NGD - Balbina by Lucio Nunez

[naccoachbob]

I found Lucio Nunez by googling classical guitar luthiers in Texas. Looking at his web site, and listening to his guitars played by professional artists, I fell in love with his work.
So I called him, arranged to drive to San Antonio to meet, and we spent several hours one afternoon and several more the next morning selecting woods, rosette, tuning machines, etc.
Lucio is very passionate in his work. As an amateur steel string builder, we could talk on a good level, and he showed me things, taught me things, and I got to play one of his instruments as well. We became friends, and both of us intend to keep the friendship going - much to my advantage.
I was not demanding in any way of what I wanted. I'm not a very accomplished player, so I deferred to his judgement as to what he did with the guitar.
The bracing is lattice. Supposedly this gives a greater volume if I understand correctly. The guitar can be loud. I see it having a nice dynamic range.
Go to the "Listen" page on his website: http://lucionunezguitars.com/ for a taste of how his guitars sound - and look.

Thursday afternoon, I picked up the guitar. It meets all my expectations. It's beautiful, it sounds great, it plays nicely. It has great volume, so dynamically, it will be tremendous. I just need to learn to play it well enough to enjoy the craftsmanship that Lucio put into the work. Here are some pictures of the guitar that I took.

Western red cedar top.



Cocobolo rosewood sides.



And back.



Sloane tuners. These tuners are about $300 a set. Other than the wood involved, the tuners can be most important. Sloane makes very high quality tuning machines, and these are no exception. There is no slop in tuning. If reversing direction while tuning, you get the feeling that once you have the note you want, it doesn't matter if you tuned up or down. Tuning up is preferred, but I don't think it would matter here. The knobs are black as are the rollers. They have good weight to them - not being too heavy, but not light by any measure. I really like them already.



I love what Lucio did with the sides at the bottom of the guitar. It's subtle, but I like subtle, and I like precision. This is beautiful to me.



The headstock is unique to each luthier. Understated, but having taken parts of the Cocobolo that were left over from the back, Lucio put them to great advantage on the top of the headstock and on the back side as well. Again, I love the taste he has in his work.





Here's a close up of the purfling and binding on the top. Nice selection of colors to make the top look good. Notice the "rippling" in the cedar top that you can see. These are called medullary rays, and to luthiers, it's called silking. It's a waviness in the grain and indicative of a good quartersawn top.



Thanks for looking.

[David Rock]

That is a beautiful guitar...And I expect the sound to be excellent.

I had the good fortune of playing a Nunez when I was in San Antonio at Heart's Home Acoustics (Boerne). Wow quite a nice ride!

I thought about approaching him to make one for me, but I already have one too many guitars.

Congratulations, I can't wait to hear the stories that guitar has inside.

Regards

[naccoachbob]

David, I saw that guitar as well, but I thought that I would buy one from him instead of getting the one at Boerne so that Lucio would profit from it. Wish I'd stopped by and played it though.

[tkoehler1]

Congratulations on a beautiful guitar. Checked out his website his prices are quite reasonable. Something to think about for sure.

I can see lots of guitar playing in your future!

[naccoachbob]

Here's a pic of the rosette that I forgot to include. I love his choice in this. Although he doesn't make his own, he chooses some nice ones.

[wildpikr]

Another beauty...your guitar stable is growing rapidly...congrats! How does it compare to that new Ramirez?

[naccoachbob]

Originally Posted by wildpikr

Another beauty...your guitar stable is growing rapidly...congrats! How does it compare to that new Ramirez?

It's louder and more resonant, more dynamic, and I like the tone better overall.
This brings up a quandry for me. I now have 3 cedar topped classical guitars. Now, while that's not a complaint, I think I need to swap maybe the Ramirez out for a Spruce topped classical.
May put out trade feelers sometime soon.

[David Rock]

Hey there...Through a series of life events, I am now living in San Antonio, the town I grew up in but have been away from for 20 years.

How's that Nunez working out for you?

D