Description

Jose was a meticulous builder, one of the grandfathers of the trade in North America, alongside figures such as Manuel Velazquez. This model was his flagship offering to the playing public for many years throughout the 1970s and 1980s, where he always used the finest materials, woods and methods to build his finest instruments. The Spanish character of the Madrid school is very evident in these guitars, and especially in this one. It truly has the deep, fat, full and round sound you would expect from a master instrument of the old-school tradition — one that I personally love and was drawn to almost instantly. Having begun building guitars in 1962, "Jose Oribe"'s models quickly earned international renown for their superb sound quality. From the very start, his guitars were "masterpieces" of execution, with a high aesthetic refinement in their design. Above all, there was a strict adherence to his principles of selecting wood and finishing it to perfection. These very qualities helped him become one of the foremost luthiers in America, alongside "Manuel Valazquez" and "Robert Ruck". We can recognize this in any "Jose Oribe" guitar every time we play one — or verify it on international guitar forums through the praise of its owners. At the height of his career, he published the book "The Fine Guitar", which discusses the art of the instrument maker and illustrates "Jose"'s skill and attention to every detail. This 1979 "Oribe Calidad Suprema" guitar is a clear testament to that, right here in our store. Nearly 50 years on, it remains truly beautiful and flawless. That is a remarkably enduring construction, well worthy of admiration. The soaring tone — clearly expressed in its tonal responsiveness, or in other words the tonal balance across the frequency range — is what makes "Jose"'s guitars such a formidable weapon in concert performances. Top: Cedar Back & Side: Brazilian Rosewood Scale: 658mm. /. Nut 52mm