Del Pilar Classical Guitar (1990), made in Brooklyn, NY, natural varnish finish, rosewood back and sides, spruce top, mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, hard shell case.
The "Artist of Atlantic Avenue" Guillermo Del Pilar hand crafted very high-grade Spanish-style instruments in the heart of downtown Brooklyn from the 1950's through the 1990's. This is a very nice example of his late period work, hand signed and marked on the label "Brooklyn NY January 23 1990". The back and sides are beautiful tight and even grained rosewood, the top of very nice even-grained spruce with a bit of subtle cross-grain figure. The guitar comes with a story from the original owner's family; when told by Del Pilar the price would be $1600, the customer offered the maker $1800 to use the very best materials on hand, which he apparently did!
The spruce top has 9-ply wood binding with a rosewood outer layer, also used for the bridge and headstock face. The rosette is a fairly complex design with a half-herringbone inn er and outer layers. As with many New York immigrant community instrument builders (like Del Pilar's contemporary John D'Angelico) the emphasis was on sound quality more than the sort of obsessive neatness detail that is seen on modern guitars; this late period guitar is quite cleanly built but looks and feels handmade in the best way.
This is also a lovely sounding guitar; responsive, even, warm and round sounding, with excellent volume and surprising projection for a warmer toned instrument. This would be an excellent instrument for Bossa Nova or other South American stylings as well as the straight classical repertoire. These Del Pilar guitars have become more highly prized in recent years and the maker's reputation as one of the finer, if relatively unsung luthiers in postwar America is still growing.
Overall length is 39 1/4 in. (99.7 cm.), 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 11/16 in. (9.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 2 1/8 in. (54 mm.).
Overall this guitar is well preserved showing only general wear; it appears to have been played over the last 35 years but never abused. The original finish shows light handling wear overall with the most wear to the top; it shows small dings, fingernail scratches and scuffs mostly into but not through the finish. The back, sides and neck are cleaner with lighter scuffing and handling marks.
There are two tight grain cracks repaired on the treble side coming off the waist area, apart from that the guitar is free from any cracks or visible repairs and unaltered from how it left the Del Pilar shop well over three decades ago. This is a lovely warm sounding guitar, a fine and friendly player, just a nice example of this well-regarded local maker's best work. It resides in a good quality if somewhat oversized HSC. Overall Excellent - Condition.
