Manuel Gonzalez Abad, nicknamed, El Cojo, was born in Almeria in 1906, and died in the same in 1989, and was the father of Juan Miguel Gonzalez. He descended from a family of artisans. He began his career as apprentice cabinet maker in Silva's workshop located on the plaza de Santa Rita, but at the same time began to frequent the guitar workshop of the Hermanos Moya. At the age of 17, he made his first guitar, and due to a bicycle accident which left him lame, he dedicated himself totally to guitar building, opening a workshop in the Barrio Alta of Almeria. In the 1940s he opened a music store,· Casa de Musica Gonzalez on the calle Murcia, where he sold his own guitars. His guitars follow the tradition of the Hermanos Moya, who in turn was taken from· Antonio de Torres. His workshop came to enjoy great prestige, having received a silver medal in an exposition in 1972 and· a medal as Master Craftsman of the Nation in 1973. This guitar has an unsigned label but is dated 1974. There are a few minor scratches and nail marks in the finish as well as a string burn, but nothing terrible, and nothing that some French polish wouldn't improve. The guitar was refretted 2 years ago, and a very tiny crack on the right side was repaired by a French luthier, Oliver Pozzo, who glued two tiny blocks inside the guitar to reinforce the repair. NOTE this guitar is in France.· |
