jueves, 18 de abril de 2013

Luthier's soul

Published at www.jitamen.com
Also published at www.siccas.de
Photos by Marta Torrent


Hands are Luthier’s most prized tool. Not only because they shape wooden blocks into a new guitar, but because hands are our best tool to listen to wood.

When I choose the pieces for a new guitar, I do numerous tests and assessments using my hands. I hold each piece to feel the weight; push them to test stiffness; stroke them to hear their voice with my fingertips; knock on them to discover what is hidden in their veins. This is why, if I want to know exactly what each piece of wood can give me, I need to work calmly, taking the time to feel every grain of the soundboard, discovering the best way to make a cut, or to strike with a tool.



The craftsman loves to do a good job for the simple pleasure of a job well done. When the craftsman does not need the acknowledgment of others, he feels free to work with all his soul, attentive to every movement he makes, and this is what will ultimately make him capable of imbuing heart into whatever he does. When it comes to guitars, there is nothing worse than a guitar without a soul. And it is impossible to create a soul if the craftsman does not lovingly work every single piece. Even those pieces that nobody will ever see. Yet he knows they are there.

But not all guitar makers think the same. Some prioritise financial gain over and above product quality. Since the Industrial Revolution the common denominator of all businesses boils down to: more production plus lower costs equals more competitive products, and so, the more you sell, the better you are. This pressure on production erased any peculiarity of individual craftsmen, rendering them mere tools, part of a production line, working to reproduce identical objects. Bear in mind that a guitar maker makes an average of ten instruments per year, that is, high class instruments. The way to increase this production level is to enrol more people into your workshop, or to order prefabricated pieces from other workshops. Or even by commissioning the entire guitar construction abroad. But when that happens, the craftsman has lost all sense of being a craftsman. His instruments no longer enjoy Luthier attention. His hands no longer participate in the guitar-making process. And how could a guitar made in a factory possibly be imbued with a soul? Obviously this practice is not wrong, each and every one of us has the right to choose how to manage our enterprises. In my case, I choose to work alone, making no more than eight instruments per year. I prefer to work on each and every process personally. This is the only way to truly know each detail and virtue, the only way to continue building while bearing every single peculiarity of every single piece of wood in mind. Working hard, but calmly in order to give my guitars the soul that they deserve.



Serial made instruments may have correct sound, but sensitive musicians sense there’s something missing from them. Feeling the difference between handcrafted and factory made is something that only sensitive musicians can do. Factory guitars tend to have very powerful sound, and this is a commonly used trick when selling guitars to the less experienced. It is very easy to make a loud guitar, but it is truly difficult to make a sensitive one. A guitar is an intimate instrument, it is not as powerful as a piano, a violin or a trumpet; and the louder it is, the less harmonics it can reproduce. The tone variability of a guitar is defined by its capacity to reproduce the most harmonics. If a guitar has a wide range of harmonics, the guitarist will be able to modify the tone when playing, and this translates into more expression. These musicians are seeking something very special from inside the guitar. At the end of the day, what a musician needs is the best tool to help him express all his emotions. And I ask myself, how can amusician transmit all his emotion to the audience if the guitar he plays has no soul?

And that’s why there is a new generation of guitar makers in Spain, that want to make just a few guitars per year, working unhurriedly, trying to do the best job possible, for the simple pleasure of doing a good job, because this is precisely what they believe in: guitars with soul.

Elias Bonet Monné, Luthier
Madrid, the 5th of December 2012

martes, 8 de marzo de 2011

Desprenderse

Se va...la dejo ir.  

El pasado año escogí un juego de maderas, fechadas en 1975 por don Raúl Yagüe, mi maestro, para construir la que sería mi primera guitarra. Más de treinta años llevaban sus entrañas esperando este momento!! Hoy la he visto salir de mi taller en manos de su nuevo compañero. Hoy toman sentido los dos últimos años de intenso trabajo. Con ella, se va un pedazo de mi alma. Y aunque pueda ser doloroso desprenderse de aquello que has visto nacer y crecer, me siento orgulloso de saber que una de mis guitarras se lanza a la vida, a su propia vida. Se emancipa, y con mucha alegría y emoción le digo: anda, ve!! y disfruta con tu nuevo compañero!! 

Hasta la vista!

Elias Bonet.

sábado, 15 de enero de 2011

Probando con el cedro de Canadá

Para la segunda guitarra, quise probar con el Cedro de Canadá para la tapa armónica. El resultado ha sido el de una guitarra de un sonido muy potente, y una paleta de sonoridades muy amplia, lo que le permite ser un instrumento perfecto para poder expresar y matizar en la ejecución. Resulta un sonido quizás más brillante, casi metálico, que las de Pino-Abeto, que suelen ser más cálidas.

Esta guitarra ha tenido la difícil tarea de ser mi "carta de presentación" a muchos músicos. Y la ha superado holgadamente. De los comentarios de los músicos he podido recibir que quien toca esta guitarra disfruta y se siente seguro de sus capacidades. Quien ataca con potencia, porque el sonido no se rompe; quien ataca con suavidad, porque los sonidos siguen siendo nítidos y presentes, lo que significa que es un instrumento con un rango dinámico amplísimo, pudiendo viajar entre pianos y fortes con la total seguridad de que la guitarra te acompañará.

Como sucesora de la primera guitarra que construí, me reafirma que mi plantilla (o el formato, que es lo mismo) tiene un potencial altísimo para la construcción de instrumentos de concierto. Incluso teniendo en cuenta la proyección sonora que tiene a pesar del escaso diámetro de la boca, más cerrada de lo que es habitual.

También es la primera guitarra que ha estado sonando ante el público, de la mano de Manuel Álvarez, excelente guitarrista y mejor persona, interpretando sus propias obras. Después de dicha experiencia, él mismo publicaba esto: Prueba de una guitarra de Elias Bonet.

martes, 11 de enero de 2011

La primera guitarra.


Esta es la primera guitarra que construí. Con Abeto Alemán de 1975 para la tapa, y Palo Santo de la India de 1984 para el fondo y los aros, procedientes del almacén de Don Raúl Yagüe, mi maestro.
De la mano de mi maestro he podido oir esta guitarra pulsada por Stefano Grondona en mi taller. Muchas gracias Stefano por tus comentarios, tan sutiles pero con tanta intención.
Con este instrumento me he presentado al mundo de los concertistas de la guitarra clásica, y he aprovechado el impulso de sus comentarios para volcarme de lleno en la construcción de la guitarra.

Inauguramos blog!! blog opening!!

Hola,
Abrimos la veda al intercambio de impresiones, ideas y opiniones acerca de las guitarras clásicas y flamencas de concierto.
En breve podréis visitar la web de estas guitarras, y dejar vuestros mensajes en el blog.
Un saludo, estamos en marcha!