![\"GSI](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/GSI-president-David-Collett-plays-a-1929-Domingo-Esteso.jpg?resize=960%2C640\")
\nGSI president David Collett plays a 1929 Domingo Esteso<\/em><\/p>\n
The number of fantastic guitars that cycle through GSI over the course of a year is always something to behold, but in the fall of 2015, the company outdid itself when GSI purchased for resale 63 guitars from the famous Russell Cleveland collection. Cleveland\u2019s guitars, as many of you know, were immortalized in the seminal late-\u201990s book, The Classical Guitar: A Complete History<\/em>, and he acquired a number of other instruments in the years since. The guitars span the years 1830\u20132011 and include such marquee items as Andr\u00e9s Segovia\u2019s 1969 AM Ramirez, Julian Bream\u2019s 1957 Hauser II, an 1888 Torres, Robert Bouchet\u2019s first guitar from 1946, as well as many others by past and contemporary luthiers. Looking for a violin-shaped guitar by Thomas Humphrey, complete with f-holes instead of a regular sound hole? He only made one, and it\u2019s in the collection, as well as a couple more Humphreys.<\/p>\n Take the Torres, for example. \u201cThere\u2019s famous picture of [Francisco] T\u00e1rrega playing a Torres and that guitar was made in 1888,\u201d Collett says. \u201cI think the photo was taken in 1910, and it\u2019s [Torres number] SE 114. A couple of years ago we had 116\u2014a couple of guitars away\u2014and that was a guitar that got a lot of attention because Andrew York came in and recorded five or six videos and they went viral. The guitar we just got [from the Cleveland collection] is 115, so it\u2019s the one in between. It once belonged to Emilio Pujol\u2019s wife, and later it was used by Pujol. Before he died, he gave it to his niece and she ended up selling it, and it sold through her to Russell Cleveland in the late \u201990s.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are the two Hauser II\u2019s, which are \u201cvery different from each other,\u201d Collett notes. \u201cThe \u201957 of Julian Bream is almost identical to the late Hauser I\u2019s from the late \u201940s and early \u201950s. But then we have another Hauser II from 1971 and it is wildly different, with a smaller body size\u2014a little bit more like a Torres, lighter in weight\u2014and it had all kinds of innovation internally, with the bracing that didn\u2019t exist in the \u201950s in Hausers.\u201d<\/p>\n There are stories behind every guitar in the collection. For more, check out guitarsalon.com\/store<\/a><\/strong>. \b<\/p>\n Here’s Marc Teicholz playing Bach’s Partita No. 2 on the 1987 Thomas Humphrey ‘Violin.’<\/p>\n![\"-](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Segovia---s-1969-AM-Ramirez.jpg?resize=960%2C576\")
\nSegovia\u2019s 1969 AM Ramirez
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\n\u201cWe\u2019re very excited about this,\u201d says GSI president David Collett, \u201cbut at the same time it\u2019s been a massive logistical challenge, because when we got these 63 guitars, we had to create photo schedules, video shooting schedules, some of the guitars need repairs\u2014I have two different repair guys, one in San Diego and one in LA\u2014and some just need to be cleaned up and maybe some setup work to get them all in sellable condition. We\u2019re going to take our time, rolling out a few at a time as they become ready. We\u2019ve already had a lot of inquiries, since so many of these guitars are already well-known.\u201d<\/p>\n