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Principal Builder Rick Pimentel, Albuquerque, November 1999. G-R Southwestern Collection Series (Steel String Cutaway). Brazilian 7 NSM. Paul Szmanda Collection, 2005. |
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This steel-string Southwestern Collection guitar was custom made for Paul Szmanda, a player and collector of fine, modern American guitars. The Southwestern series features inlays by Rick Pimentel, inspired by Native American decorative arts, incorporating semi-precious materials. |
Inscriptions: Printed in brown ink on paper label, the text superimposed over faint image of vihuela and lute, with single line border, the given names, model, serial number, and dates written in blue ballpoint pen: Lorenzo, Rick, Robert / PIMENTEL / OF ALBUQUERQUE / Model G-R SoutHwesteRN [sic] / Serial No. BRAziLiAN 7 NSM [sic] / Date 11-99 / CollectioN SeRies [sic]
Signed in silver ink on back of peghead, under finish, some of lower text obscured by tuners: Made Especially for / Paul Zmanda [sic] / by Pimentel & [ampersand in form of E with vertical line] Sons / 1999
Inlaid in abalone in cursive lettering on head: Pimentel
Stamped on tuners: S / Made in Germany
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Body: Soundboard: two-piece Sitka spruce, fine grain with slightly curled figure. Back: two-piece, book-matched Brazilian rosewood. Ribs: two-piece Brazilian rosewood. Head: mahogany peghead veneered with double-layer rosewood over blue-dyed holly. Neck: Honduran mahogany.
Trim: Heel cap: holly. Fingerboard: African ebony; 20 nickel-silver frets; turquoise diamonds enclosed in stair-step mother-of-pearl pieces behind 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 17th frets; turquoise side dots behind 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 17th frets. Nut: bone. Bridge: African ebony with stairstep motif on lower edge of ends; angled bone saddle; triangular turquoise inlay surrounded by mother-of-pearl stairstep inlay on ends; ebony bridge pins with turquoise eyes. Tuners: six chrome-plated, steel, Schaller worm-gear machine heads with enclosed mechanisms and ebony heads. Endpin: nickel-plated steel jack plug attached to Fishman classical soundboard transducer, set into bridge plate. Finish: clear.
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Inlay: Binding: rosewood holly with abalone trim surrounded on each side with ebony purfling strip trim on top, three-ply ebony and holly purfling strip trim on back. Rosette: ebony, turquoise, 14k gold, silver, mother-of-pearl, and thin mosaic comprised of alternating, angled strips of holly and ebony, with geometric southwestern motifs, and secondary ring of two ebony purfling strips with silver wire strip in center, with natural wood in between inner and outer rosette bands. Back stripe: alternating strips of holly and ebony forming herringbone pattern, with very narrow holly purfling strip through center, the herringbone surrounded on each side with two strips of ebony and one strip of holly purfling. Head inlay: silver, turquoise, red coral, and ebony arrow with three mother-of-pearl and abalone feathers and turquoise, mother-of-pearl, and silver bear paw, Pimentel in abalone lettering. End graft: holly end graft strip (slightly wider toward top than bottom).
Interior: Linings: kerfed Spanish cedar. Neck block: Spanish cedar with beveled edges; extended foot against top. End block: spruce, the grain running parallel to plane of top and back, with Spanish cedar graft on front. Top bracing: scalloped spruce cross-bracing with large spruce brace perpendicular to strings between soundhole and bridge; soundhole reinforced with spruce; maple bridge plate. Back braces: four spruce back braces. Back graft: Spanish cedar.
©National Music Museum, 2006-2014
Most recent update:
March 24, 2014