Back-lit view of his diagonal bracing configuration.
A rosette in the style of Manuel Ramírez.
“On the outside, it seems to be 100 % Ramírez, but on the inside there are seven braces arranged on a diagonal.” several years experimenting before coming up with the optimal technique for shaping and gluing the sections and then inserting the strips of ebony. The back of the neck is decorated with two strips of tortoiseshell. Even though my label inside clearly indicates that it was built in 1986, I think that it would be no mean feat getting through customs with this lute today! Orfeo – And this Romantic guitar ? T. N. – This is a copy of a guitar by Nikolaus Georg Ries, a luthier who trained under Stauffer. He became well known for his Viennese style guitars in the first half of the nineteenth century. The back and sides are curly maple and the purfling is of ebony. The decoration in the
rosette comprises a mother-of-pearl leaf motif set against a black shellac background. The hardest part to build was actually the ribs, which slope away quite markedly at the heel. Orfeo – Do you also make a Thomas Norwood guitar model? T. N. – Yes, I also make my own original model. It might look a little like a Manuel Ramírez but it isn’t. On the outside, it’s a guitar that seems to be 100 % Ramírez, but on the inside there are seven parallel braces arranged on a diagonal. It is a bracing pattern that I saw on an anonymous Japanese guitar from the 1950s – perhaps an early Kohno guitar. I am pleased with the result: there is good note separation and the sound is very even, all the way along the neck.