Bandurria Casa González 1900

CHARACTERISTICS:

Top : Spruce

Back and sides : Rosewood

Fingerboard: Ebony

Bridge: Rosewood and bone ornaments

MAKER’S HISTORY

DESCRIPTION

The 19th century Madrid builder Francisco Gonzalez was an almost exact contemporary of Antonio de Torres, but built his own style, notably by stating on his label that his instruments are built in “a new and elegant design with a special system.” (… a new and elegant form and build by a special system of his…).

Gonzalez was very celebrated in his own time: he was the winner of several prizes and medals in various exhibitions during his lifetime and is known to have been the teacher of both Jose Ramirez I and his brother Manuel Ramirez. In fact, it was Jose I’s loyalty to Gonzalez and the “system” and to Manuel. Torres’ conversion to design that was the source of the idealogical split between the two Ramirez brothers, which forced them to break their partnership and instead set up competing stores in Madrid. Gonzalez’s reputation in his day strongly suggests that he must have been a prolific builder, however, like Vicente Arias, very few of his instruments survive to this day. Fortunately this guitar is in very good condition and retains all the original elements: wood thicknesses, finishes, even tuning machines, which curiously have a shape that matches the slanted line at the bottom of the head shape (which by the way can be seen on Jose Ramirez instruments through all generations, even to the present).

Sound-wise, the guitar is spectacular, with a huge bottom end that would rival any later design. thus, the guitar retains an unusually perfect balance, even amidst the richness of the low notes. In this guitar it is easy to see the charm that Jose Ramirez must have admired and wished to capture.

History of the builder:

The guitar-making tradition of La Casa González goes back to the guitar maker of Galician origin Francisco González.

Francisco González Estévez (1820-1879) was established in Madrid in 1849 as a cabinetmaker, but the following year he was already listed as a guitar maker. In 1851 he married María Cruz Carretero. The couple’s first daughter, Bárbara María Concepción, was born in December 1855. In 1857 Francisco is installed in Toledo Street in Madrid. In 1867 he presented his instruments at the Paris exhibition and received the bronze medal for “two guitars and two bandurrias that surpassed the common ones in solidity and vibration”.

It seems that the Spanish instruments had not been very successful in the previous Parisian exhibition of 1855 and that the participation was also scarce. However, in the 1867 exhibition, a dozen Spanish exhibitors were presented, covering six categories of instruments, among them stringed instruments. González’s instruments won a medal and, as far as it seems, no other guitar maker received an award. Hence the text that appears on some of Gonzalez’s labels and which, referring to a special system of construction of his instruments, states that: “of all the nations that have presented this class of instruments he has been the only one of his class that has obtained this honor for his advances”.

It seems that Francisco was something of an inventor and a revolutionary. Domingo Prat in his dictionary tells us a curious anecdote:

“The builder F. Gonzalez was a talented Spaniard; this is proven by his various inventions, precursors of others that were later admired in different countries. We will remember this excellent guitar maker as a man of ingenuity, since he built in his youth a carriage moved by levers, which walked by activating them.

In 1879 Francisco González, at the end of that same year, on December 29th, died in the general hospital of Madrid.

After Francisco’s death, and due to Concepción’s minority, his widow empowered her future son-in-law, Enrique Románs Papell, to take over the business. In 1881 Concepción and Enrique Románs were already married.

Nine years later, in 1891, and with address at number 33, Carretas Street, the business of “Viuda de González e hijos” is established.

The business continues with the same name (including the widow) in the same place in Carretas Street until 1912. There it continues also between 1920 and 1927, but in these years under the name of “Hijos de González”.

In June 1927, Concepción González died without a will. It seems that her widower, Enrique Románs, and their son, Eduardo, inherit the business: “A workshop with guitar store located on the first floor of Carretas Street thirty-three”.

In 1931 Enrique Románs appears in the commercial records at 33 Carretas Street.

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There is a beautiful instrument by Francisco González in the catalog of the exhibition of guitars that was held at the Metropolitan and the Municipal de Madrid on the occasion of the Fifth Centenary. That catalog has been reissued by the Spanish publisher Ópera Tres and is now available upon request ( – search for “La Guitarra Española”). González’s guitar in this catalog is also reproduced in an article by José Luis Romanillos in issue 6 of the magazine 12 notas.

There is a reproduction of a guitar by Francisco Gonzalez in a beautiful book entitled Guitares which, since it is out of print, I think it will allow me to present a couple of images. This guitar is from c. 1870 and the publication says that it is in the Musée Instrumental de Paris. I don’t know if it is the same one catalogued in “La Guitarra Española” that says it comes from the Musée de la Musique in Paris where it would have the number E. 1041.

In the collection of instruments of Felix Manzanero () we can take a look at several guitars from Francisco Gonzalez (22 and 23), as well as from “Viuda e Hijos de Gonzalez” ( 38 ) and “Hijos de Gonzalez” (58 and 59). Some of these instruments share unique characteristics that are worth contemplating.