ARIAS

Vicente Arias began his career in Ciudad Real, Spain, some 125 miles south of Madrid, ' before moving to the capital early in the twentieth century. He became the most important guitar maker to come out of Madrid, with the exception of the Ramirez dynasty. He is the only nearcontemporary of Antonio de Torres whose guitars represent any sort of challenge to the master. His guitars are lighter and smaller all around than those of Torres, and use a range of different body shapes. Internally, the guitars use four, six, seven, and even eleven struts on the soundboard.

Arias is a mysterious figure; there is no birth certificate or photograph, all such documentation supposedly having been destroyed in a fire in Ciudad Real. He died in Madrid in 1912, leaving no known heirs, successors, or apprentices.