Jose Alegria ~1880 Romantic guitar - wonderful double-course guitar with an impressive sound!
José Alegria was a guitar maker from the region of Catalonia. He is mentioned in Romanillos‘ book, where he is described as the master guitar maker of the Catalan school. The year of construction can be determined relatively precisely around 1880, as José Alegria had his workshop at Calle Ancha no. 11 in Tortosa at this time.
This guitar is very lightly built, with a spruce top and walnut back and sides. The scale length is 63 cm and the nut width is 51 mm.
The sound of the guitar is a real pleasure. Thanks to its lightweight construction, it has an exceptionally good resonance. The tones are clear and the guitar develops an amazing volume. At the same time, it has a sweet, old sound with the most wonderful timbres, which certainly cannot be achieved in this way with a new guitar.
The guitar has been restored and is now in a good and playable condition. The top still has the original shellac polish. The back and sides have been refreshed. The tuning pegs, bridge and tailpiece have been modified to optimize playability.