RARITY - CLASSICAL CONCERT GUITAR MADE BY JUAN OROZCO FOR LOS INDIOS TABAJARAS

“DURINDANA” 1976

This precious instrument was made in 1976 by Juan Orozco for Natalicio (Nato) Lima, one of 2 brothers known in the world as Los Indios Tabajaras. Based on my research, I strongly believe that Juan Orozco made only a few of these guitars, exclusively for Los Indios Tabajaras, while OROZCONATO Musical Instruments Corp. never existed as the real company and this label was just a friendly joke.

If you dedicate some of your time to visiting Wikipedia, you will learn about Juan Orozco and Los Indios Tabajaras.  A simple Google search is enough to learn about the origins of the name Durindana.     

If you go to Getty Images and find Los Indios Tabajaras pictures, you will see Antenor, Natalicio and his wife Michiko playing these OROZCONATO guitars.

Juan Orozco’s writings and signature on the soundboard prove that he was the actual maker of this precious guitar and made this guitar in 1976, not in 1974 as the label suggests.

Because this guitar has fingerboard recesses (below string E1 from the 1st to 12th fret,) I am confident that it was played by Natalicio Lima not by his brother Antenor. If you look closer at YouTube video from Ed Sullivan Show you will notice that only Natalicio played guitars with such fingerboards. The purpose of these recesses is unclear to me. As I have found out playing this guitar, they don’t play any role in string bending or vibratos. They surely ease the fingering of bar chords.  

Natalicio’s writings and signature on the label are another proof that he owned this guitar before giving it to his friend Watanabe (likely) in 1989. His ballpen hand writings at the bottom of the label read as Los Indios Tabajaras March 29, 1989      

These writings could have been performed only when the label was removed from the guitar. Because the label is reattached upside down, I am confident that it is exactly what happened that day.

Based on my communications with Juan Orrozco IV and my own assumptions, I am confident that Juan Orozco III and Lost Indios had strong ties, while Natalicio was Juan’s close friend.

**********************************************************

October 14,2025

Dear Juan,

I would like to ask if you know about possible relationship between your father and Natalicio (Nato) Lima from Los Indios Tabajaras? I have recently encountered in Japan a guitar that was hand made in USA in 1974 and has OROZCONATO MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CORP. NEW YORK label inside. Hand writings on the label indicate that this guitar was originally owned by Nato and/or his (Japanese) wife Michiko but later gifted to their Japanese friend. Business name OROZCONATO suggests some kind of cooperation between Nato and your father. However, I have failed to find any information about this undertaking. Thank you very much in advance for any information you can share with me.

Best regards,

Victor

October 22,2025

Sorry for the delay…saw this and meant to respond. Will have to ask my mom…will do that this weekend and get back to you with whatever info I can get.

Thanks,

Juan

November 12, 2025

So finally getting back to you…so sorry. Unfortunately, I don’t offer much information about that OROZCONATO venture. I asked my mother and although she was with him from the beginning building the business she does not recall this venture…but there is still a high probability that it is real. I do remember “los indios” and one of them, not sure which one, was my sisters godfather, so that business relationship totally plausible. Hope this helps! Thanks again for keeping his legacy alive.

Cheers!

Juan

This information helps me a lot to understand the story hidden behind this label. I believe that OrozcoNato was not a real company but a friendly arrangement between your father and Natalicio Lima, one of 2 "Los Indios" brothers, perhaps your sister's God Father. Do you know whether your father was making any guitars by himself in the 1970s or perhaps later? Could it be possible that he made a few guitars for Los Indios Tabajaras and then placed these OrozcoNato labels in them?

Thank you very much for your responses!

Victor

November 15th, 2025

I would agree that this was probably a friendly arrangement and do believe he was making guitars around that time. He was at the end of the day a luthier. Thanks again for the continued interest.

Wishing you the best!

Cheers!

Juan

**********************************************************

When I received this guitar in October2025, it had multiple light dents, scratches and finish cracks all over its body (including a few on the back of its neck), a crack (split) between 2 halves of the fingerboard below the bridge and the gap under the bridge. I knew that it needed repairs before anyone could enjoy its sound. However, the condition of the fingerboard and frets suggest that it wasn’t played a lot. Because the original case was in terrible condition, it is obvious to me that this guitar was stored for last several years in relatively poor condition. I certainly have no idea who is responsible for all its cosmetic imperfections.

Being fully aware of its overall condition, I decided to bring it back to full functionality without worrying about its looks. The crack repair, bridge repair (including shaving down a slotted part to lower the action), fret levelling and string height adjustments were performed in November 2025 by Southeast Guitar Repair co. located in Buford, GA. Just like myself, they have not found any other structural issues. Original tuning machines work somewhat tightly.

Specifications:

Top: Solid Spruce/orange colored shellac

Back & Sides: Solid Flamed Maple/ orange colored shellac

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Ebony

Scale: 650 mm

Nut width: 52 mm

Strings: bases from Aranjuez Spanish Silver set 200 and trebles from Aranjuez Concert Gold set 700

Its action is set to 3.00 mm under E6 and 2.80 mm under E1.   

This guitar will be shipped in a brand new hard-shell case.