Flamenco guitar Miguel Rodríguez 1968 “Church Door” (Rafael Riqueni)

This flamenco guitar was made by the legendary guitar maker Miguel Rodríguez in his workshop, located in 15 Alfaros Street (Córdoba) in 1968. His guitars are objects of desire for collectors and performers all around the world because of both its meticulous construction and the personality they have.

This flamenco guitar has belonged to Jose Luis Parreño’ s personal collection, who ordered it from Miguel Rodriguez, a very good friend. Given the deep admiration he professed for Maestro Riqueni, and the interest and joy Rafael Riqueni showed for his guitar, José Luis Parreño used to lend him the guitar sometimes. In fact, we can see him with this very guitar in every single video, recording and TV programme until the late 90s.

This instrument is part of a limited number of guitars made by Miguel Rodríguez Jr. These guitars were called “Church Door”, and are easily recognizable, due to the peerless beauty of the rosewood used on the back and sides, where we can see some highly marked tone changes, from ochre to dark brown, with beautiful shapes and drawings on the grain.

There are different versions concerning this poetic name for the guitars: Some claim it comes from the fact that a hundred-year- old church door was used for the making. An old Andalusian church door, in particular. Other sources say this name is just symbolic, rather than literal, and comes from its wide and powerful sound, reminding us of the acoustics inside an actual church. Most “Church Door” guitars started appearing in the mid 70s, being the most famous one the first to come: the one belonging to the performer Pepe Romero, made in 1973 and affectionately called “La Wonderful”.

The sound of this flamenco guitar shows unbeatable quality and personality. The basses are powerful, with extraordinary depth. The basses are deep and bright with an extraordinarily powerful, the trebles are vivid and crystal clear, attaining a very long sustain. All those features make a piece of work with unique sound quality that sublimely combines power volume and quality. The “rasgueos” whit this guitar are just unbeatable: crystal-clear, broken and bright, with that particular “dry” and “hollow” sound, typical in the best flamenco guitars, making its sound the quintessence of FLAMENCO.

This flamenco guitar has got middle tension, and a perfect height of strings in the saddle and fingerboard, providing the guitarist with a high degree of comfort for both hands, as well as an easy performance.

The condition of this guitar is really good. It only has a crack at the bottom, and another one on the joint of upper and lower sides. Both of them are perfectly repaired and clearly shown in the images attached. The original shellac has been replaced by a thin layer of natural nitrocellulose varnish, not affecting the original thickness of the wood. Both the restoration and varnishing processes have been performed by the luthier Francisco Sánchez. His vast knowledge and his long experience guarantee this guitar preserves its sound qualities, keeping them completely unaltered.