Under Construction

  Dear interested readers

I'm planning to make a bit of a historical overview about

the (Salvador) Ibanez guitars that reached me along the lifetime

line. Of course the Japanese company is widely known but the

origin of this luthier / manufacturer is already less known as

there were several other luthiers that were importing instruments 

from his factory. The simpler instruments were mass produced 

but even then,  the result can be astonishing in some cases.

Later in the 20th century Telesforo Julve took over and even

produced guitars under the "Ibanez" name. And to make it

even more confusing, Telesforo Julve made entire instruments

and parts for the Barcelona based luthier Juan Estruch. When

searching for the older guitars it is remarkable that Jaime Ribot

and Francisco Pau y Lisart labelled guitars do resemble the 

Salvador Ibanez guitars (too) much. It simply was customary

to built guitars for others in Spain and not putting your own 

label in it. Apart from that it is possible that the marquetry was 

imported from a third party. The student guitars from the fifties 

Jose Ramirez presented, also came from Valencia, bearing a 

dark blue label but produced by the Hijos de Vicente Tatay 

company.  A little bit of investigation learns that they were 

exactly the same guitars. So Valencia played and still plays 

an important role in guitar history in Spain. In order to get an 

insight in the Valencian roots regarding guitar building, I can 

only advise you to visit the website of my friend Ton Bogaard: 

guitarrasvalencia.wordpress

Salvador Ibanez Small Model 1 (around 1900)

Salvador Ibáñez (1854-1920) was a Spanish 
luthier. He made guitars, ukuleles, mandolins 
and other stringed instruments. These 
instruments were considered the finest of 
their age and are prized for their excellent 
quality and impeccable workmanship.

At eleven years of age Ibáñez became an 
apprentice in guitar construction at Calle Muela 
Valencia. In 1870 he started his own company: 
Salvador Ibáñez y Albiñara. 

The company was registered at Calle Cubells. 
Working in his shop were the ten-year-old 
José Ibáñez and Magdalena Albiñara y 
Magraner, from Ollería, Valencia. 

In 1896 he first appeared in the trade guides at 
Calle Ruzafa Valencia and from 1898 to 1906 
his shop was located at Calle Bajada de San 
Francisco. Salvador Ibáñez made bandurrias, 
lutes, six and nine-string guitars and also 
guitars with detachable necks. In 1897 he 
made the world's first double-necked guitar. 

In the period 1915-20 Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos 
(Salvador Ibáñez and Sons) were located at 
Calle Bajada de San Francisco and at Calle 
Padre Rico Valencia. When he died in 1920 
his workshop continued to be managed by 
his two sons until it was completely destroyed 
during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) 
in a bloody street fight, which cost the lives 
of many of the personnel.

This was THE story up until now, however one of
my friends visited Madrid in order to meet some
colletors there and it became clear that at least one
of the sons of Salvador Ibanez didn't die in the civil 
war and that the factory and its' machines were sold 
to Telesforo Julve. A picture of a graveyard stone
from one of the sons from S. Ibanez attests:

DON SALVADOR IBANEZ SALABERT
DIED 21 abril 1967
A LOS 80 ANOS
R.I.P.

 After the Salvador Ibáñez workshop had

been destroyed and with the Salvador Ibáñez 
guitars not being available (and very much 
sought after due to their excellent quality), 
the Japanese distributor Hoshino Gakki 
decided to start making Ibáñez guitars of
their own after years of importing Salvador 
Ibáñez guitars to Japan. They purchased 
the trademark and started production, first 
naming the guitars "Ibanez Salvador" and 
later Ibanez which obtained great success 
in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Hoshino Gakki currently produces both 
acoustic and electric guitars using the Ibanez 
brandname and is oriented at all kinds of 
devices for electric guitars and basses.

Julian Bream has played a Salvador Ibáñez 
guitar. Eric Clapton has owned several original 
Salvador Ibáñez guitars, one of which was sold 
at a benefit auction in 1999 at Christies, 
obtaining a final price of $42,000 USD. 
The guitar was estimated between 3000 and 
5000 USD what can be considered a fair 
price on an auction. Regarding history it is 
curious to discover that the first quality guitar 
played by Francisco Tarrega was a Salvador 
Ibanez before he switched to the Torres 
guitar. A picture of Tarrega with a Salvador 
Ibanez guitar seems to be around somewhere...

As opposed to the front, the back looks 

much better and indeed hardly any cracks 

and that counts for the sides as well.

A nice shot of the brasilian rosewood back though

on some pics it may look a bit otherwise due to

necessary moves in a Photo program.

Dirty and still not taken care for on this picture 

but clearly visible is the Bajada de San Francisco 

label and not Salvador Ibanez e Hijos from the 

later period.

This guitar literally came in parts but as often happens the 

so called cracks in the sound board were no more than the

seams of the parts the guitar was showing. Bigger problem

was the edge lining as that was existing of multiple layers 

less than half a millimeter in width,

The label can be dated around 1900. Luckily other investigators

have found this information sometimes even by frequently visiting

Valencia and surroundings.

The typical placing of the individual blocks to support the

soundboard can be studied here as is the fan bracing that

only exist of three small bars. Only two transverse bars on

the soundboard. In the bigger models a double transverse

bar is placed above the sound hole thus preventing cracks

alongside the fingerboard after some time.

Luckily you are able to study the right bridge model

for these guitars by searching on the internet. Sometimes

people are willing to share their knowledge, sometimes 

not. It is my experience that once you do that you will 

get it back, one way or the other.

The two typical pearl inlays in the bridge, Telesforo

Julve was later known for was already there when

Salvador Ibanez was in charge as is the headform,

that sometimes also can be found on Francisco Pau

and Jaime Ribot guitars (???) You can also detect

the lighter colour part in the bindings around the

soundboard. Those were missing. A hell of a job to

restore that as each layer measures about 0,3 mm

in width. Sometimes you get the remark that you

are making much profit on guitars like this but let's

not forget that it takes hours, days and in fact weeks

before a guitar is playable again.

The coloring is not the most difficult process. Water

stained products can be even thinned with water to

your liking thus making it possible to catch the exact

colour. On a soundboard things are different alas.

A nice and well preserved back that only needs some 

varnishing or French polishing.

The typical way of placing the glue blocks for the 

soundboard to the sides can be studied here. I have

only sen this in Salvador Ibanez guitars but chances

are that it could have been more widely used.

The two missing ribs of the fan bracing can be copied easily.

And the traces of the old ones will hel to glue them in the

correct place. The seams of the 3 piece soundboard can be 

seen here from the inside. Salvador Ibanez often did this and

Telesforo Julve used this way of constructing as well.

I'll include some detail pictures for others to investigate

some specific building marks in other guitars.

This was the point where to start from regarding glue work.

Of course there are good constructions to be had 

in gluing the braces but this method works as well

especially when it is not a "daily job" for you.

Nearly ready to close the guitar again...

This label is dating the guitar in charge quite exactly:

The label has been used in the period 1898 - 1902.

Here you are able to check the dimensions of these smaller guitars.

The dimensions of the new bridge as the original

was missing. Made out of ebony.

And the soundboard construction aas developed by Ibanez.

After the lacquer treated process and ready to use.

The tuners that work in a normal way with their

copper shafts. The plastic or bone rollers were

a much later addition.

And the wurm placed before the wurm wheelas

was common in the early years of the twentieth

century until about the period 1910 -1920.

Salvador Ibanez Small model (Around 1900)

                                                                        

This guitar wasn't in a bad condition apart from a 

loose back and rusted tuners with knobs breaking off.

Scale: 628 mm. Width topnut: 45 mm. Width on

the bridgebone 54 mm.

Mounting the bindings on the back is the last process

before the relacquering of the guitar can start. In this

case French polishing will be the process.

Possibly Brasilian rosewood as it was readily available 

in those times but I'm not sure about that. When you

really need to sand down parts, the typical smell betrays

the use of it but that wasn't necessary here. 

It is fine that people are doing their investigations

around some guitar builders and that also counts

for the various labels used along the timeline.

Here above the label in the condition as it is

in the guitar.

A better example to make your research. This label

is called the "resonador" label of which the "medaillon"

on the left attests. Used between 1898 and 1902.

The back that was in a good condition but a bit

strange treated was a small crack at the bottom 

on the right. I made it thinner but left it that way.

The lowest transverse bar was missing. I've added

a new one of course and shortened the others a bit.

Under higher temperatures they tend to expand 

and can damage the sides.

Here the clamping of the back can be seen. The 

original inner glue lining was missing. I made a new 

one but I divided the strip into small blocks in order

to prevent too much deformation of the sides as I 

wanted to make a slight neck reset as well. 

Correcting the sides continuously while gluing 

is a must then. Therefore the use of rope or 

elastics wasn't the way to go for.

There are more of these guitars obtainable but often

they lack the original bridge. That part is still here.

And the two abalone inserts on the string tie block

still can be found on a lot of Telesforo Julve guitars

who took over business from Salvador Ibanez e Hijos.

This one is made out of Brasilian rosewood.

Just to show that there is minimal fretwear. I presume

this guitar is coming out of the large guitar collection

of Mr. Pratten as other instruments also were offered

with that origin. Bought, but it never came to a

good restoration there. Original frets refreshed.

The reverse way of mounting the tuners: The wurm

before the wormwheel as was common until about

the period 1910 - 1920.  A rather narrow nut but you

could say it "belongs" to the smaller scale this guitar

is provided with. Remarkable is that guitars with the

label of Francisco Pau or Jaime Ribot often are

showing the same headstock form and marquetry.

The G-tuner has a slight bow in it but as it is a

lot older it might be too fragile to correct that

and to be honest, in use you hardly experience it.

And here the situation where we came from....

The typical way of constructing the outer heel: The use of

a softer wood in order to speed up building process. The

ebony covering of the heel is not original as a small part

of the heel was damaged and the original plate was

missing. Therefore slightly thicker executed.

These ornamentions probably could have been done 

by a third party. The fingerboard has a been hardened 

with a liquid used for rotten window frames.

The tuners on this guitar work the normal way and the

copper shafts were the ones the most used at that time.

A newly added binding around the back.

The multiple layers of bindings can be studied here.

This guitar has a nice playing action and could 

even be lowered but that wouldn't be my advise!

Even better for the highest strings! This was the third 

smaller model Salvador Ibanez guitar I've been working 

on and I must say, certainly the best one soundwise!

The knobs that are riveted on the axes.

The head also decorated with mother of pearl inlays.

The sides still in a good condition.

It must have been a lot of work especially in those times.

Most likely done in another factory who supplied them

to various guitar builders in Valencia

A nice shot of the right upper bout.

The picture has been added as if it looks there was a crack

but cracks always leave their mark in the varnish layer es-

specially after some time.

The final layers of French polish have been added but

another layer with a lot of alcohol in it is even augmenting

the glance of French polishing and certainly after some

extra polishing with a polishing liquid.

The copper shafts that aren't solidly made. And of

course the newly made knobs for this guitar.

Here the cleats placed in the lower bout by Salvador Ibanez 

can be studied. A former restorator placed a rosewood cleat

on the right side of the sound hole. Often the rosette cutting

in the soundboard is a bit too deep thus weakening the area

around the sound hole. For that reason the slightly darker

coloured orangey piece of wood under the soundhole has

been glued. It also counts for the rosewood cleat on the left

side of the sound hole. The thin but wide rosewood strip 

glued above the upper tranverse bar is a method to prevent

cracks in the soundboard alongside the fingerboard.

These cleats are placed to reinforce the seams in the three

piece soundboard. The fan braces are executed quite modest.

Quite typical is the placing of the individual glue blocks.

An alternate placing of the blocks.

On the right you can see the rosette coming thru

the soundboard itself, asking for reinforcement.

The sound doesn't come from this part of a guitar.

It is evident that the glue lining for the back has to be 

renewed as it is not present for the left side anymore.

Moreover the gluing surface for the back itself is

quite narrow keeping in mind there has to be glued

a new binding as well on them.