Margarit joined Alhambra in He was working in the last steps of the guitar manufacturing process until the year 1995 where he joined the Jose Maria Vilaplana workshop, to help Javier Mengual during the illness Mr. Vilaplana had. He was selected within more than 90 workers for his fine work and he immediately got completely adapted to his new role into the company. In May 2004, Javier Mengual and José Margarit started signing their own Alhambra Luthier guitars as Mengual & Margarit. Now, they joined the new challenge of renewing the professional models of Alhambra with the guidance of Mr. Vilaplana and the advice of Mr. Moreno. He is in charge to teach the new Luthier generation in Alhambra. As a result of such project, they have introduced their own character and knowledge in the New Luthier C model.

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14 MAIN FEATURES - Lattice bracing design. - Model developed based on the evolution of the José Miguel Moreno model. - Top available in Red Canadian Cedar (Thuja Plicata) or German Spruce (Picea Abies). - French Polish on top. (In the future, available under request full guitar). - Machine head Rubner. - Back and sides: Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia Latifolia). - Spanish Cedar neck (Cedrela Odorata). - Ebony fingerboard (Diospyros Crassiflora) % wood.

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