A dispute with the Sostenible Group, which owns part of Spanish classical guitar specialist Manuel Rodriguez, has lead to its eponymous boss departing the company, leaving behind the brand name, which he says he hopes to eventually recover.
The dispute seems to centre around design and quality control and has lead to the departure of company chief Manuel Rodriguez III, whose grandfather originally started the company. In a detailed and impassioned statement released to the trade, he explained:
“Over 110 years ago, my grandfather, Manuel Rodriguez I, driven by his vocation and perfectionistic ambition, started the hand-crafted manufacturing of the most beautiful Spanish guitars which my father, Manuel Rodriguez (II) then continued, both during his long-term residency in the U.S and also in Spain. Bearing witness to this, we as children inherited his love for the guitar-making profession as well as being let into the secrets that would enable us to continue manufacturing guitars of the utmost quality.
“No one is able to take over this tradition which spans three generations of the RODRIGUEZ family, nor are they able to deprive us of our pride about the fact that our instruments have been used and played by artists of incredibly high calibre; Andrés Segovia, Narcisco Yepes and Carlos Santana – to name a few. Neither are they able to deny us the honour and pride that it was, and has been, to be able to present guitars to none other than the Queen of Spain herself, former President Jimmy Carter and 44 other Heads of State from other parts of the world; encounters of which you are all well aware due to the photos that I have been sending over the past 15 years.
“Three years ago, the desire to enlarge our family business led me to enter into the Capital Group ‘SOSTENIBLE’ under the premise that I would always be the one to continue focusing on the design and, above all, the quality control of the guitar manufacturing so that the guitars would always carry the unmistakable stamp of the Manuel Rodriguez dynasty.
“This collaboration, however, has not worked as well as we had all hoped, and as time has gone on, there have been rather serious discrepancies between us. It has reached the point where the “GUITARRAS MANUEL RODRIGUEZ & SONS, S.A. Society” will disappear as such, being consumed by the “GRUPO SOSTENIBLE, S.A.”: a society that has bound together courses of action of a most diverse nature by means of a business policy with which I cannot agree. The build up of such courses of action has resulted in my complete disconnection from the company although it is able to continue using the “GUITARRAS MANUEL RODRIGUEZ” brand (against my wishes), for a certain period of time until I am able to recover it as its owner and licensee. It makes no sense that they would continue to use my name (and the name of my father and grandfather) if I am not longer present in the company; a matter which I hope to resolve as soon as possible.
“I want to thank all distributors, clients and providers – and, definitively, friends – who have kept in touch over the years; for the warm reception you have always given me as well as the trust that has always been granted. I want to assure you that it is my intention, wherever possible, to restart the family tradition and to begin manufacturing the genuine “MANUEL RODRIGUEZ” guitars once more; the main reason being due to the fact that, based on everything my father learnt from my grandfather, it could even be said that the knowledge of the matter at hand is something inherently genetic belonging to our deepest roots and no-one will ever be able to take that over under the guise of mere denomination.
“Here’s hoping that we can see one another again and connect in the near future. You will always have me at your complete disposition as an unconditional friend at my new email address – luthier.manuelrodriguezIII@outlook.es.”
