Since 1998 Hugues Navez has chosen to play exclusively on ten-string guitars in order to obtain a particularly rich, broad and powerful sound thanks to the four additional basses and their sympatetic vibrations.
This instrument allows him to transcribe ancient or keybord music more respectful of the original score.
Conceived by the French guitarmaker René Lacote and the Italian guitarist Ferdinando Carulli in the 19th century, this guitar, then called the decacorde, was largely improved on in the 1960s by the virtuose Narciso Yepes in collaboration with Jose Ramirez, the Spanish guitarmaker based in Madrid.
Many composers have written works for the ten-string guitar, including : Maurice Ohana, Bruno Maderna, Antonio Ruiz-Pipo, Leonardo Balada…
JOSE RAMIREZ (Spain) 1965
built by Ignacio Manzano Rozas
this guitar belonged to Nicolas Alfonso
JOSE RAMIREZ (Spain) 1965
built by Mariano Tezanos Martin
this guitar belonged to Ilse Alfonso
DIETER HOPF (Germany) 1984
model « la Portentosa »JOSE RAMIREZ (Spain) 1984
built by Juan Garcia Rey
clase 1a
DIETER HOPF (Germany) 1998
model « la Portentosa »
one-off model specially built for Hugues Navez
DIETER HOPF (Germany) 2012
model « la Portentosa Grande Furioso »
one-off model specially built for Hugues Navez