Alhambra Guitars' Story

About Alhambra Guitars

Alhambra 4-P (buy it online)

In the early 60’s a man named Mr. Martínez Clavel who was living in Valencia, was looking from his balcony at the street. There was a big queue of lorries and trucks waiting in front of a guitar factory to pick up instruments. His first thought was that a guitar factory would be a good business.

Then, he thought that just looking for someone able to make a guitar, would be enough to start making money. A friend of him had a brother in law called Mr Ricardo Llorens who was living in a small town called Muro del Alcoy.

Alhambra 5-C cw E2

At that time, Mr Ricardo Llorens was working as an apprentice of mold-maker (crafting a piece of wood that will be used to build a mold) at an important factory of paper. Mr. Martinez Clavel thought that, since Mr Llorens was able to make molds, he should not find problems to handcraft a guitar.Then he purchased a guitar and he went to Muro del Alcoy to explain his project to his brother in law’s friend. There he met Mr. Ricardo Llorens having tapas in a bar and playing card games with friends. Mr. Martinez Clavel showed him the guitar and asked

Would you be able to make one like this?

Encouraged by the presence of his friends he answered without any hesitation that he could do it in just one week. The following week the man from Valencia came back to Muro and there he met again Ricardo Llorens who had not even start the job. Mr. Llorens was embarrassed by such informality and he promised to do it.

Alhambra 1-C (buy it online)

Then, Mr. Ricardo Llorens asked for help from his mold-maker master at the paper factory. That man was Mr. José María Vilaplana Vilaplana.They made a guitar and, pushed by Mr. Martinez Clavel who was able to invest some money, they decided to found “Manufacturas Hachi” Company. It was 1962. Then, they started working in a horse stable which was property of Mr. José Luis Rodriguez (his son, named José Luis Rodriguez as well, was 14 years old at that time and he is still working in Alhambra factory).

They were a team of 8 people. Everyone was working making guitars apart from their main activities. That meant all of them had a different job and they were working making guitars only during their free time after finishing in their daily jobs.

Three years later, in the neighbour city of Alcoy, a man named José Botella was driving around with his car, a Seat 600 (the Spanish brand used by Fiat) when he saw a friend waiting at the bus station. He decided to stop in order to pick up his friend:Where are you going?

He asked. His friend said: “I’m going to Muro del Alcoy to buy a Spanish guitar”

And so off they went to Muro del Alcoy.

They arrived in Muro and, after knocking at the door, a man opened.

The man said they were lucky because maybe one week later the small workshop would be closed.At that time Mr. Martinez Clavel who was the investor had already stopped contributing and left the company, so the only owners were Mr. José María Vilaplana and Mr. Ricardo Llorens.José Botella told his father about this fact when he returned home and they decided to get some additional information about the company.

They wanted to know why Manufacturas Hachi was going to close. When they knew the problems of Manufacturas Hachi were both, financial and commercial problems, they worked together other investors to get the control of the company.

It was 1965 and then the company changed its name. The new name was “Manufacturas Alhambra, S.A.”From that moment Mr. José María Vilaplana and Mr. Ricardo Llorens took only the responsibility of the crafting process and the new shareholders started to manage the company.

The new managers started looking for a director and, after some changes, they finally contracted Mr. Jaime Juliá, who, after finishing his university studies of Engineering and a previous experience in another business field, was looking for a job more in accordance with his university background.

Many of the craftsmen who are still working here had started in Manufacturas Hachi when they were about 14 – 16 years old. Now they are the most experienced people we have and all of them are one of the greatest values of the company.

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