Guitar - Francisco Gonzalez - Madrid - around 1880

This rare guitar, made by one of the most prestigious makers in Madrid, who trained José Ramirez I, underwent an important shock. The heel of the neck broke and the front of the neck and the fingerboard entered in the box together with the rose and the purflings.

The first operation was to open the guitar through the back, after having carefully removed the purflings. All along the restoration – to avoid any deformation – we firmly held the guitar in its ideal position regarding the angle and the neck’s position.

After cleaning the inside, the guitar had undergone a tentative restoration and signs of glue of the type “formol urea” could be seen and were difficult to remove; we then glued again the bass bar in its original position and made a small sustain that covers the rose and the two damaged parts. We put small cleats above the bass bar on the two fractures around the fingerboard. After a long time in the press, we thin down the sustaining piece to leave the least possible thickness and remain as much as possible close to the original thickness of the top. Then we glue the guitar box again and reposition the purflings.

Once the box was together, we recreated the purflings and the rose.

  

  

After a final delicate cleaning and setting up the strings, we consigned the guitar to its owner