Francisco de Paula labelled Guitar Joaquin Bargas 1910 - French Polish

642 mm Scale, 48 mm Nut. Fine to wider grain Domed Spruce Soundboard and Rosewood back and sides. Single liners attaching the top and back to the sides. French Polish. This weighs 1,178 grams =41 ozs. = 2 lbs. 9 ozs. One piece neck, no graft in the headstock as is very normal, a second piece involved in the heel. Tuners work well. The Top, Back and Sides were thinned with a tooth plane, not sandpaper.

Labelled in Buenos Aires, at (M. de Oca 1682) which is Avenida Montes de Oca 1682. The first map show the distance to the Francisco Nuñez workshop, and the second map to Ramon Troncoso's workshop. Both are about 3 1/2 miles away from the Francisco de Paula workshop in the Barracas neighborhood. The third map show the distance from the Francisco de Paula workshop to Salvador Ramirez's workshop 2 1/2 miles away. Salvador Ramirez was in Buenos Aires in 1858 fabricating guitars.

After much further investigation it has been learned that this guitar is actually made by Joaquin Bargues, from Valencia, he immigrated to Buenos Aires before WWI, bringing this guitar with him - it is stamped J. Bargues and below that Valencia, on the Spanish foot inside, much like the wave of luthiers such as Antonio Emilio Pascual Viudes (1883-1961), who had been the foreman for Manuel Ramirez, when he left in 1909, to immigrate to Buenos Aires, Santos Hernandez replaced him as the foreman. From Malaga, we also see Juan Galan, then Rafael Galan, arriving in Buenos Aires. We also see Domingo Prat arriving on January 1, 1908, as a guitarist bringing the Tarrega school to Buenos Aires in the Rio de la Plata area of Argentina. Buenos Aires was the city that loved the guitar. Ricardo Muñoz says in his book "Historia de la Guitarra", published in 1930, that 3,000 people a week attended the guitar concerts.

A few old repairs. One crack in the back , none in the top nor sides.

There are other videos on YouTube of this guitar.