1852 Jose Recio Guitar from Cadiz, Spain
The developing shape of the Martin guitar, with a smaller upper bout, was influenced by the guitars of Cadiz, Spain. The "Spanish" style Martin guitars of
the 1840's copied many of the features of guitars of Cadiz, including fan bracing, the cedar neck with thin curved heel, square headstock with "volute",
tuning pegs, "Spanish foot", two piece sides, rosette with thinner outer rings, and tied bridge with ivory or bone inset.
1852 Jose Recio, Cadiz
Jose Recio
1844 Spanish Style Schmidt & Maul Guitar
c. 1840 Martin & Coupa
This Martin & Coupa has the more typical Spanish shape, with wider waist and flat lower bout, which became a trademark of C.F. Martin's 12 fret guitars.
The Jose Recio, like both the Schmidt & Maul and Martin & Coupa, has two piece sides divided by straight lines of holly, matching the holly binding.
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
Both the Schmidt & Maul and Martin & Coupa have a simple back strip of straight lines of holly, which extends to the cap of an elegantly curved heel on a cedar neck.
This design is a holdover from a time when the heel cap was an extension of the back, as it is on the Jose Recio. Those with two piece backs have a central backstrip extending through the cap. This particular Recio, however, has a three piece back, with two lines of holly.
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
The Jose Recio, like the later Martin guitars, has a square headstock with pegs, and a "volute" or "dart" on the back of the headstock. Like early Martin headstocks with pegs, the Recio have small holes at the top of the headstock to insert a ribbon used for hanging the guitar on the wall.
Martin 1840's Spanish Guitar
Both the Schmidt & Maul and the early Martin & Coupa have long headstocks with Viennese gears.
Like later Martin and Gibson guitars, the headstock of the Recio is tapered.
The Jose Recio, like the Schmidt & Maul and Martin & Coupa, has an ebony tie style pyramid bridge with flat, broad inset ivory saddle.
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
The Jose Recio has a broad, thick "Spanish Foot" extending from the neck block.
The Schmidt & Maul and Martin & Coupa both have a "False Spanish Foot", which is not attached to the neck.
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
The Jose Recio, like the Schmidt & Maul and Martin & Coupa, has mahogany braces extending from the top and back braces to a cloth strip joining the center of the sides.
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
The Jose Recio, like the Schmidt & Maul and Martin & Coupa has simple fan bracing with three blades.
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
"This guitar proves that C.F. Martin was one of the few makers outside Spain in the early nineteenth century to be aware of the possibility of fan strutting on the guitar, and that he experimented with it before developing his own famous X-bracing system. It shows the American gut-stringed guitar, the ancestor of the steel-sting guitar, at a critical point of it's evolution, about to break away from the diverse European influences to which it owed it's beginnings." Evans -
Jose Recio, Cadiz
Panormo
Schmidt & Maul
Martin & Coupa
The Recio from Cadiz weighs 2 lbs, 1.6 oz.
Length
17 5/8"
Width
11" 8"
Depth
3 3/4" 3 7/8"
Scale
25 1/8"
Bridge
1 1/8" x 6 1/8"
String Spacing
2 3/8"
Neck at Nut
2"
Neck at 12th Fret
2 3/8"
Soundhole
3 5/16"
The Schmidt & Maul weighs 2 lbs, 9 oz.
Length
17 7/16"
Width
12" 8 1/8"
Depth
3 5/8" 4 1/8"
Scale
24"
Bridge
1 1/8" x 6 1/2"
String Spacing
2 1/4"
Neck at Nut
1 15/16"
Neck at 12th Fret
2 5/16"
Soundhole
3 1/4"
The Martin & Coupa weighs 2 lbs. 8.8 oz.
Length
17 5/16"
Width
11 3/8" 8 1/4"
Depth
3 3/8" 3 13/16"
Scale
24"
Bridge
7/8" 5 7/8"
String Spacing
2 9/32"
Neck at Nut
1 25/32"
Neck at 12th Fret
2 7/32"
Soundhole
3 1/2"
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