Product Description

Offering essays by the worldÕs top experts in a full-color, coffee-table quality book, this is the first work to tell the complete story of the classical guitar and its repertoire, players and makers - from its 19th century European roots to modern international interpretations. This handsome softcover volume features lavish photography of classical guitars made by the best luthiers in the world. Additional essays cover use of the classical guitar in pop muisc, different playing and teaching techniques, the collectorsÕ market, and the science of the guitar. It also features profiles of legendary artists such as AndrŽs Segovia, Julian Bream and John Williams, plus a full discography, a glossary, an index, a bibliography, and a guitar measurement chart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66820 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 126 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780879307257
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Tony Bacon, author of The Ultimate Guitar Book, profiles a number of guitar makers including Contreras, Smallman and Bernabe. Colin Cooper, editor of Classical Guitar magazine, writes on the future of the instrument, and provides a listener's guide to classical guitar on record. Paul Fowles, contributor to Classical Guitar magazine, profiles a number of guitar makers and looks at the classical guitar in pop music. Brian Jeffrey, founder and owner of a leading guitar music publisher and the biographer of Sor, investigates guitar methods and teaching as well as the repertoire of the classical guitarist. Richard Johnston, guitar repairer and contributor to Acoustic Guitar magazine, profiles guitar makers such as Velazquez, Humphrey and Ruck. Tim Miklaucic, proprietor of leading classical guitar dealer GSI, analyses the market for collectable instruments. Bernard Richardson, Lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Wales, Cardiff, clarifies the science of the guitar. Paul Sparks, a leading early music expert, writes about the early guitar before Torres. Graham Wade, leading author and recitalist and biographer of Segovia and Rodrigo, profiles Segovia, Julian Bream and John Williams, as well as guitar makers such as Hauser, Bouchet and Ramirez. Brook Zern, flamenco editor of Guitar Review, puts the flamenco guitar and its culture into the context of classical guitar. John Morrish is an experienced journalist and editor. He is a former editor of the London listings magazine Time Out, and edited Piano, Balafon's standard illustrated history of the instrument.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful photos and layout, a wonderful collection
Any lover of the classical guitar cannot help but appreciate this gorgeous collection of instruments, as well as the way in which they are displayed on the pages. Filled with information about the guitars and their construction, the luthiers, and which players'CDs you can hear them on, I highly recommend this fine edition. I take issue only with the subtitle "A Complete History", as the guitars are based on a single collection of instruments, owned by Russell Cleveland, and not necessarily what any other person would consider "Complete". That fact does not diminish my enjoyment of this exquisite book one bit.

A great book with superb pictures.
This is an amazing book. It has a lot of information of todays luthiers and past luthiers. The photographs are beautiful and I would recomend this book to anyone who loves the classical guitar. It is however on the expensive side.

A nice insight into luthiers, but not all that comprehensive
Though I like the book, the highlights are more about the luthiers and not so much on the quality of the guitars they make. The book is layed out in a chronological order, and focuses on just one luthier and guitar per year.. This is confusing, as many luthiers produce guitars across 40,50 even 60 years. So, this approach doesn't really work for me.

The book could have benefited from a comparison of major achievements introduced by each luthier, and focused on broad comparisons of different guitars. It instead focuses on the personalities of the luthiers.

If the reason you want to purchase the book is to help you find a concert guitar, this book will provide a good reference to the major luthiers operating today. However, if you are looking to find distinguishing features about the guitars, you will be hard pressed to do so, as the book provides just a few tidbits of information in that regard.