About Master
Guitars
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My interest in high
quality guitars was ignited when
I first saw and played the Rubio
owned by my teacher, Peter Calvo.
I had played several good
guitars, but the Rubio had a
wonderful hand-made quality, as
well as a fantastic sound, rich
and full. I also had the
opportunity to play the guitar
collection of the eminent Sydney
guitarist, Robert Blackett, which
included a '61 Fleta, '58 Hauser
II, Ramirez, Kohno, etc., these
being the first Fleta and Hauser
I had seen.
Peter subsequently ordered a Rubio for
me, and in early 1971 a guitar arrived
not made by David Rubio, but by a
Japanese apprentice, exactly the same
as a Rubio but carrying also the name
which I believe to be Sato. This was a
lovely guitar which I played for over a
year. In December 1972 I traveled to
England in the hope of finding a guitar
such as Fleta, Aguado, Hauser, but
nothing was forthcoming. I did,
however, visit the Bristol Spanish
Guitar Centre, and was told they had a
Fleta on order, which I subsequently
took over, and waited to hear of a
delivery date. Not long after my return
to Australia I was contacted by the
Bristol Spanish Guitar Centre to tell
me they had just aquired a 1968
Hernandez y Aguado, which they had
originally collected from the makers
and sold to a client.
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I purchased the guitar
and it was brought into Australia
by a friend, and I still own this
guitar. I remember well the time
in Adelaide in 1974 when I
introduced John Williams to the
hitherto unheard recordings of
Barrios, along with the music of
"Sueno' en la Floresta', 'Valse
No.3', 'Maxixa amongst others,
and that he sight-read 'Sueno'
using my '68 Aguado and commented
that he thought it was better
than the one he had used for
several years. This, of course,
pleased me greatly. Having had
several other Aguados, this is
still the best I have ever
played. The Fleta took longer
than expected but I eventually
heard from Ignacio that my guitar
would be ready in September 1977.
In the meantime, I had been
offered the famous 1961 Fleta
used by John Williams, and I
purchased this guitar, which
arrived into Australia in January
1976.
I traveled to Barcelona in October 1977
to collect the new guitar, but
unfortunately did not get to meet
Ignacio, as he had died shortly before
this time, and apparently, my guitar
was the last he had done any work on. I
played the Aguado from early '73 until
I received the '61 Fleta, and, having
also purchased a '68 cedar Fleta from a
London dealer, I used these guitars
exclusively for ten years. In 1988 I
was offered the wonderful '72 Fleta
which had formerly belonged to John
Williams. I knew this guitar quite well
not only from recordings, but I had
played it several times at John
Williams' home during the '70's, so I
jumped at the chance to acquire it.
Since the late '80's I've bought and
sold several master guitars, and it is
an interest which continues to this
day.
