For those who may not have known Fred, some background. Fred Dilzell was an accomplished classical and flamenco guitarist living in northern New Jersey until he passed away in March, 2013. He was well known throughout the Metro NY guitar community, having played guitar for over 45 years. Many of us knew him for years or decades as members of the NJ Classical Guitar Society, or other societies to which he belonged. Fred performed both on a semi-professional and professional basis for many of those years, with his career culminating in a Carnegie Recital Hall debut performance (now the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall).
He was an avid collector of fine guitars and everyone knew him as a guitar connoisseur. He selected his guitars very carefully and took superb care of his instruments, which is why all of the guitars on the list below are in such great condition – in many cases indistinguishable from new. The family is now in process of selling the collection, and as Fred had asked me to advise on the sales, appointments to see and play these guitars should be made with me. I was a friend of Fred and his family all of my adult life, and I have been playing classical guitar for many years.The family wishes to avoid shipping guitars on approval, so guitars will be shown and sold by appointment, at locations in northern New Jersey or Manhattan, depending on the guitar. Some of the guitars are being offered through a well-known dealer in Manhattan, The Guitar Salon, run by Beverly Maher, who will be very familiar to some of you. Prospective buyers are welcome and encouraged to bring their teacher or another adviser to examine and play those guitars in which they are interested.
Interested buyers may contact me at
tomsilverguitar@gmail.com or contact Beverly at
beverly@theguitarsalon.com. Guitars offered by The Guitar Salon are indicated as such on the listing below. At present there are five classical and two flamenco guitars available for sale as follows:
CLASSICAL
2003 Liam Romanillos (Spruce/Brazilian) [at The Guitar Salon] The guitars of Liam’s father, Jose Romanillos, have been world famous and in great demand ever since Julian Bream started playing them in the 1970’s. Bream once said that the best guitar he ever owned was a Romanillos. Liam learned the luthier’s art from his father, and his instruments are in similar demand. Liam’s guitars, like those of his father, seldom appear on the secondary market. This is an exquisitely beautiful guitar, and the last one Fred was to purchase. Though it is a 2003, it is indistinguishable from new as it has had very little playing time.
2007 Geza Burghardt (Spruce/Indian Rosewood) FLAWLESS, a masterpiece. Burghardt is a Hungarian who builds out of Vancouver, Canada. He builds few guitars annually, but is highly regarded as a master craftsman throughout the guitar world. (Also is a world-class expert on French Polish technique.) Fred prized this instrument greatly, and occasionally brought it out to play for us at guitar society meetings.
2007 Tacchi (Spruce/Brazilian) [at The Guitar Salon] A beautiful piece of craftsmanship by this Florentine master, and in mint condition.
2010 Dominique Delarue (Spruce/African Ebony) [at The Guitar Salon] This is a gorgeous instrument by the French master. In mint condition. Recently I heard it put through its paces by a NY concert guitarist auditioning it for The Guitar Salon (which is representing the family on its sale), and was blown away by its capabilities.
1997 or 1998 John Price (Spr/African Blackwood) This guitar is the lowest-priced in the collection, and in excellent condition. Is extremely easy to play and is suitable for the player looking for a guitar in the lower-priced range on the quality spectrum.FLAMENCO
1997 Gerundino Fernandez flamenco (Spruce/Cypress) I’m no flamenco expert, but Fred certainly was – and he considered this Gerundino and the Lester DeVoe immediately below to be the equals of flamenco’s at much higher price levels. Some of us were lucky enough to hear Fred play these guitars at society meetings, and wow, what unbelievably thrilling sounds he drew from them! Both of these makers are well known throughout the flamenco world. This particular Gerundino has added value because it was built in 1997, before Gerundino retired. There is no way of knowing for certain if he had a hand in guitars built in his workshop after his retirement in 1999. Gerundino died in 2006.
2003 Lester DeVoe flamenco (Spruce/Cypress) See Gerundino immediately above for comment.
Fred considered all of these guitars’ condition as Excellent to near-Mint to actual Mint. This should be apparent when you examine them.
