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R.E. Brune
“Unicorn”: Ca. 1910 Rafael Casana
This extremely rare guitar has been dubbed the “Unicorn” by virtue of the fact that for all his fame, it may be the only surviving example of an instrument made by Rafael Casana. Listed in guitar “genealogy” charts as the link between the early Madrid school of the Ramírez brothers and the regional Córdoba school,…
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R.E. Brune
James Ashborn
Innovative Entrepreneur
Circa 1850 James Ashborn guitar. All photos: M. E. Brune. James Ashborn was born in England circa 1816 and came to New England in the late 1830s, for reasons unknown. He landed in the a small woodworking town of Torrington, 30 miles northwest of Hartford, Connecticut. Because of the area’s many mills, many woodworking shops…
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R.E. Brune
1904 José Ramírez I
Possibly no name is more associated with the classical guitar than that of José Ramírez (1858-1923), the founder of a long dynasty of Madrid makers dating from the late 19th century through the current era. Important not only for the large and varied production of instruments that have come from their shop, the Ramírez family…
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R.E. Brune
Andre Segovia’s Hauser
Built in 1937
While visiting the Spanish guitar exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City during the fall of 1991, I had the opportunity to measure and photograph, in great detail, the 1937 Hauser that belonged to Andrés Segovia, and had been used by him in numerous recordings and concert appearances. Shortly before his…
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