1985 Manuel Contreras "Carlevaro" - Rio (Cites provided)

In the 1970s, Abel Carlevaro, Uruguayan guitarist and composer, began to imagine the ideal guitar. Inspired by the shape of grand pianos, it removes the curve of the upper side (not necessary for the support of the instrument). In his desire to find a perfect balance between bass and treble, he also removes the sound hole so that nothing disturbs the vibrations of the soundboard. At the same time, it obtains a larger area to develop its bracing. To replace the sound hole (and let the sound out) he imagines the soundboard by making it "float", supported only by small brackets resting on the sides, thus creating a space all around it. For the first time, he was trying to separate the vibrating element (the soundboard) from the reflecting elements (the back and sides) and therefore from the guitarist himself.

In 1981 Manuel Contreras took up the challenge of building such an instrument. Here is an excerpt from one of the Madrid luthier's letters to Carlevaro: "I assure you that I will not disappoint you and that I will try to follow your instructions faithfully... in order to make the best possible guitar. "Contreras built a total of about twenty "Carlevaro" guitars between 1982 and 1994, the date of his death. His son never worked on this model.

Abel Carlevaro gave his first concert with one of these guitars on July 31, 1984 in Heidelberg...

The guitar presented here belonged to one of his students, Jad Azkoul, a Lebanese concert guitarist and French translator of the guitar method written by Carlevaro.

The sound of this particular model is a little different from the typical sound of Contreras guitars, a "lighter" sound particularly adapted to Renaissance and Baroque music.