​JulianBreamGuitar.com

Guitar: C.F. Martin  0-28, c.1880

Date: Acquired in late 1948.

Notes:

- The second-hand guitar was bought by Julian's father, Henry, for his son as a possible performance instrument.

- Metal T frets were added to the guitar later.

- Henry had some changes made to the guitar - added a star decoration and the original rosette was painted over.

- Julian performed with the guitar from 1948 to 1952

- Used in Julian Bream's Wigmore Hall debut on November 1951.

- A small portion of the guitar is visible on the picture for the Wigmore Hall concert programme.

- The guitar had some additional minor repairs later on by classical guitar luthier Brian Cohen.

- The guitar was the focus of an article that appeared in Classical Guitar magazine. "Classic Classics" by James Westbrook.

- Luthier Brian Cohen made some minor repairs in the early 1990s thinking he would offer it up for auction at Sotheby.

- The guitar currently is in a private collection. Sold personally to the buyer by Julian Bream in 1993.

* Information for this intrument verified by Brian Cohen and Dr James Westbrook

Guitar: Panormo classical guitar - very early model but unknown year of construction.
Date: Acquired in early 1947
Notes:
- Bought in poor condition and repaired by Julian's father.
- Appears to have loaned to Julian for a concert at the Colonial Hostel, Earl's Court, London in May 5, 1947

Master Julian Bream with the Abbott-Victor guitar

Guitar: (Pierre) René Lacôte (Paris, France) 1824
Date: Acquired in August 1946
Notes:
- Does not appear that Julian ever performed publicly with this guitar.
- Assuming this was a six-string Romantic classical guitar since Lacôte did not start producing guitars with additional string until 1827.

Guitar: Abbott-Victor
Date: Acquired
Notes:
-.

Wilfred Appleby's 1930 Salvador Ibáñez guitar.

Picture courtesy of The University of Edinburgh.

Guitar: Salvador Ibáñez - small size Spanish classical guitar

This is NOT Julian Bream's actual guitar but this guitar is the same model from the early 1900s and very similar in appearance.

Additional pictures of the guitars described above.

Julian Bream at 13 years of age. With the small Ibáñez outside of Cheltenham. His first formal recital in 1947

Guitar: Salvador Ibáñez (Valencia, Spain)- 1930

Picture and information courtesy of The University of Edinburgh

Guitar: Giuseppe Calace of Naples (Italian) Spanish-style classical guitar - unknown model or year of construction.
Date: Acquired in 1947
Notes:
- Does not appear that Julian ever performed publicly with this guitar.

Webmaster's notes:

The picture of Wilfred Appleby's Salavdor Ibáñez guitar was provided by The University of Edinburgh.

Thank you to Dr. Jenny Nex (Curator of the Musical Instrument Collection, University of Edinburgh), for making the the picture and information available for use on this site.

Date: Acquired in 1946
Guitar: Maccaferri guitar - unknown model or year of construction.
Notes:
- First played this guitar publicly at a PSG meeting in October 1946.
- Used for Julian's first radio broadcast on January 7, 1947
- Julian's first formal public recital at Cheltenham following the the "trial" recital was nearly cancelled due to Henry intending to let Julian play this guitar. Wilfred      
  Appleby was arranging the Cheltenham recital. Mr Apppley abhorred extra-stringed guitar and referred to them as "novelty variants" and "freak" guitars. he was not
  about to allow this guitar to be used for a classical guitar recital.
- The Maccaferri guitar was exchanged for the Giuseppe Calace of Naples (Italian) Spanish-style classical guitar in June 1947.

Classical Guitars:

Classical guitars owned or loaned to Julian Bream while a professional adolescent guitarist

Guitar: Salvador Ibáñez (Valencia, Spain)- 1930
Date: Loaned to Julian in 1946
Notes:
- Adult sized guitar loaned by Wilfred Appleby and used at Julian's "trial" recital in Cheltenham on December 7, 1946 when he was 13 years old.
- Owned by Wilfrid M. Appleby, of Cheltenham, who published the Guitar News for many years.
- Wilfred Appleby gifted the guitar to the University of Edinburgh in 1985.

Guitar: Ramírez - unknown model or year of construction.
Date: Acquired August 1947
Notes:
-Bought in poor condition and repaired by Julian's father.

Julian bream at 11 years of age with the small Ibáñez. Picture from the BMG magazine July 1945.

Guitar: Salvador Ibáñez - unknown model or year of construction (early 1900).
Date: Acquired in 1944
Notes:
- July 15, 1944. Julian becomes 11 years old and his given a small Spanish guitar.
- At 13 year old he used this smaller guitar for his first formal recital at Cheltenham despite already having used adult-sized guitars. 

Guitar: Hauser from Clifford Essex - unknown model or year of construction.
Date: Loaned to JB July 1947
Notes:
- Does not appear that Julian ever performed publicly with this guitar.

Master Julian Bream with the Maccaferri guitar

Julian Bream with the C.F. Martin guitar.

Technical description

Soundboard:

Wide spruce, joined in the centre but not bookmatched.

Soundhole:

83.5mm diameter. Purfling around the soundhole consists of alternate strips of black stained maple and natural maple(?), arranged so that there are 4 pairs of black/natural, then 3 strips of black, 1 of natural, 4 of black, then a half-herringbone pattern consisting of black/natural/black and mother-of-pearl sections, alternately placed, and then 4 strips of black, 1 of natural, 3 of black, then 4 pairs of natural/black. The edging is of black stained maple with strips of natural/black/black/natural/black inside.

Bridge:

Oblong bridge of mahogany 189|×|26mm, with a white saddle. The strings tie around a raised section at the back. Mother-of-pearl decorative strips near the ends of the raised tie piece.

Back and sides:

Bookmatched cypress, with thin black stained strip dividing the two sections. Edging between the back and sides of black stained maple.

Heel cap:

Cypress with black strip down the middle.

Heel, neck and head:

Mahogany, the heel smoothly curving into the neck, and the neck and head are of the one piece of wood.

Machine heads:

Silver(?) plated machine heads with mother-of- pearl buttons and white rollers.

Fingerboard:

Rosewood, extending above, and glued to, the soundboard. Neck 54mm wide at nut, 61.5mm wide at body join. Ivory nut. Cypress head top veneer. Attached pieces of card to act as fret position guides at frets 5, 7, 9, and 12. 18|frets in total. Repair History:

Crack at bottom of back, glued and filled by Brian Rattray, 1986.