Variation on a Pimentel
The Albuquerque Guitar Makers Design a Jazz Fusion Instrument
by Charles D. Brunt, Journal Staff Writer

On the heels of their 50th anniversary, Pimentel & Sons Guitar Makers have introduced a new line of acoustic and jazz fusion guitars that are causing a stir among guitar aficionados.

"I started with the idea that there is a lot of fusion music in the world today, and most of the big guitars used for that purpose tend to feed back — a lot," said Rick Pimentel, general manager of Albuquerque's best known family-owned guitar shop.

The trick was to "fuse" elements of an electric guitar with an acoustic guitar, ideally with the feel of a jazz hollow-body guitar, and build an instrument that would work cleanly with an electric pickup.

"And I was trying to figure out a way to make a guitar that wouldn't feed back but still make it part of the fusion music," he said. "And it had to look right."

Just as important, it had to meet the exacting standards that have made Pimentel hand-made guitars famous.

Armed with a lifetime of experience and skills learned from his father, Lorenzo, Rick set out to design and build an entirely new type of guitar.

The prototype of the jazz fusion guitar, designed by Rick with input from brother Robert, has Sitka spruce soundboards, Indonesian rosewood sides and back, Honduran mahogany neck and African ebony fingerboard. With its arched front and back, internal pickups and no sound holes, the prototype's appearance is unique.

And like all Pimentel guitars, it is adorned with inlay work personalized for its owner, and the intricate inlaid rosette unique to the brand.

It didn't disappoint, Rick said. "Electronically, you can get a lot better tone through an amplifier, and that's what I was after."

Through the tone was ideal, the guitar didn't project sound as loudly as he wanted when played acoustically. So he added two chili pepper-shaped sound holes which — besides giving the guitar a distinct look — solved the volume problem and diverted the sound away from the pickups, which dramatically reduced feedback.

"You can really raise up the volume of the amplifier and not have any feedback," Rick said. The chile pepper model is also thinner and lighter than most jazz guitars.

Robert said the idea for the chile-shaped sound holes came about when a customer requested a chile pepper design for the inlay on his guitar. With a proven prototype, the classical jazz fusion model soon followed.

The new line — selling for $3,200 to $10,000 — is as eye-catching as any Pimentel. One of the first new guitars has 18-karat gold dials and stock inlays. The face of the guitar shows a sun setting over layered mesas, all done in inlaid wood.

The fusion line is proving to be a hit with musicians.

"It has really taken off," Rick said. "We're already getting behind on orders, and we haven't really advertised it yet."

That's nothing new. The worldwide demand for Pimentels means a typical customer can expect to wait three months to three years for his instrument, depending on whether he's buying a classical, acoustic, jazz, flamenco, requinto, bajo sexto, or the new fusion guitar.

The Pimentels make about 20 different models.

"Customers don't mind the wait," Rick said. Prices range from $1,000 to $45,000.

Rick is so pleased with the new design that he's making one for his wife, Jean, who recently took up the guitar. The acoustic steel-string model is adorned with a Georgia O'Keeffe-inspired white flower inlay made of mother-of-pearl, abalone and lapis lazuli.

Lorenzo Pimentel, now 75, is still making guitars, an art he learned from his brothers, who had a shop in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in the 1950s. He continued to make guitars as a sideline when he and his wife, Josefina, moved to Carlsbad in 1951, where he worked at a bakery. The family — which eventually included 11 children — started the business in Carlsbad but moved it to Albuquerque in 1962. They produce 500 to 600 guitars a year, Rick said.

Four of the eight Pimentel sons — Rick, Robert, Agustin and Victor — still work alongside their father in their shop at 3316 Lafayette NE.

Two other sons, Gustavo and Hector, are professional guitarists based in Albuquerque and are playing the new fusion guitars, Rick said.